Why Is Wombat Poop Square?

Common Name: Wombat

Scientific Name: Vombatus ursinus

(Try saying that three times fast...)

Type: Mammals, #WarmBlood everyone!

Diet: Herbivore, All about them leaves.

Group Name: (No, they don't have a group, this is more of a name for a collection of them like A lot of Geese is a Flock.) Mob, colony.

Suggestive sentence...? "That's a mob of Wombats." & "There goes the wombat colony."

Sizes: (On average) 28 to 47 inches

Weight: 32 to 80 pounds (Unlike me, I'm in the wrong species and like Burger King too much)

Wombats are well known as being excellent diggers! They're a lot like these little groundhog rat things. Like... Imagine! A Groundhog and a large squirrel mated and from them emerged a very fat Groundhog-squirrel with like no significant tail to speak of... Like! Imagine a... capybara, but less cute.

Yes! That. Okay, THAT is a Wombat and just a crazy thought... Wombats have square poops. Now, this is not just any old bit of information I have found in life. I was not merely flipping through National Geographic and finding an article on Wombat poop.

(Although that's something I'd do, don't judge.)

No! This started at my wonderful job, at Home Depot. Side-stepping, yes, I love to write and I cover fantasies and poems, songs, and now crazy facts- but one does need to make a living and that is mine! Retail. Living isn't the word... But you get by! Ayy... Anyway!

Back in Receiving, my boss is horribly complexed about something...

(Which is normal)

Because he found a terribly odd and interesting fact!

(Also normal for him)

BUT IT TURNS OUT! Wombat poop is square... annnnd he wanted to know why. Why is the poop of these creatures, resembling that of a dirt block... on Minecraft... with seeds?

Well, I'll tell you, Sir and the rest of you lovely readers.

Once upon a time, a scientist wanted to know why as well. So as most scientists do.. they dissected a recently deceased Wombat whom of which was recently hit by a car. RIP Wombat. I really hope that incident and the curiosity were not related... But anyway!

From this, they discovered that the Wombat has grooved tissues, and their muscles contract to make perfect little cube poops. Bare-nosed wombats are renowned for making almost perfectly flawless cube-shaped poops. The ability to form relatively perfect, clean-cut faeces is rare.

For humans, food goes through the body in one or two days- however, a wombat's digestive process can take up to four times longer than that of a humans. So, the Wombat can get all of the possible nutritional content from its food-bites. The Wombat also produces poop that is much drier than human feces -- because they are better at extracting water from the intestine.

But it wasn't always like this, thats right! Wombat poop was not always square... so, that of course leaves the major question... WHY!? Why did the Wombat evolve to create little poop cubes?

A scientist, Hu, believes that it's actually because Wombats will climb things such as rocks and trees to mark their territory and the flat side of these odd little square poops are far less likely to roll off of these surfaces as opposed to the typical cylinder-like poops we know of.

Another fun fact about this odd little Australian marsupial is that the Wombat poops out about 100 square poops a day. That's like enough to build its own Minecraft home in two to three days.

With this in mind... I'm not all that sure of what anyone is supposed to do with that information other than... If you live in Australia... Don't pick up the brown squares. But yes! Wombat poop is square and that is why.