Animal Poop: More Fun, Tasty, and Aromatic Than You Thought!

If you're a fan of Bob's Burgers, you might remember the Season 4 episode entitled "Ambergris" (check out the full episode HERE), in which the Belcher children discover a strange, aromatic hunk of...something...on the beach.  This something turns out to be an interesting byproduct produced by the sperm whale: and even a small hunk of it can be worth thousands of dollars to the right buyer.  But what exactly is the stuff?

Much like the title of the episode, this hunk of surprisingly expensive junk is called "ambergris," and scientists believe its production is related to the sperm whale's diet.  Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) love to eat giant squid who, despite their relatively squishy nature, possess a very tough beak, a feature seen in other cephalopods such as octopi and nautilus.  In my opinion, the cephalopods can be some of the most fascinating animals ever.  Period.  We can delve deeper into why these creatures are so fascinating some other time, but for now, I leave you with this video of the ultimate in animal spy-gadgetry that would make even James Bond sea-sick with envy.  (To see the full Ted-Talk that this video clip is taken from, click HERE.)

Another thing that I think is really cool about animals such as the octopus and the squid is that they have an extraordinarily tough beak.  Partially composed of keratin (the same thing your fingernails, hair, porcupine quills, whale baleen plates, claws of reptiles and mammals, horns,* etc.), this beak very closely resembles beaks seen in some types of birds, and is often referred to as a "horny, parrot-like beak."**  To truly understand the close resemblance, check out the pictures below!

Now, if you've ever tried to digest a bit of antelope horn or Komodo dragon claw, you might have noticed that it doesn't go down very easy, and comes out the other end with even less easy involved.***  For whales, most of the squid is pretty easily digestible, as they don't have to worry about scales or claws, feathers or hair.  That is, other than that tough, keratinous beak.  So what does the sperm whale do with this sharp section of squid structure?  The answer to that is kind of cool, albeit still poorly understood.

Here's what scientists think happens.  In order to keep the squid beak from harming the sperm whale from the inside, the whale somehow surrounds the tough bits of indigestible material (including the squid beak), to keep any sharp edges from being exposed.  That part seems to be fairly widely agreed upon, although it seems that the exact methods are still not terribly well understood.  Sources differ on how the ambergris leaves the whale's body, however.  One Scientific American article states that the whale passes the ambergris with its feces because "it smells more like the back end than the front" when it is first cast out of the body.  However, other sources explain that whale feces are liquidy, and hard matter could be difficult for the whale to process.  Instead, these sources state that ambergris builds up in the whale over the course of its lifetime, and are released when the animal dies.

So why is ambergris so poorly understood?  Well, researching whales, and sperm whales in particular, can be extraordinarily difficult.  You need the proper equipment, you need the money, and you need to be able to find the whales.  Sperm whales can also be more tough to study than other whales because of their natural behavior.  They will dive thousands of feet deep in search of their prey, and spend most of their time beneath the ocean's surface.  When they do protrude above the surface, it can still be difficult to find them, as they often don't protrude very far, and their spout of water released upon surfacing is much smaller than in many other whales.

Because of these and other factors, sperm whales remain poorly understood.  Ambergris is only known to form in the sperm whale and the related pygmy sperm whale (Kogia breviceps), both of which are very hard to study.  Furthermore, studies have found that ambergris is only found in 1-5% of these whales, making the substance even rarer still!****  Because it is so rare, no one has ever seen ambergris expelled from a sperm whale, and the association is only known because of dead sperm whale bodies with ambergris discovered inside.

In spite of this rarity, or perhaps because of it, ambergris is something of a hot commodity, and apparently has been for thousands of years.  The Scientific American article quoted above cites the use of ambergris in many different ancient cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Middle Easterners, and the Chinese.  It seems to have been regarded as a "cure-all" in some cultures, including Britain during the Middle Ages.  More recently, it was commonly used in perfumes, to fix odors and make the smells hang around for a longer period of time.  Although synthesized replacements have taken the place of ambergris in many scenarios, there apparently still is quite a market for the stuff, and even a relatively small hunk of it can fetch a price of several thousand dollars from the right buyer!

As an interesting side-note, fossilized ambergris has been discovered in 1.75 million years old Pleistocene deposits in Italy.  Some of these fossils, which apparently number more than 25, are even about two feet high and four feet wide!  The abstract of the article (link HERE) describe these fossils as "the only known example of Pleistocene sperm whale coprolites," indicating that the authors of the article consider ambergris to be a poopy product of the sperm whale.  Within the fossilized ambergris, parts of squid beak and "altered organic matter" have been found.

