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Talk about leftovers

I had just been talking to my almost four-year-old the other day about her mammoth poop, when I came across an article on Woolly Mammoth dung. They ate it. I wonder if this will feature in the next Ice Age movie.

In the gut of a four-ton adult male found in northern Russia, who entered the deep freeze twenty thousand years ago, scientists discovered fungal spores that only grow on dung exposed to air. This was considered further evidence that the Woolly Mammoths were in desperate times. They ate grass, but as the climate warmed, forests took over the landscape and took away their livelihood. Woolly Mammoths went extinct about ten thousand years ago. Humans have also been implicated, but climate change nows seems to be the main culprit.

Having dung like dinner is not totally random behaviour. Eating plants is tough work. Most animals need special bacteria to help. Bunnies commonly eat poop that has only gone through once. Cows take advantage of their gut bacteria by chewing their cud. The little useless bit in us known as the appendix is a great big thing in elephants (as most parts of elephants are). It stores bacteria for breaking down cellulose. But elephants are not that efficient at getting nutrition from the vegetation they eat, so they have to eat a lot and their dung still has a lot of good fibre left in it. Modern elephants are known to eat dung in desperate times and young Asian elephants eat the dung of their mothers, apparently to pick up bacteria capable of breaking down cellulose into digestible bits.

I was going to say I don't expect dung to be on my dinner table any time soon, but some people are into the world's most expensive coffee, which comes out the end of a civet cat.

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Survivors

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Comet Crisp

Artist: Jeff Kulak

Jeff is a senior graphic designer at Science World. His illustration work has been published in the Walrus, The National Post, Reader’s Digest and Chickadee Magazine. He loves to make music, ride bikes, and spend time in the forest.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Michelle Yong

Michelle is a designer with a focus on creating joyful digital experiences! She enjoys exploring the potential forms that an idea can express itself in and helping then take shape.

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

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Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.

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Time-Travel T-Rex

Artist: Ty Dale

From Canada, Ty was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1993. From his chaotic workspace he draws in several different illustrative styles with thick outlines, bold colours and quirky-child like drawings. Ty distils the world around him into its basic geometry, prompting us to look at the mundane in a different way.