Why do wombats do square poos?
Quick answer from Eartha
Wombat poo comes out with flat sides, almost like little cubes! Their intestines squeeze the poo in a special way that makes it firm and edged instead of round. Wombats stack their square poos on rocks and logs to mark their turf. Square poos don't roll away, so they stay put as a smelly signpost.
The longer story
Wombats really do make poo with flat sides, and scientists have studied this for years because it is so unusual. No other animal is known to do it.
The secret is inside the wombat's gut. Food takes a long time to travel through, sometimes weeks, and the last part of the intestine stretches and squeezes unevenly. This shapes the poo into cube-like lumps with two to six sides instead of a round tube.
Wombats use their poo like a letterbox. They leave little piles on top of rocks, logs, and mounds to tell other wombats this burrow is taken. Because the poo has flat sides, it sits still instead of rolling off, so the message stays exactly where it was left.
A wombat can produce around eighty to one hundred of these little cubes in a single night. That is a lot of tiny signposts scattered across its home range.
Try this at home: squeeze-shape test
- Roll some playdough into a long tube shape.
- Gently squeeze it between your fingers in a few spots along its length.
- See how it goes from round to lumpy with flat sides, a bit like wombat poo forming inside a wombat.
Words to know
- Intestine
- A long tube inside the body that helps digest food.
- Burrow
- An underground tunnel or den that an animal digs to live in.
For grown-ups: what is my child learning here?
Age band: Ages 5-8
Curriculum link: Australian Curriculum v9 Science, Year 1 — living things have basic needs and observable features that help them survive.
The concept: Children learn that an animal's body can have surprising features that help it communicate and survive.
More classroom ideas are on our teachers page, and safety notes for families are on for parents.
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