Scientists have uncovered a “naughty” secret wombats
Zoologists for a long time been interested in the strange form of droppings of these animals.
Upstairs
Researchers finally got the answer to the “juicy” question, which has long been of interest to zoologists studying wombats.
Wombats are marsupials — mammals that are close relatives of koalas. These herbivores, resembling small bears or very large hamsters, live in the southern and Eastern part of Australia.
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Wombats live in burrows, and their territory aggressively defend and mark its faeces unusual square shape.
Scientists long wondered how the intestines of animals are able to produce these “cubes”.
A team of researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology studied the structure of the intestine of a wombat, which died accidentally under the wheels of cars in Tasmania. They found that the elasticity of the intestines of the wombat varies in different areas. Hard the intestines to form flat faces that give clear square feces.
Photo of square wombat poops, since I got a lot of requests for that 🙂 https://t.co/aXBkpDdktU pic.twitter.com/WdagU58mAG
— Gwen Pearson (@bug_gwen) 19 Nov 2018
Wombat digest food very slowly, from 14 to 18 days. During this time the bowel time to absorb all of the ingested liquid. In the end, “cubes” work well pressed and do not lose their shape.
Form of feces wombat may seem a rather strange subject for study, scientists say. But really understanding this “technology” will allow you to recreate it in the production of various materials for construction.