A ground squirrel usually loses about 80% of its body weight whilst hibernating.
The poop on gas and other stinky, gross things
The poop on gas and other stinky, gross things Did you know that some ancient fortune tellers
used poop to predict the future? And that some cultures use it for
fuel? And that in France during the late 1600s it was an honour to
speak to King Louis XIV while he relieved himself on his "throne"?
But do you know exactly what poop is? It's mostly undigested food
waste from the previous day's meals. It takes about 24 hours for
food to be digested and go through you. The waste includes plant
fibre, water, bacteria and pigments. When you digest food, it moves
from your stomach to your small intestine where nutrients from the
food are absorbed into your bloodstream and then carried to the
rest of your body. What remains is stuff that your body can't use
and this waste is pushed into your large intestine. Water in the
poop is absorbed by the large intestine into your blood and then
the poop starts clumping up and forming smaller poops. The movement
of these substances through your intestines is called "peristalsis"
and when you feel that you need to go to the bathroom, it's called
a "peristaltic rush". What happens then is that the powerful rectum
muscles, located in the last 30 cm of your large intestine,
contract and put pressure on the poop in your rectum. Finally you
squeeze with your stomach and abdominal muscles and the poop
finally comes out! Did you know that your small intestine is
actually long? It's about 6.5 metres long! What's small about it is
it's width - it is only about 2.5 cm wide. Your large intestine is
only about 1.5 metres long but is 6.5 cm wide. The colour of poop
comes from a substance found in bile, which is made in the
gallbladder and helps to digest fats. Bacteria in the large
intestine break-up the bile pigments to create a brown colour.
Constipation occurs when too much water is absorbed by the large
intestine and the poops are dry. They get stuck so it is not nice
when they finally come out! Diarrhoea occurs when something
irritates the inside of your intestines. The intestines want to get
rid of the irritation so they push the food out too quickly and
excess water is not absorbed. That is why diarrhoea is so runny!
And lastly - did you know that when researchers read English words
to non-English speaking people, the word they most often thought
was the most pretty was "diarrhoea"? 21 MARCH 2000
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