Bare-nosed wombats, or common wombats, can be found in the woodland of hilly landscapes in southern and southeastern Australia and in Tasmania.
The furry marsupials are known to produce a characteristic, cube-shaped shit, which researchers say then spreads them tactically to communicate with each other.
Now scientists at the University of Tasmania have discovered more about the curious phenomenon.
Using laboratory tests and mathematical models, a team of researchers found that there are two stiff and two flexible areas around the perimeter of the uterus. The intestine, which is 33 feet long, is about ten times as long as the body of a uterus.
“This ability to form relatively uniform, clean-cut feces is unique in the animal kingdom,” Scott Carver, a naturalist at the University of Tasmania, said in a statement.
“They place this feces at prominent points in their home range, such as around a rock or a log, to communicate with each other. Our research has found that these cubes form within the last 17 percent of the small intestine,” he said. .
According to the researchers, the characteristic cube shape of wombat poop is caused due to the drying out of the feces in the colon, and muscle contractions, which form the uniform size and angles of the poop.
“Bare-nosed wombats are known for producing distinctive, cube-shaped hooks. This ability to form relatively uniform, clean-cut feces is unique in the animal kingdom,” Carver added.
In humans, food moves through the intestines within a day or two, but the digestive process of a uterus can take up to four times as long, allowing the animal to extract all the nutrient content from its food. The creatures also produce shit that is much drier than human feces – because it is better to extract water from the gut.
Carver said the discovery that the cubes are created in a soft tube ‘is a completely new way of making cubes’, which could have implications for manufacturing, clinical pathology and the digestive system.