1 00:00:00,960 --> 00:00:03,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to How Stuff Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 2 00:00:03,880 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: a researcher and writer. Here at How Stuff Works. Every week, 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 4 00:00:12,600 --> 00:00:16,560 Speaker 1: weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 5 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,640 Speaker 1: This week, sand is in such high demand and construction 6 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:24,120 Speaker 1: markets around the world that people are stealing tons of it. 7 00:00:24,760 --> 00:00:29,240 Speaker 1: And unrelated, it turns out that white rhinos communicate via 8 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 1: massive communal poop piles. But First, Senior editor Katherine Whitborren 9 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: and our freelance writer Alia Hoyt take us behind the 10 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:41,400 Speaker 1: scenes of medical research. Clinical trials make amazing new treatments 11 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: possible and safe, but here in the United States, they 12 00:00:44,200 --> 00:00:47,519 Speaker 1: struggle to find participants. Here's why and what you can 13 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:53,640 Speaker 1: do to help. Dave Bexfield of Albuquerque, New Mexico, was 14 00:00:53,680 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in two thousand and six. Three 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: years later, he applied for a clinical trial sponsored by 16 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,360 Speaker 1: the National Institutes of Health that involved a stem cell transplant. 17 00:01:03,720 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: Bexfield says the trial saved his life. Within a few 18 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,039 Speaker 1: months of completion, in twenty ten, he could walk again 19 00:01:09,120 --> 00:01:12,920 Speaker 1: without a cane or a walker. Participation levels in clinical 20 00:01:12,959 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: trials are often very low, even for patients with terminal diseases. 21 00:01:16,800 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: Doctor Julie M. Vos, immediate past president of the American 22 00:01:20,200 --> 00:01:23,640 Speaker 1: Society of Clinical Oncology, told us that only about three 23 00:01:23,680 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: percent of adopt patients with cancer participate in clinical trials. 24 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:30,920 Speaker 1: This low rate limits patient access to new interventions that 25 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:35,440 Speaker 1: could treat or even cure their cancer. In fact, analysis 26 00:01:35,480 --> 00:01:38,679 Speaker 1: of cancer trials found that a whopping forty of them 27 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,880 Speaker 1: were unable to enroll the minimum number of participants. Another 28 00:01:41,959 --> 00:01:45,200 Speaker 1: survey showed only thirty five percent of Americans said they 29 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:48,000 Speaker 1: were likely to enroll in a clinical trial. So why 30 00:01:48,120 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: don't more people participate in trials, even if it might 31 00:01:50,640 --> 00:01:53,560 Speaker 1: save their lives? Here are some reasons. Number one, they 32 00:01:53,560 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: don't know what's available. People diagnosed with diseases often mistakenly 33 00:01:57,240 --> 00:02:00,080 Speaker 1: assumed that their doctor will suggest appropriate clinical trials if 34 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: they're out there. Although some physicians are very dialed into 35 00:02:02,920 --> 00:02:05,880 Speaker 1: ongoing research, many aren't or simply don't have time to 36 00:02:05,920 --> 00:02:08,880 Speaker 1: sit through all the opportunities for their patients. So in 37 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: addition to asking your doctor directly about clinical studies, you 38 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: can also check a number of online resources that can 39 00:02:14,639 --> 00:02:17,679 Speaker 1: help you find them. The National Institute of Health website 40 00:02:17,919 --> 00:02:22,320 Speaker 1: lists several databases, including clinical Trials dot gov, which allows 41 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:26,200 Speaker 1: users to search by condition or location. Breast Cancer Trials 42 00:02:26,240 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: dot org is another disease specific option where you can 43 00:02:29,760 --> 00:02:33,000 Speaker 1: be matched with an appropriate study. Search for finding clinical 44 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:36,880 Speaker 1: trials to learn more. Number two, the trial locations are inconvenient. 