Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren voc Obam, and I've got a
Speaker 1: classic episode for you today from our former host, Christian Sagar.
Speaker 1: And it's one of those gross but pressing questions about
Speaker 1: the world around us. Why is bird poop white? Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, it's Christian Sager. Today's question is pretty gross. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's give it a go. Have you ever washed a
Speaker 1: car just to have a bird poop on it a
Speaker 1: few minutes later? It's sad when you think about it.
Speaker 1: Despite the wealth of technological and social innovations across the
Speaker 1: span of human history, we still can't stop birds from
Speaker 1: flying around crapping on whatever they want anytime anywhere. A
Speaker 1: bird actually pooped on my dog's head the other day.
Speaker 1: And look, this is not normal poop. It's white, sometimes
Speaker 1: with a dark spot in it. But why why is
Speaker 1: bird poop white? Well, the answer here is it isn't.
Speaker 1: At least, bird poop isn't all white. It's a mix
Speaker 1: of colors, and it can vary with the species of
Speaker 1: the bird or its diet, but there's definitely white stuff
Speaker 1: in there. Right. Well, it all comes down to streamlining.
Speaker 1: Birds are like any other animal they take in food,
Speaker 1: process it for energy and excrete waste. However, where mammals
Speaker 1: like deer elephants or bill murray have two different excretion
Speaker 1: systems like urine and feces, bird biology ain't got time
Speaker 1: for that. Birds don't even have separate exits for their
Speaker 1: waste and reproductive systems. Instead of the genitalia anous combo
Speaker 1: so popular in the mammalion world, birds have a one
Speaker 1: stop shop called the cloaca. It's the entrance exit point
Speaker 1: for the intestines, urinary tract, and reproductive system. Yep. Think
Speaker 1: about that for a second. Birds also process the food
Speaker 1: they eat in a different way. We mammals break down
Speaker 1: protein and produce nitrogenous waste, but we make it into urrea,
Speaker 1: which we dissolve into water and excrete as urine. This
Speaker 1: takes a lot of water, which means we have to
Speaker 1: drink lots of it and also means we don't do
Speaker 1: well in places without much water. Birds take a different approach,
Speaker 1: and one that conserves water. Instead of dissolving that waste
Speaker 1: into urine, they primarily excrete something called uric acid. It's
Speaker 1: a solid pasty junk that's the white stuff in a way.
Speaker 1: Birds aren't just pooping on our cars, statues, buildings, and
Speaker 1: occasionally very unlucky people looking up with their mouths open.
Speaker 1: They're also peeing. And here's why. Remember how earlier I
Speaker 1: mentioned this was all about streamlining. Birds aren't trying to
Speaker 1: conserve water out of some strange sense of environmental responsibility.
Speaker 1: They've evolved to reduce their weight and carrying all that
Speaker 1: extra water around to produce urine. It just doesn't make sense.
Speaker 1: There are also, and I can't believe I'm saying this,
Speaker 1: pros and cons to bird poop. Pro it's a great fertilizer. Con,
Speaker 1: it can carry a wealth of diseases. Also, it's been
Speaker 1: used as a cosmetic of facial cleanser. True story. Well,
Speaker 1: if it's a pro or con, that's up to you.
Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by Ben Bolan and produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Clang. Brain Stuff is a production of iHeart Radios
Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. For more in this and lots of
Speaker 1: other gross but interesting topics, visit our home planet how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot com. Plus for more podcasts for my
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you listen to your favorite shows.