Exhibit teaches city about feces

By Michelle Talisesky
Collegian Staff
January 31, 2007

Did you know that an adult African elephant can produce up to 300 pounds of dung each day? Or that some fancy coffees are made out of animal poop and cost $175 a pound and more?

Why all of this poop trivia? The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia is putting on a smelly display of a traveling exhibit produced by Clyde Peeling’s Reptileland, tactfully named: The Scoop on Poop! - The Science of What Animals Leave Behind. Based on a popular book by Dr. Wayne Lynch, the exhibition leads visitors on an investigation of what exactly poop is and how it is utilized by humans and animals.

Museum-goers have the chance to listen to an animal’s digestive system, examine fecal samples in a veterinarian’s lab, learn the language of poop in countries from around the world, see how long it takes an elephant to poop their own body weight, compete in dung beetle races and more. The Scoop on Poop is the largest exhibition ever about the science of dung, and it is right here in our own city from Jan. 20 to May 13.

Did you know that animals use poop to build homes, attract mates, hide from enemies, send messages and cool off? Oddly enough, some animals even eat it, which is rather disgusting. Many occupations use the brown stuff, too, including veterinarians, farmers, naturalists, paleontologists, animal herders and power companies. Maybe poop could become the energy of the future.

The Scoop on Poop will surely be a fun time had by all. Everyone poops, so why not learn why it has to happen? To find more information on The Scoop on Poop, visit the Academy of Natural Sciences Web site at www.ansp.org.

taliseskym1@lasalle.edu