45 00:02:37,280 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: Geography is a major problem with clinical trials because they 46 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,040 Speaker 1: tend to be in specific locations that are often not 47 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: convenient to patients. Vicky Carr is our breast cancer survivor 48 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: and patient advocate for Susan G. Coleman, who lives outside Washington, 49 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,000 Speaker 1: d C. For four years, she's taken a bus trip 50 00:02:53,040 --> 00:02:55,519 Speaker 1: every four weeks for a trial that will hopefully prevent 51 00:02:55,560 --> 00:02:59,480 Speaker 1: her cancer from returning and spreading. Another example, the multiple 52 00:02:59,520 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: scross a study that Dave Bexfield participated in, required ten 53 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: round trip flights from Albuquerque to Houston, including initial treatment 54 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:09,440 Speaker 1: and follow up trips. His cost eventually were covered by 55 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,560 Speaker 1: insurance company after a big fight. But not everyone has 56 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:15,360 Speaker 1: the luxury of taking so much time off work. But 57 00:03:15,480 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 1: before you ride off a possibly life saving study, it's 58 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,239 Speaker 1: important to know the terms because some trials will pay 59 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: for travel and hotel expenses. Number three, Patients worry about 60 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:28,240 Speaker 1: getting the placebo. A lot of people are afraid of 61 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,680 Speaker 1: going through all that trouble of participating in a trial 62 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 1: to only wind up in the group that gets the 63 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:35,520 Speaker 1: sugar pill instead of the drug. But nowadays trials are 64 00:03:35,520 --> 00:03:38,600 Speaker 1: designed to be more patient friendly. For instance, there might 65 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:41,520 Speaker 1: be several treatment groups and a single placebo group, so 66 00:03:41,560 --> 00:03:44,040 Speaker 1: the chances of receiving the placebo may only be twenty 67 00:03:44,040 --> 00:03:48,040 Speaker 1: five to thirty three percent. Crossover designs also allow every 68 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: participant to receive the drug at some point during the trial. 69 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:54,440 Speaker 1: Another incentive is the open label extension trial. This is 70 00:03:54,480 --> 00:03:57,280 Speaker 1: a special trial that allows participants who complete the main 71 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: trial to have guaranteed access to the drug at the 72 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: end of it. Also, in the case of cancer trials, 73 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: people in either group will get at least the current 74 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:08,400 Speaker 1: standard of care for their condition. No one goes without treatment. 75 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: Number four reason Patients also worry about safety. They hear 76 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:15,520 Speaker 1: the word clinical trial and figure that the drug being 77 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:18,200 Speaker 1: tested could really harm them, But by the time it 78 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:20,440 Speaker 1: gets to the stage of being tested on humans, the 79 00:04:20,480 --> 00:04:22,880 Speaker 1: researchers have already tested this out on cells grown in 80 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:25,600 Speaker 1: a lab, as well as on animals. These are called 81 00:04:25,760 --> 00:04:30,320 Speaker 1: preclinical studies. Clinical trials are done only after preclinical studies 82 00:04:30,320 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: suggest that the treatment is likely to be safe and 83 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,719 Speaker 1: will work in people. The research must also be approved 84 00:04:35,720 --> 00:04:38,919 Speaker 1: by the u S Food and Drug Administration. The researchers 85 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,440 Speaker 1: and doctors we spoke with for this story emphasize the 86 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: need to have a wider pool of study subjects. Clinical 87 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: trials need both men and women of all races and 88 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: ages to be sure that a treatment will work on everyone. 89 00:04:50,760 --> 00:04:52,440 Speaker 1: And by the way, you don't have to be sick 90 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: to participate in a clinical trial. Lots of them are 91 00:04:55,160 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: looking for healthy volunteers. Next up, staff writer Joe McCormick, 92 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,760 Speaker 1: who's also the co host of a podcast you might 93 00:05:04,800 --> 00:05:07,120 Speaker 1: have heard of called Stuff to Blow Your Mind, presents 94 00:05:07,120 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: a story from our freelancer Dave Ruse about the strange 95 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:18,840 Speaker 1: and very serious world of the sand mafia. As strange 96 00:05:18,880 --> 00:05:21,679 Speaker 1: as it may sound, sand is one of the world's 97 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:26,800 Speaker 1: hottest commodities. The global construction boom has created an insatiable 98 00:05:26,839 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: appetite for sand, the chief ingredient in making concrete. The 99 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:34,279 Speaker 1: problem is that sand isn't as abundant as it used 100 00:05:34,320 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 1: to be, and when high demand and high value. Meet scarcity, 101 00:05:38,240 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 1: you open the doors to smuggling. Meet the sand mafia. 