Well, yes, it is true we are addicted to Poop (the book Poop of course!) Every page of this little book is full of fascinating facts on poop. We have been reading and learning in every spare minute and just have to share our new learning. (For Poop Part 1 read here) Nicola Davies and Neal Layton have created a book to keep you busy learning, reading and stopping to say “Really? Wow!” all on the topic of poop.

We learned that many predators use poop as clues to where to find their prey. So many animal parents get rid of their young’s poop to keep their babies safe and hidden. Jenny had a connection. “So it’s just like you can follow footprints, poop can be like a trail to lead them to the prey.”

We learned that golden moles in Africa stay underground all of the time to avoid being eaten. So they make one chamber in their large burrow just for pooping in. This prompted much discussion.

Ricky wondered, “But if that chamber gets full . . . do they just make a new one?”  Jena suggested that the moles could fill that chamber, close it off and then dig a new one. Kevin pointed out “This is just like we make a bathroom place in our houses.” (Unfortunately moles don’t have that flush feature that is so handy for us!) Miami asked, “Do they eat their poop to get rid of it?” This is not a farfetched questions as we had just read about rabbits eating their feces to get more nutrients out of it.

We then read about latrines (animal toilets) of the giant otters in South America. They use their latrines as more than just a toilet. They make a large flat area on the riverbank and poop all over it. This big smelly area is like a sign that says stay away: we made all of this poop, it is our area! The students found this quite amusing. “Like a big sign to say stay away!” “It’s a poop shield. You can’t get to us!”

We continued to read more intersting poop facts and Ricky piped up. “Scientists want to know things and they learn a lot of them from poop. They even studied dinosaur poop – prehistoric poop!” “I want to be a poop scientist,” said Eddy. “A poopologist,” suggested Josiah.

We then read about sloths and how they climb down their tree and poop every four days. Jenny wondered if they poop really slowly too. Good question!

At the end of our reading I asked students to share their new learning. Here is some of what they said.

Miami “Sloths eat lots and lots of leaves.”

Lisa “If sloths poo, they go down the tree to do it in a big pile and then back up every 4 days.”

Kevin “Sloths sniff other sloths poo to see what’s happening.”

Edwin “It’s weird that sloths have poo piles near each other. If they made them together, it would be huge.”

Jena “Some animals sniff other animals poo to know what is going on like who is pregnant.”

Ricky “Male hippos wiggle their tail when they poo to tell other hippos they are fierce and strong. The poo sprays everywhere.”

Have we tempted you yet to go and read this book?