Pooseum, 22 Bridge Street, Richmond (2026)

16/10/2026

Can gorillas rescued from illegal wildlife trafficking simply be released back into the wild?

A new international study has shown how DNA extracted from gorilla faeces and hair could help identify where gorillas rescued from the illegal wildlife trade originally came from.

Rescued gorillas often arrive at sanctuaries with no records of where they were captured. Releasing them into an area inhabited by a different gorilla population or subspecies could have serious genetic and ecological consequences.

To build a genetic reference database, researchers analysed DNA from faecal and hair samples collected from 280 wild gorillas across Central and East Africa. They then developed a method to predict a gorilla's geographical origin with an average error of just 65 kilometres.

Comparing DNA from rescued gorillas with this reference database can help identify their geographical origins and guide decisions about their potential return to the wild.

The study demonstrates how something as simple as poo or hair can become an effective tool in wildlife conservation.

Source: https://bioengineer.org/gorilla-dna-from-dung-and-hair-reveals-hidden-populations-and-pinpoints-trafficked-apes-origins/

15/10/2026

Can blue poo reveal how smart you are?

This is the headline of a recent BBC article about a research project at the University of Southampton in the UK. Even the university's own website claims that a blue poo test “could reveal if you are smarter than your neighbours”.

The researchers are using a simple method to investigate possible connections between gut transit time and brain function. Participants eat muffins containing blue food colouring and record how long it takes for their stools to turn blue. This provides an estimate of how quickly food passes through their digestive system. Participants are then asked to complete online tasks designed to assess their problem-solving skills and decision-making under pressure.

The research is part of a wider investigation into the gut–brain axis, particularly the relationship between intestinal transit time and cognitive function. The scientists hope to publish their findings next year.

Both the BBC's headline and the university’s article suggest a link between intestinal transit time and intelligence, which is misleading and scientifically problematic.

Gut transit time is not a measure of intelligence. It is influenced by numerous factors, including diet, hydration, medication, physical activity and gastrointestinal motility. There is no established scientific evidence that the speed at which food travels through your intestines is an indicator of your intelligence.

Furthermore, cognitive function and intelligence are not interchangeable concepts. Cognitive functions such as attention, memory and concentration can fluctuate without any change in a person's underlying intelligence.

Even if the researchers discover an association between gut transit time and cognitive performance (not intelligence), correlation does not establish causation. Such a finding would not necessarily mean that changing transit time would improve cognitive performance, let alone intelligence.

The gut–brain axis, the complex two-way communication system between the digestive tract and the brain involving neural, hormonal and immune pathways, all of which can be influenced by the gut microbiota, is a fascinating and legitimate area of scientific research.

But reducing such a complex relationship to the suggestion that the speed at which your poo travels through your intestines could reveal how smart you are does the science a disservice.

I understand that journalists sometimes use sensationalist headlines, particularly for subjects that might otherwise attract little attention, but I would have expected greater scientific accuracy from both the BBC and the University of Southampton in their reporting on this research project.

Article: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cmq8nxjpqx1qo

05/10/2026

Art made with poo.

This stunning artwork of the Shot Tower in Taroona, Tasmania, was created over four months and generously donated to the Pooseum by Ewen Welsh. It was painted with wombat, wallaby, quoll, Tasmanian devil, and native hen poo.

Welsh is a versatile artist based in Tasmania. Originally from England, he moved to Australia in 2007 and launched The Artistic Rabbit’s Studio in 2021. He is the recipient of several awards, and his work is held in private collections and institutions around the world.

Welsh will also be one of the jurors for the 2027 POO-TASTIC AUSTRALIAN ART PRIZE, the Pooseum’s Australia-wide poo painting competition. Details will be announced on the Pooseum website next year.

The Shot Tower artwork was created on a piece of sealed MDF painted white, with the initial drawing done in pencil and charcoal.

The tower and adjacent building were painted using fermented wallaby poo, with wombat poo used for shading and depth.

The sky and clouds were created with diluted quoll and wallaby poo, while the river was painted with Tasmanian devil poo over a light base layer of willow charcoal.

The trees and surrounding landscape are predominantly native hen poo, with wombat poo used for shading and depth.

The fine white details were created by slightly moistening the poo pigment and carefully scratching into the surface with a pin.

In total, approximately twenty coats of poo pigment and Delacroix fixative were applied, followed by two coats of varnish.

04/10/2026

When manure stops smelling, it can be deadly.

Manure can produce several gases, including hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, ammonia and methane. Of these, hydrogen sulfide is particularly dangerous because it is highly toxic and can cause rapid poisoning at high concentrations. At low concentrations, it has a distinctive rotten-egg smell and can cause irritation, headache, dizziness and nausea. At higher concentrations, hydrogen sulfide can rapidly impair the sense of smell, so the characteristic odour may be difficult to detect even though the gas is still present. This makes smell an unreliable warning of danger. Exposure to high concentrations of hydrogen sulfide can cause sudden collapse, respiratory failure and death within minutes.

The other gases produced by manure also pose serious risks. Carbon dioxide, an odourless gas that is heavier than air, can build up in enclosed or poorly ventilated spaces, reducing oxygen levels and potentially causing unconsciousness and death. Ammonia can severely irritate or damage the eyes and respiratory tract, and exposure to high concentrations can be fatal. Methane, an odourless gas that is lighter than air, is highly flammable and can form explosive mixtures with air.

Therefore, anyone working around stored manure needs to take proper safety precautions, including ensuring good ventilation and monitoring the air for dangerous gases.