102 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:48,320 Speaker 1: In India, illegal sand mining is the country's largest organized 103 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: criminal activity. In inland villages, armed sand mafia's steel land 104 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: in order to strip its top soil and extract the 105 00:05:56,600 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: layers of valuable sand beneath along the posts. Pirate dredging 106 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 1: vessels siphon sand from the seafloor in broad daylight, with 107 00:06:05,240 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: bribed officials turning a blind eye. The Pilford sand fetches 108 00:06:09,800 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: a good price on the black market, where it is 109 00:06:12,240 --> 00:06:15,960 Speaker 1: sold to construction companies building high rises in mega cities 110 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:20,479 Speaker 1: like Mumbai. According to journalist Vince Bisser, who wrote about 111 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: sand theft for Wired and The New York Times, people 112 00:06:23,520 --> 00:06:27,720 Speaker 1: who resist the mafia are beaten or killed, including police officers. 113 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:32,880 Speaker 1: Filmmaker Dennis Dellastroc witnessed similar tactics in Morocco while shooting 114 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: Sand Wars, a documentary about the global sand trade and 115 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: its environmental impact. According to Dellastrac, quote, the sand of 116 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:45,360 Speaker 1: mafia in Morocco is the second most powerful criminal organization 117 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,839 Speaker 1: in the country. We saw people with shovels taking every 118 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:51,920 Speaker 1: last grain of sand from the beach where a few 119 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: years ago you used to have a very thick and 120 00:06:54,480 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: white beach. Now you have this lunar landscape. It's devastating. 121 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:04,200 Speaker 1: Environmental officials estimate that half of Morocco's construction sector is 122 00:07:04,200 --> 00:07:08,600 Speaker 1: built with stolen sand. The irony, says Dellastroc, is that 123 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: much of the stolen sand is used to build housing 124 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: for foreign tourists who are flocking to Morocco precisely because 125 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:18,680 Speaker 1: of its beaches. If both legal and illegal sand mining 126 00:07:18,720 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: persists at its current rate in places like Morocco, India, 127 00:07:22,400 --> 00:07:26,400 Speaker 1: and across Asia, there may be few beaches left. The 128 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:31,240 Speaker 1: United Nations Environment Program reported in that quote, sand and 129 00:07:31,280 --> 00:07:34,960 Speaker 1: gravel represent the highest volume of raw material used on 130 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:39,800 Speaker 1: Earth after water. Their use greatly exceeds natural renewal rates. 131 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,239 Speaker 1: Dellastrac claims that eight of everything built on our planet 132 00:07:44,320 --> 00:07:47,760 Speaker 1: is built out of concrete, and concrete uses a whole 133 00:07:47,800 --> 00:07:51,240 Speaker 1: lot of sand. It takes thirty thousand tons or more 134 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: than twenty seven thousand metric tons of sand to construct 135 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:58,600 Speaker 1: one kilometer of highway. It takes about two hundred tons 136 00:07:58,680 --> 00:08:00,760 Speaker 1: or about a hundred and eighty men trick tons to 137 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: build the average concrete house. Reports Coastal Care, a nonprofit 138 00:08:05,480 --> 00:08:10,200 Speaker 1: foundation dedicated to beach conservation. According to a report from 139 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:14,160 Speaker 1: the International Monetary Fund, the Birj Khalifa Tower in Dubai, 140 00:08:14,360 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: the world's tallest building, required more than a hundred and 141 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,760 Speaker 1: twenty one thousand tons or about a hundred and ten 142 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,640 Speaker 1: thousand metric tons of