Skip to main content

Subscribe to Smithsonian magazine and get a FREE tote.

Poop

Researchers recovered environmental DNA from ancient ground squirrel poop.

Researchers Investigated Ancient Squirrel Poop Frozen in Permafrost and Found Enlightening Details About the Animal’s Ecosystem

Up to 700,000 years ago, ground squirrels in modern-day Canada collected tons of helpful genetic information on their bygone environment through their diet

Scientists find that streaked shearwaters poop every four to ten minutes in flight—a strict schedule that doesn't apply when they're sitting on the water's surface.

Video Footage Accidentally Reveals the Strange Pooping Behavior of These Large Seabirds

Researchers set out to investigate how streaked shearwaters take off and instead were surprised to discover that the birds poop very frequently and regularly, which could play a role in marine ecology

A research team measured ammonia concentrations from a colony of 60,000 Adélie penguins.

Penguin Poop Helps Drive Cloud Formation Over Antarctica, According to a New Study

The ammonia from Adélie penguin guano reacts with sulfur-containing gases in the atmosphere to aid in forming clouds, which scientists say may be significant to regulating the climate

Scientists are investigating how Adélie penguin colonies along the coast of Antarctica’s Ross Sea have adapted over the last 6,000 years.

Scientists Uncover a Frozen History in 6,000 Years’ Worth of Penguin Poop, Revealing Past Ecology on Antarctica

Sediment samples from the Ross Sea coastline are revealing insights into how animals like elephant seals and Adélie penguins adapted to environmental changes long ago

One of the toilets featured a granite slab with a hole in it and two stepping stones on either side.

Archaeologists Unearth 1,300-Year-Old Flush Toilets at a Palace Complex in South Korea

One of the toilets, likely used by the crown prince and his court ladies, may have drained directly into a nearby river

Fossilized feces, also known as coprolites, are helping scientists in New Zealand peer back in time.

Fossilized Poop Reveals How Extinct, Flightless Birds Helped Spread New Zealand’s Colorful Fungi

The upland moa was likely drawn to the fungi because of their resemblance to berries, scientists say, allowing the creature to fill a role typically played by mammals

An artist's depiction of two sauropodomorphs in a wet Early Jurassic environment, eating the newly evolved plants.

The Secret to the Rise of Dinosaurs Could Be Hidden in an Unlikely Place: Their Poop

In a new study, scientists examined bromalites, including fossilized feces and vomit, to reveal prehistoric diets and reconstruct the timeline of how dinosaurs established dominion over the world

A sperm whale swims away, leaving a cloud of feces.

Scientists Are Crafting Fake Whale Poop and Dumping It in the Ocean

The artificial waste could fertilize the ocean and sequester carbon

The free museum is located in Williams, Arizona, about an hour south of the Grand Canyon.

Admire the World’s Largest Collection of Fossilized Poop at the New ‘Poozeum’ in Arizona

Owner George Frandsen has some 8,000 coprolites from dinosaurs, sharks and other creatures

Researchers have isolated phages from zoo-dwelling lemurs, giraffes, binturongs, Visayan pigs and Guinea baboons that might help fight diabetic foot ulcers.

Viruses Found in Animal Poop May One Day Treat Diabetic Foot Ulcers, Scientists Say

Known as bacteriophages, the specialized viruses could hijack and kill drug-resistant bacteria

Fossilized poop, called coprolites, collected in Nong Yakong village, Chaiyaphum Province, Thailand. Coprolites are an important source for studying ancient parasites.

200-Million-Year-Old Poop Reveals Parasites That Infected a Crocodile-Like Reptile

The prehistoric fossil could help researchers understand the relationships between parasites and host organisms in the Late Triassic

The toilet discovered at the House of Ahiel

New Research

Iron Age Residents of Jerusalem Suffered From Dysentery

A new analysis of 2,500-year-old toilets has found early evidence of a harmful parasite

Dog waste bags outside a park in Queens, New York. The maximum fine for not picking up your dog's waste in New York City is $250.

Shoes Carry Poop Bacteria Into NYC Buildings, Study Finds

With “absolutely astonishing” amounts of fecal bacteria on city sidewalks, an expert recommends removing shoes before entering homes

Archaeologists unearthed fossilized feces not far from Stonehenge.

What 4,500-Year-Old Poop Teaches Us About the People Who Built Stonehenge

Fossilized feces found near the Neolothic monument suggests its builders chowed down on undercooked animal organs

The chamber pot stands about 12.5 inches tall and measures 13.5 inches wide at the rim.

New Research

Parasite Eggs Help Archaeologists Identify Ancient Roman Chamber Pot

The ceramic vessel contained whipworm eggs found in human feces, debunking the theory that it simply served as a storage jar

Reconstruction by an artist of the toilet room that stood in the garden of the Armon Hanatziv royal estate

Ancient Toilet Unearthed in Jerusalem Shows Elite Were Plagued by Intestinal Worms

Mineralized feces chock-full of parasitic eggs indicate that it wasn’t the lower classes alone who suffered from certain infectious diseases

New research suggests Celtic people—and their sheep—arrived on the Faroe Islands more than 300 years before the Vikings.

Ancient Sheep Poop Tells the Tale of the Faroe Islands’ First Inhabitants

New analysis suggests the Celts arrived on the archipelago hundreds of years before the Vikings

The Roman elite viewed public toilets as an instrument that flushed the filth of the plebes out of their noble sight.

How the Ancient Romans Went to the Bathroom

A new book by journalist Lina Zeldovich traces the management of human waste—and underscores poop’s potential as a valuable resource