So yes, ladies, long story short, it is possible (although unlikely) that you have sprayed yourself with squid beak byproduct that was somehow expelled from a sperm whale at some point in your life.  If you feel slightly foolish, just remember: you can be sure that you never drank any coffee that was created from the partially digested excretions that came from the hindquarters of the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), or freshened up with the assistance of the male musk of the the aptly named musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), a scent which the females of the species find most alluring.

Oh wait, you might have done both of those.  Coffee made from animal poop....I have no doubt that Gene Belcher would love to have a cup.  Just remember on your next date, it's not coffee breath or a lack of perfume you have to worry about: its civet-butt breath and a lack of musk deer scent and whale byproduct.  You just better hope that there aren't any female musk deer around....

*Note that antlers are different from horns, and are not made out of keratin.  For a more in-depth discussion regarding the differences between antlers and horns, click HERE and HERE.
**Not that kind of horny.
***Based on speculation on the part of the author, and NOT personal experience.  Please do not try this at home without the supervision of a parent or guardian who has been trained in such matters.
****This statistic comes from the following source: http://www.environment.gov.au/node/18363.  It doesn't actually say how this statistic was determined, but I assume from analysis of whale carcasses.  I don't think many people have tried to look at the digestive systems of whales that are still alive.
*****Yes that kind of horny.

Works Cited:

Damu the Greater Angle-Winged Katydid!

A few months ago, I looked up at the dorm room wall and there was a katydid perched there!  I captured him and put him in a container for a week!  I learned a little bit about katydids, so put your listening ears on!

Damu in his container.  "Damu" means "blood" in Swahili, and for good reason.  This little insect was a bloodthirsty demon, I tell you what.  Which is a joke because it eats leaves.  Ha.

I figured out that Damu was probably a greater angle-winged katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium), native to the southwestern and eastern United States.  The adults are only around from between July and October, except in Florida, where the higher year round temperatures allow the species to live year round.

The greater angle-wing is pretty large as insects go (especially here in Colorado), and looks quite cool!  As you can probably tell from the picture below, the katydid has evolved to superbly mimic its surroundings: i.e., the leaves of trees!  This makes the katydid one of my Top Ten Favorite Camouflagers, one of four insects to make the cut!

Top Ten Favorite Camouflagers
By Zack Neher

1.  Octopus
2.  Walking Leaves
3.  Leafy Sea Dragon
4.  Katydid
5.  Ghost Mantis
6.  Harry Potter Under the Invisiblity Cloak
7.  Arctic Fox
8.  Walking Stick
9.  Optimus Prime
10.  Ptarmigan
11.  Leaf-Tailed Gecko


If you live in much of the United States (refer to the map below), you can probably see the greater angle-winged katydid!  Or, at least, hear it!  I know for me personally, once I knew what I was listening to, I heard them ALL the time!  Click the link to hear a sound clip of the male making its distinctive clicking sound!  (Damu made these sounds, which is why I am almost positive of him being a male).

Male Katydid Clicking Sounds

Damu is sadly no longer with us: I kept him for about a week, and decided to let him go.  He spent a lot of time making his clicking sounds (which are surprisingly loud for a critter of his size), especially at night when we were trying to sleep.  It got quite annoying, and I wanted him to be free, so I released him from his prison.  Plus he pooped WAY more than an insect of his size should.

I caught another katydid later on, this time a female.  You could tell that Damu Mbili (Damu II in Swahili) was a female because she never clicked and had an ovipositor, an organ possessed by some animals to aid in egg laying.  She died in the middle of October, right around when you would expect these katydids to pass away, though I did hear male katydids clicking away intermittently through the 27th of October.  Here are a few pictures.

Check back soon for our next post, where we look at some insects that I saw at my recent visit to the San Diego Zoo, many of which are expert camouflagers!

Works Referenced:

The Story of the Kremmling Ammonite Site and a Painting by Wayne Itano, Guest Blogger

Today, we have a very exciting post for you: a guest post from paleo-enthusiast Wayne Itano!  Here is a bit of background on Mr. Itano:  

Wayne Itano is a physicist at NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Boulder, CO.  He has a hobby interest in paleontology and is also a curator adjoint at the Natural History Museum of the University of Colorado.

