Weird and Fascinating Ways Animals Use Poop

For one, some eat it—like the dung beetle.

None of it smells like roses.

That’s conventional poop wisdom, but otter dung, called spraint, can sometimes smell like violets, according to entomologist Richard Jones, author of the new book Call of Nature: The Secret Life of Dung.

Such flowery feces made Weird Animal Question of the Week curious: "How do various animals use poop?"

This badger bathroom sends a message to other roving badgers that "this territory is already taken, and we’re very well fed and very strong," he says. (Read how rhinos use poop piles like a social network.)

The Egyptian vulture has a specific mission when it visits cow dung piles: Eating the yellow poop.

Not only does yellow dung contains nutrients—in particular carotenoids—but it intensifies

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