Science is quite a peculiar discipline, asking the kind of questions you would have never imagined.
The same team known to have introduced interesting concepts, also came up with a fascinating realization – mammals pee for around 21 seconds. What’s more, the researchers realized that the time needed for one pinch is equally conserved amongst all species – whether a human being, or a panda, just 12 seconds are enough.
The question that aimed getting an in-depth look into how exactly mammals defecate was investigated by colorectal surgeon and fluid dynamicists. The team visited a local zoo for the study where they did not just film 34 mammals as they relieved themselves but also hand-picked the products. They then weighed the feces and compared them on how the varying forces corresponded to the applied force. They then used the information gathered to construct a mathematical model of the defecation.
The study findings
The researchers ended up with oddly fascinating results. Even though an elephant’s poop is a thousand times greater than that of the dogs, they still required around 12 seconds +/- 7 seconds. In essence, all the animals under study required 5 to 19 seconds to poop.
Despite bigger creatures having longer poop, the scientists learnt that the larger a mammal, the faster it relieves itself. The bigger animals have a pooping speed of 6 cm/s while the smaller ones take 2 cm/s.
You may want to have answers for this kind of occurrence and for many, pressure may be the reason. But no, it turns out that the pressure exerted by the mammals is equal despite their size. For instance, a cat equals to that of a rhino. What could then be contributing to this?
Well, the answer is in mucus. The large intestine of each mammal has a small layer of mucus lining that assists feces to leave the bowls at a relative speed. For the larger animals, the mucus lining is simply larger and this allows them to exert the same force as their little counterparts.