concrete and over one point six 143 00:08:24,720 --> 00:08:29,280 Speaker 1: million square meters of glass. Another industrial commodity that's a 144 00:08:29,280 --> 00:08:33,839 Speaker 1: massive consumer of sand, Dubai represents another of the great 145 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:37,920 Speaker 1: tragic ironies of the global sand trade. This booming desert 146 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:42,119 Speaker 1: outposts surrounded by endless seas of sand dunes, must import 147 00:08:42,240 --> 00:08:46,240 Speaker 1: most of its construction sand from Australia. That's because desert 148 00:08:46,320 --> 00:08:50,280 Speaker 1: sand is too smooth and fine. The rough angular sand 149 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:52,960 Speaker 1: required to make concrete can only be found in or 150 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,520 Speaker 1: near water or an ancient seabed deposits underground. Of course, 151 00:08:57,640 --> 00:09:00,800 Speaker 1: Dubai isn't alone in its hunger for concrete. According to 152 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:04,800 Speaker 1: a twenty fourteen UN report on global urbanization, fifty four 153 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: percent of the world's population now lives in urban areas, 154 00:09:07,960 --> 00:09:12,000 Speaker 1: including twenty eight mega cities, Sprawling urban areas with more 155 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: than ten million people. The global sand trade generates seventy 156 00:09:16,120 --> 00:09:20,079 Speaker 1: billion dollars a year to mine, dredge, extract, and ship 157 00:09:20,200 --> 00:09:24,000 Speaker 1: enough raw material to meet the explosive demand for urban housing. 158 00:09:24,679 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: How long though, until we run out of sand? It 159 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,000 Speaker 1: takes twenty thousand years for the natural process of sand 160 00:09:31,000 --> 00:09:35,280 Speaker 1: formations as dellastrak. Ocean sand begins its journey high in 161 00:09:35,320 --> 00:09:39,360 Speaker 1: the mountains, where erosive forces slowly break rocks into smaller 162 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: and smaller pieces that are eventually carried by streams and 163 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:46,720 Speaker 1: rivers into the sea. The ocean floor contains a surprisingly 164 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:50,800 Speaker 1: thin layer of sand. Most large deposits are found on beaches. 165 00:09:51,640 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: The scarcity of natural sand makes beaches and shorelines the 166 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:58,880 Speaker 1: ripest targets for both legal and illegal sand mining. The 167 00:09:59,000 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: environmental impact of large scale sand excavation can be disastrous. 168 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: More than two dozen small islands in Indonesia have disappeared 169 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:11,760 Speaker 1: due to runaway erosion caused by offshore dredging operations. In 170 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: the United States, a sim x sand mining California's Monterey 171 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:20,160 Speaker 1: Bay is blamed by environmentalists for rapid coastal erosion. John 172 00:10:20,200 --> 00:10:24,120 Speaker 1: gillis a retired history professor from Rutger's University and author 173 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:27,960 Speaker 1: of The Human Shore Sea coasts in history, says the 174 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 1: most immediate human victims of sand mining and sand theft 175 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:35,079 Speaker 1: are poor fishing communities in the Third World. Quote as 176 00:10:35,160 --> 00:10:38,600 Speaker 1: sand gains value in scarcity and becomes a commodity, you 177 00:10:38,640 --> 00:10:42,600 Speaker 1: see what happens. It disrupts not just the biological systems 178 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:46,240 Speaker 1: of these places, but also the social systems, driving people 179 00:10:46,280 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: away from their very tenuous hold on the shore. But 180 00:10:50,120 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: if sand mining is left unchecked, the damage to coastal 181 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: ecosystems could start swallowing up beaches closer to home. One 182 00:10:57,440 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: more thing, documentary filmmaker Deleastra says that large scale recycling 183 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:06,160 Speaker 1: of industrial materials, especially glass and concrete, is one way 184 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,360 Speaker 1: to curb the appetite for natural sand. In Denmark, attacks 185 00:11:10,400 --> 00:11:14,160 Speaker 1: on extracting raw materials has created an incentive for companies 186 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: to recycle. In nineteen five, only twelve percent of construction 187 00:11:18,520 --> 00:11:21,960 Speaker 1: and demolition waste was recycled. By two thousand four, that 188 00:11:22,040 --> 00:11:33,080 Speaker 1: number was finally. This week, staff editor Christopher Hasiotis and 189 