Penguins are Poop Shooters

S

spuriousmonkey

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Penguins seems to be extremely talented birds. Not only are they adapted to an oceanic life extremely well, they also have other more 'hidden' talents.

Penguins are capable of expelling their faeces with extreme force therefore avoiding fouling their nest and themselves. Recently researchers found that penguins can shoot their droppings (or shootings) as far as 40 cm away. The researchers calculated that the birds can generate a pressure of up to 60 kilopascals (Polar research, vol 27, p56: or New Scientist 10 jan 2004 p 17).
 
curioucity said:
Interesting. Does this happen to other hydrodynamic creatures (seals, maybe?)?
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I very much doubt that this ability evolved because of the time that penguins spend in the water. It's surely because they nest on the ice. Anything they set down stays right there, never decomposes, never evaporates.

Penguins nest, standing vertically, in huge, tightly crowded flocks. If a penguin excreted straight down like most birds, it would probably land on his feet. These are the only birds with feathers on their feet instead of scales, and those feathers protect those feet from the weather. If the integrity of the feathers and the air those feathers trap were compromised by liquid poop, their feet would freeze.

I believe that this adaptatation is a basic necessity for survival.
 
Also, some insects use this firing method of 'poop-shooting' to propel their faeces away from their nests (which they are constucting). This is because the predators that eat them can smell the faeces, and so they prpel it away to divert the attackers. Lovely stuff.
 
A number of ground-nesting birds with low preditory danger do this (ie bird w/ eggs on the ground who aren't too worried about the smell attracking preditors). You can locate a Blue Footed Boobie nest by the poop ring around it.
 
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