Why do wombats do cube-shaped poos?

Asked by: Aleyna Adamson, Wigan

Wombats are herbivores that are specialised to eat tough roots and grasses. They have an extremely slow digestion that takes up to 14 days to complete. Sitting in the tightly-packed stack of intestines for so long, the faeces form a roughly cuboid shape because it tessellates better into the available space. By the time they exit, the droppings are so dry and hard that the circular anus isn’t strong enough to squeeze them into a rounded shape.

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