03/10/2026

During the mating season (rut), some male deer deliberately spray urine over the underside of their bodies. The strong smell signals to both females and rival males that they are ready to mate.

29/09/2026

Weird question, I know, but do plants grow faster when their seeds are mixed with the dung of a fast animal?

The Blackfoot (Niitsitapi) people of the North American Plains traditionally grew to***co as part of important ceremonial practices. When planting to***co seeds, they were very particular about the type of animal dung they used.

According to early 20th-century accounts by American anthropologist Clark Wissler, young men were sent to collect droppings from animals known for their speed, such as deer, pronghorn and mountain sheep. The dung of elk and moose, on the other hand, was avoided because these animals were considered slow, and their dung was believed to delay the growth of the to***co plants.

The dung was mixed with mashed serviceberries (small native North American berries), to***co leaves and water before to***co seeds were added. This mixture was then distributed among the planters, who included both men and women.

Planting to***co had much more meaning than simply growing a crop. It formed part of an important Blackfoot ceremonial tradition that included a four-day feast, during which people sang and danced.

There is, of course, no scientific evidence that dung from a fast-running animal makes plants grow faster. The practice is, however, an interesting example of how people linked the traits of animals to the potency of their dung.

23/09/2026

Dung beetles regularly travel in boxes by express post between Tasmania and South Australia, and they’re very noisy passengers!

Since 2021, Tasmania and South Australia have been swapping thousands of dung beetles. Different dung beetle species are active at different times of the year. In winter, thousands of Bubas bison dung beetles are collected in South Australia and sent to North West Tasmania. This species is particularly active during the colder months, when Tasmania has relatively few dung beetles burying livestock excrement. In 2026 alone, 8,400 Bubas bison beetles travelled from South Australia to Tasmania.

Tasmania returns the favour by sending South Australia thousands of blue bomber dung beetles (Geotrupes spiniger), which are active during warmer parts of the year and help fill a seasonal gap there. This year, 11,000 blue bombers were sent from Tasmania to South Australia, and an additional 5,000 were personally delivered.

So why go to all this trouble? Both dung beetle species are tunnelers. They dig tunnels beneath animal dung and carry portions of it underground where females lay their eggs, so the developing larvae have something to feed on after they hatch.

Burying dung for egg laying is not only good for the larvae. By doing so, the beetles return nutrients to the soil, improve soil structure and water infiltration, and reduce the amount of excrement left on the surface, which removes breeding sites for flies and helps keep fly numbers down.

The aim of the exchange between South Australia and Tasmania is to establish populations of different species whose periods of activity complement one another, providing dung-burying beetles for as much of the year as possible.

Before being shipped, the dung beetles are counted, carefully washed to remove faeces and soil, packed into ventilated containers, and then sent by express post. The exchange will continue until both species are well established in their new states.

📷 Geotrupes spiniger, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

19/09/2026

Would you bully someone just to eat their vomit? 🤢

A male common bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed Bubbles, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef appears to have developed an unexpected way of getting a free meal: researchers observed him targeting individual bigeye trevallies, pursuing them until they regurgitated recently eaten food, and then consuming it as the fish swam away. Bigeye trevallies are carnivorous fish that feed on other marine animals.

Bubbles begins by swimming slowly around a school of fish, then focuses on a particular trevally and gives chase, closely pursuing the same individual while ignoring other fish nearby. Eventually, the trevally regurgitates, at which point Bubbles ends the chase and feeds on the regurgitated prey or prey remains. He then returns to the school and starts all over again. During one observation, he repeated the behaviour 10 times in just 30 minutes.

This behaviour is a form of kleptoparasitism, a term for obtaining food by stealing something another animal has caught or collected. Kleptoparasitism as a feeding strategy is rarely reported in marine mammals. The researchers believe their observations provide the first evidence of this behaviour in a cetacean. So far, it has not been observed in any other dolphin.

The fish appear to regurgitate their recently eaten food because of the stress of being chased. Bubbles also produces intense echolocation clicks and repeated low-frequency sounds during the chase, which might increase the fish’s stress.

Another possibility is that, because dolphins can use echolocation to distinguish incredibly fine details about objects, Bubbles might be able to detect differences in the gut contents of individual fish, helping him choose those most likely to provide a worthwhile meal. More research is needed to establish what role these sounds play.

Source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.74270

15/09/2026

What a difference eight years make! 😄

Photos taken a few weeks after the Pooseum opened in 2018 and in September 2026.

12/09/2026

Indian researchers have found that biochar made from human faecal sludge can partially replace cement in concrete and, at the right concentration, significantly improve its strength.

Concrete is made from sand, gravel or crushed stone, water and cement, which is primarily manufactured using limestone. Cement production is responsible for roughly 7–8% of global carbon dioxide emissions because CO₂ is released both from the fuel used to heat the limestone and from the limestone itself.

Researchers at Manipal University Jaipur in India investigated whether some of this cement could be replaced with biochar made from human faecal sludge. Sludge from a treatment plant was converted into biochar through pyrolysis, in which organic material is heated to high temperatures with little or no oxygen, then ground into a fine powder and added to concrete.

After 91 days of curing, replacing 5% of the cement increased compressive strength (resistance to crushing) by 20% and flexural strength (resistance to breaking when bent) by 36%. At 10% replacement, the increases were even greater: 21% and 42%, respectively. At 15% and higher, however, the concrete became progressively weaker than the 5% and 10% mixtures.

Although human faecal biochar cannot completely replace cement, the study suggests that replacing even a fraction of this carbon-intensive material with a continuously generated waste product could reduce concrete’s environmental impact.

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