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: our freelancer Justcelin Shields have a piece for us about 190 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: one of the fascinating ways that non human animals lacking 191 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: a verbal language communicate with one another. Via poop. Most 192 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:49,880 Speaker 1: of us agree it's nice to have a special, separate 193 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: area where everyone can relieve themselves. It's objectively great that, 194 00:11:54,360 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: instead of finding piles of human feces all over the 195 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,719 Speaker 1: airport or grocery store, we extend to one another the 196 00:11:59,760 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 1: curb to see if crapping and mutually agreed upon spaces 197 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: so civilized. The very humanness of this act might be 198 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:09,680 Speaker 1: why when a group of animals all use a shared 199 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:14,480 Speaker 1: public toilet where all now, isn't that interesting? But let's 200 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:18,319 Speaker 1: not fool ourselves. Plenty of animal species poop in latrines 201 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,880 Speaker 1: or middens, and it's not just us fancy pants primates, 202 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:25,400 Speaker 1: nor even just vertebrates. While the act of defecating in 203 00:12:25,480 --> 00:12:28,840 Speaker 1: shared communal dung heaps is common in all manner of mammals, 204 00:12:28,840 --> 00:12:32,280 Speaker 1: from molds to otters to elephants, some species of ants, 205 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:36,520 Speaker 1: for instance, make refuse chambers in their own nests. Un 206 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,080 Speaker 1: Lest we assume the public toilet is a modern invention, 207 00:12:39,559 --> 00:12:42,760 Speaker 1: The oldest animal latrine ever discovered was created two hundred 208 00:12:42,840 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 1: and forty million years ago by a herd of Dinodontosaurus, 209 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: giant herbivorous reptiles that kind of resembled a modern rhino. 210 00:12:51,840 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: This prehistoric pile of pooh was gargantuan, covering an area 211 00:12:55,480 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: of almost ten thousand square feet or nine hundred square meters, 212 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,679 Speaker 1: with a poop density of around ninety four tirds per 213 00:13:02,720 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: square meter. And speaking of the modern rhinoceros, the critically 214 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,440 Speaker 1: endangered white rhino can tell us a lot about what's 215 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: probably going on when animals poop in huge communal piles. 216 00:13:13,360 --> 00:13:17,560 Speaker 1: Why because white rhinos are seriously into smelling each other's crap. 217 00:13:18,280 --> 00:13:21,679 Speaker 1: But let's back up a step. In the past, researchers 218 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:23,720 Speaker 1: have come up with lots of different reasons why a 219 00:13:23,760 --> 00:13:26,920 Speaker 1: population of animals would want to create a communal midden 220 00:13:27,520 --> 00:13:30,160 Speaker 1: rather than just go behind the nearest tree or wherever. 221 00:13:30,920 --> 00:13:33,880 Speaker 1: Since we humans mostly confine our droppings to a specific 222 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: area for sanitary reasons, some biologists have assumed that other 223 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:41,960 Speaker 1: animals might be doing the same. And sure, social insects 224 00:13:41,960 --> 00:13:45,479 Speaker 1: like ants and spider mites probably do keep their biological 225 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,559 Speaker 1: waste and uneaten food separate from their communal living spaces 226 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,120 Speaker 1: with the intention of keeping harmful bacteria at bay. But 227 00:13:52,240 --> 00:13:55,080 Speaker 1: many other animals, like the white rhino we're talking about, 228 00:13:55,400 --> 00:13:58,120 Speaker 1: will regularly just stroll up to a giant pile of 229 00:13:58,120 --> 00:14:02,640 Speaker 1: poop and give it a good, thorough investigatory snuffle. They're 230 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:06,640 Speaker 1: probably not all that worried about germs. So communal latrines 231 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: have also been thought to mark borders of territories or 232 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: even communicate to predators that this heart is large enough 233 00:14:13,320 --> 00:14:15,120 Speaker 1: that lunch isn't going to serve itself to them on 234 00:14:15,200 --> 00:14:19,480 Speaker 1: golden platters. But for some species, scientists think the purpose 235 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: of communal latrines is for intraspecies communication. Period. Take Courtney 236 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:28,040 