Why do wombats have cube-shaped poop?

[jim mcnamara]

http://meetings.aps.org/Meeting/DFD18/Session/E19.1 link to presentation
https://gizmodo.com/we-finally-know-how-wombats-produce-their-distinctly-cu-1830414749

This may belong in Fluid dynamics. It is begin presented at an APS Fluid Dynamics seminar. @boneh3ad might know more.

Wombats (Australian marsupial, herbivore) apparently collect their dried poop cubes and stack them. The last 8% of the alimentary canal shapes the fecal matter into cubes as it dries, using variable intestinal wall resistance. The gizmodo article explains it in more detail. The fecal stacking behavior is possibly the why behind creating cubes. (my guess).

The APS abstract suggests the wombat approach may have manufacturing potential as a new method.

 

[Vanadium 50]

I had no idea. It certainly explains their bad temper, though!

 

[boneh3ad]

At least based on the Gizmodo article, this seems almost so obvious as to not even really be a conclusion. "It is a cube because the walls of the colon push more on the middle than near the corners" is essentially what this say, and that seems more like a requirement for this to happen rather than a means of doing so. The more impressive feat would be having square ends, which wasn't addressed in the article.

Also, who funded this study?

I stopped going to APS DFD a year or two ago because few people from my field show up anymore, but it is generally filled with strange talks like this.