Today, Mr. Itano is going to tell us about the Kremmling Ammonite Site.  Join me in giving him a warm welcome!  Let's get started!

The Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Locality lies on BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land to the north of the little town of Kremmling, in Grand County, Colorado.  It was first noticed for the very high concentration of very large ammonites(ammonites are extinct relatives of the modern chambered nautilus and were probably more closely related to octopi and squids).  It has been protected since the 1980s.  It was written up in the book “Cruisin’ the Fossil Freeway” by the paleontologist Kirk Johnson and the artist Ray Troll.

Dr. Kirk Johnson, formerly of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, is now head of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

Ray Troll is an artist with a special interest in natural history and ancient life.  Here is his painting “Night of the Ammonites” inspired by a visit to the Kremmling Ammonite Locality.

Artist Ray Troll’s picture of the Kremmling area, about 73 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, when most of Colorado was beneath the sea.  Picture Credit: Ray Troll

The large disk-shelled creatures are ammonites called Placenticeras.  The ones with narrow, straight, tapered shells are another kind of ammonite, called Baculites. The sharp-toothed swimming reptiles are called mosasaurs.  We have evidence from bite marks on ammonite shells that mosasaurs preyed on Placenticeras.  Over on the left are some strangely shaped small ammonites called Anaklinoceras.

The Kremmling site was featured by Earth Magazine, in a kind of online quiz called “Where on Earth.”  The page with the question and answer is HERE.

If you want to visit the Kremmling site, first pay a visit to the BLM office at 2103 E. Park Avenue, Kremmling.  They can advise you on road conditions.  At times it can be inaccessible, even for 4-wheel drive vehicles. Here is a sign at the site:

Warning sign at the Kremmling Ammonite protected area.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Here is an informational sign.  Collecting is prohibited within the site, but there are nearby areas where collecting is allowed.  Inquire at the BLM office.

Explanatory sign at the Kremmling site.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

The area is littered with boulders containing the impressions of giant Placenticeras ammonites.  The fossils themselves have been collected, many to museums.  Intact boulders containing ammonites lie under the surface and could be studied in the future.

Boulders with impressions of Placentideras ammonites.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Baculites (straight ammonites) are also rather common. 

A Placenticeras ammonite impression with a Baculites fossil (cylindrical object) on the same boulder.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Large clams called Inoceramus are rather common.  Here are some examples.

A large Inoceramus clam fossil.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

A boulder with impressions of Inoceramus clams.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

Emmett Evanoff, a professor at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, has been studying the paleontology of this area.  One odd thing is that the great majority of the Placenticeras fossils are of females.  (The males are distinguished by being much smaller and having coarse ribs on their shells.) He thinks this might have been a nesting site.  The males would have fertilized the eggs and then left, leaving the females to guard the eggs.  Katie DeBell was a student of Emmett’s who mapped out the ammonites on the surface and seems to know them all by number.  She lives in Kremmling and often gives tours, especially to school groups.  Here she is, pointing out some features of one of the ammonites.

Katie DeBell explaining some features of an ammonite in 2011.  Photo Credit: Wayne Itano

I have a vacation house in the mountains not far from Kremmling.  I happen to know a painter who is also a fossil enthusiast, named Terry McKee.  I commissioned him to do a painting of the Kremmling site when it was an ammonite nesting ground.  I also asked Dr. Evanoff for advice, and the three of us met to plan the painting.  Here it is, and the original is now hanging in my mountain house.

Painting of the Kremmling Ammonite nesting site.  The large ammonites are guarding their eggs.  Baculites and various smaller ammonites, swim above.  The small round ammonite on the left, facing left, between two of the straight baculites, is a male Placenticeras.  A mosasaur lurks in the background.  Picture Credit: Terry McKee

- Wayne Itano

Thank you very much, Mr. Itano, for the post!  The post was really interesting, and I know I learned a lot!  I found the part about the nesting site particularly interesting!  I have no doubt that my readers, as well as myself, would love to hear from you in the future!  Thanks again! - Zack Neher

Bronze Tree on Dwellable

23 Fact Tuesdays: Ceratosaurus, Octopi, Aye-aye, and More!

Introducing:  23 Fact Tuesdays!  I'm thinking that (possibly) each week, we can look at twenty-three different groups of....things....and we can learn a fun fact about them each week!  Many of these topics feature North America, as that is where both I and most of my readers reside, but other topics include penguins, fossil horses, fossil mammals, early humans, various fish and birds, dinosaurs, and many more!
Here they are!