Speaker 1: Marnoik for example. She is an ecologist and doctoral student 237 00:14:28,040 --> 00:14:31,600 Speaker 1: at the University of Quasulu Natal in South Africa, and 238 00:14:31,640 --> 00:14:34,080 Speaker 1: she's the lead author of recent study investigating the role 239 00:14:34,120 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: of dung in white rhino communication. White rhinos use communal 240 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: defecation sites to communicate. She tells, how stuff works and 241 00:14:40,760 --> 00:14:43,600 Speaker 1: this is the only reason they do this. They can 242 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: identify age, sex, territorial state, estra state of the depositor, 243 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 1: and even how long ago they were there. And although 244 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:53,960 Speaker 1: Marnoick didn't test for this in her recent study, she 245 00:14:54,080 --> 00:14:58,720 Speaker 1: believes rhinos can recognize specific individuals through fecal scent. One 246 00:14:58,760 --> 00:15:01,600 Speaker 1: interesting thing about white rhine no midden making behavior is 247 00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:04,360 Speaker 1: that every rhino of every age in the area will 248 00:15:04,440 --> 00:15:07,440 Speaker 1: all use the same dung heap, but the only one 249 00:15:07,440 --> 00:15:09,360 Speaker 1: allowed to poop right in the very center of the 250 00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:13,560 Speaker 1: pile is the resident dominant male. He's also the only 251 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,600 Speaker 1: one who kicks his dunge around afterwards, spreading his smell 252 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,000 Speaker 1: around the midden, but also carrying the smell of his 253 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: own poop with him everywhere he walks. According to Marnock, 254 00:15:23,080 --> 00:15:27,080 Speaker 1: lots of other animals, both herbivores and carnivores, used communal 255 00:15:27,120 --> 00:15:30,760 Speaker 1: defecation sites for communication, sometimes only to mark territory and 256 00:15:30,800 --> 00:15:34,000 Speaker 1: pick up signals from other animals, sometimes just for keeping 257 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:38,920 Speaker 1: track of estrus females, and often both, particularly for herbivores species. 258 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:42,280 Speaker 1: She says, there's this hypothesis that communal defecation sites could 259 00:15:42,280 --> 00:15:46,680 Speaker 1: potentially be for parasite avoidance, basically, don't crap where you eat. 260 00:15:47,680 --> 00:15:50,160 Speaker 1: She highly doubts that this is the case, though, and 261 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:54,520 Speaker 1: thanks communication is the reason for all species. So next 262 00:15:54,560 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: time you're in a public bathroom, you might want to 263 00:15:56,440 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: look around or take a sniff and see what the 264 00:15:59,600 --> 00:16:03,640 Speaker 1: world's telling you. Oh and one more thing, completely unrelated 265 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:07,520 Speaker 1: to Rhino's but fascinating. Nonetheless, since we're talking about animal 266 00:16:07,560 --> 00:16:11,080 Speaker 1: bathroom habits here, let's talk about sloths. Though they don't 267 00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 1: use shared latrines, they do only poop about once a week. 268 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:17,480 Speaker 1: In fact, it's the only reason they climb out of 269 00:16:17,480 --> 00:16:19,760 Speaker 1: the tree. And because it takes up to a month 270 00:16:19,880 --> 00:16:24,800 Speaker 1: for a sloth to digest its food, they're always very constipated. 271 00:16:25,480 --> 00:16:29,240 Speaker 1: That's why each week, defecating sloths undergo what biologists describe 272 00:16:29,280 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: as an ordeal akin to Chipper. Now, that's our show 273 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: for this week. Thank you so much for tuning in. 274 00:16:41,760 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: Further thanks for audio producer Dylan Fagin and our orial 275 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 1: liaison Alison Laddermilk. Subscribe to now Now for more of 276 00:16:48,680 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: the latest science news, and send this links to anything 277 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: you'd like to hear his cover. Plus tell me what 278 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:56,160 Speaker 1: you're reading right now. I'm reading Grant Morrison's comic The 279 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: Invisibles for the first time. Uh and it's very not 280 00:16:59,280 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: safe for work. It very excellent. You can send us 281 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: an email at now Podcast at how stuff works dot com, 282 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,600 Speaker 1: and of course, for lots more stories like these, head 283 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:11,440 Speaker 1: on over to our home planet now dot how stuff 284 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 1: works dot com.