Don't want to read all twenty-three!  Well, in my opinion, the best ones are 10, 14, 15, 17, 18, and 19!  Enjoy!

1.  Alaskan Mammals:  The Sitka black-tailed deer will graze on beach plants like dune grass and kelp during the lean season.

2.  Alaskan Fish:  The whitefish may fast for eight or nine months during the lean season, surviving off of their stored fat.

3.  Dinosaurs:  In 1883, Ceratosaurus was the first large meat eating, or Theropod, dinosaur skeleton that was discovered more than half complete.  The first skeleton was discovered in Colorado.

4.  Dinosaurian Contemporaries:  Lagosuchus was either the direct ancestor, or a close relative of the ancestor, of the dinosaurs.

5.  North American Birds of Prey:  The robin-sized American Kestrel is not only the smallest hawk in North America, but it is also the most common.

6.  Tideland Treasures of South Carolina:  The palmetto, which is the state tree of South Carolina, can live for 75 years, and grow to a height of 60 feet, with a 1 or 2 foot diameter.

7.  North American Mammals:  The least chipmunk, besides eating the usual rodent foods like nuts, will also dine on insects, and occasionally small vertebrates.

8.  North American Hoofed and Marine Mammals:  The sperm whale is the largest of the toothed whales.

9.  North American Birds:  The common goldeneye will often take over abandoned woodpecker nests.

10.  Fossil Mammals:  Despite the fact that primates no longer live in North America, many paleontologists think that they either evolved there or in Asia.

11.  Penguins:  Despite the fact that most people think of penguins living in cold, snowy climates, the king penguin typically forms colonies in the shelter of dense tussock grass.

12.  Fossil Horses:  One species of Hypohippus, H. osborni, had weak and infrequently used side toes.  Although not very exciting sounding, this is an important step from multi-toed horse ancestors to the one-toed horses that we know today. 

13.  Dinosaurs....Again!:  Ornithomimus, one of the "ostrich-dinosaurs," lived both in the states of Colorado and Montana, but also in the country of Tibet.

14.  Extreme Abilities:  In order to protect itself from various predators and to hunt its various prey, the amazing Indo-Malayan octopus can mimic an enormous variety of different animals, including flounder, sea snakes, crinoids, jellyfish, lionfish, hermit crabs, stingrays, brittlestars, stomatopods, and sea anemones, amongst many others.

15.  Extreme Movement:  Although this dude looks like a worm or something, the caecilian is actually a close relative of newts and salamanders.  It lives strictly underground, and is rarely seen, despite the fact that they can grow up to five feet long.

16.  Extreme Growth:  The ostrich is a serious record breaker amongst birds.  Not only does it when the tallest bird and heaviest bird awards, but it also is the fastest runner, has the biggest egg, and has the largest eyes.  In fact, the smallest bird on the planet, the tiny little bee hummingbird, could easily fit inside the eye of the ostrich!

 17.  Extreme Families:  The "Biggest Nest of Any Bird" Award goes to the orange-footed megapode, or the scrubfowl.  Although these nests are just on the ground (the biggest nests in trees are built by bald eagles), they are still very, very impressive.  On average, these nests can be 11.5 feet wide and 39 feet tall!  The biggest ever recorded, however, was a whopping 164 feet wide!

18.   Remarkable Mammals:  The aye-aye, possibly one of the creepiest looking animals in the natural world, is a type of lemur whose large incisor teeth grow continuously.

19.  Remarkable Birds:  Once thought to be the missing link between reptiles and birds, the South American Hoatzin hatches out of its egg with claws on its wing greatly resembling those of the ancient Late Jurassic bird Archaeopteryx.  These wing claws are not often, and maybe even never, found on birds today, with the obvious exception of the baby Hoatzin.  As the Hoatzin grows, its wing claws disappear.  

20.  Remarkable Fish:  The electric eel can discharge fifty volts from its body.

21.  Remarkable Reptiles and Amphibians:  The Cuban tree boa will position itself in small apertures in caves, striking with deadly accuracy at bats that fly out of the cave.  Remarkably, the snake will do this in complete darkness, somehow sensing where the bats are.

22.  Prehistoric Animals:  Like Lagosuchus, Effigia is another possible relative of the dinosaurs.

23.  The Evolution of Humans:  Homo heidelbergensis is thought to have been the last common ancestor between the Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) and us humans, Homo sapiens.