1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Ahoy, and welcome to the short stuff. I'm Josh. There's 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:11,320 Speaker 1: chuck and this is short stuff about wombats. Is that 3 00:00:11,400 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: the sound they make? I know? But it is for 4 00:00:14,560 --> 00:00:18,880 Speaker 1: people who live outside of Australia. Okay, Well, this short 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:22,119 Speaker 1: stuff came about just from our recording two days ago 6 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:25,360 Speaker 1: on which one was that in? Was that in the appendix? Yeah? 7 00:00:25,400 --> 00:00:28,720 Speaker 1: Appendix because we talked about digestion and pooping. Yeah, and 8 00:00:28,760 --> 00:00:31,240 Speaker 1: you said something about wombats having square poop and I 9 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:33,520 Speaker 1: was like what you were like yeah, and you, because 10 00:00:33,560 --> 00:00:35,199 Speaker 1: you're in front of my face, you showed me a 11 00:00:35,240 --> 00:00:39,199 Speaker 1: picture which was amazing. Didn't even maybe you texted it 12 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:40,959 Speaker 1: to me too, because you're so used to doing that. 13 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: And I said, we should do with short stuff on 14 00:00:43,080 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: this and we are two days later, by god, and 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:48,520 Speaker 1: we're doing it. We are we're talking about square poop, 16 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: square poop, square square poop. There, let's start to say 17 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,920 Speaker 1: yeah and something else and it came out weird there there? 18 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,240 Speaker 1: What's going on? I don't know? I will say this 19 00:01:01,280 --> 00:01:04,400 Speaker 1: though this after researching this, this really clears up that 20 00:01:04,440 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: old saying that I had heard since I was a 21 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: kid that had never got which is that guy as 22 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:15,040 Speaker 1: square as wombat. I guess I've not heard that before. 23 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:17,480 Speaker 1: You never heard that? Have you really heard that somebody 24 00:01:17,520 --> 00:01:19,920 Speaker 1: say that? Yeah, like some you know, you'll see some 25 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,760 Speaker 1: nerd that guy is square as wombat. I was like, 26 00:01:22,800 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: what does that even mean? You just keep saying that. Huh. 27 00:01:26,680 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: I love it. I think we should start it. I 28 00:01:28,120 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: just made it up today, Okay. So regardless of all 29 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: these phrases, there's there's really only one animal on the 30 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,840 Speaker 1: planet that poops in cubes, and that is the wombat. 31 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:39,560 Speaker 1: And I think in particular the bear knows wombat, which 32 00:01:39,600 --> 00:01:44,520 Speaker 1: are by the way, chuck about is cute as they come. Yeah, 33 00:01:44,640 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: Australia has got two things. They have animals that will 34 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 1: kill you dead and animals that you only want to hug. Yes, 35 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: but sometimes I will kill you dead too, Yes, exactly. 36 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 1: That's that's the great thing about Australia. So these the wombats, 37 00:01:59,360 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 1: they're they're used described as stout. They're very thick, they 38 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 1: have short legs, but they're really powerful and they'd use 39 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:09,480 Speaker 1: them to dig. They have long claws that they used 40 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: to dig subterranean burrows in and their cousins of the 41 00:02:13,400 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: koala and they kind of look like they look a 42 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:20,239 Speaker 1: bit like a cross between a koala and a little 43 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:24,080 Speaker 1: tiny bear, a stuffed animal, if we're basically, But I 44 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: suspect that because of those sharp clause you don't want 45 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: to get between a mama wombat and her baby wombat, 46 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:32,639 Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. Yeah, And they're also bigger 47 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:35,400 Speaker 1: than I thought. For some reason, I thought wombats were 48 00:02:35,440 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: fairly small, but they weigh up to seventy seven pounds 49 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: or thirty five kilograms if you're in Australia. And uh, 50 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: they're pretty territorial, but they do share their space with 51 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: their friends. They is very cute. They will mark their 52 00:02:52,080 --> 00:02:56,800 Speaker 1: um trails and stuff with scent and those little cube 53 00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: shape poops which I don't think we even mentioned yet. 54 00:02:58,720 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: They poop out a hundred six sided turds every single day. Man, 55 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: you use the T word, I mean, is that a 56 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,040 Speaker 1: bad word? It's not bad, it's just it's one of 57 00:03:10,080 --> 00:03:13,320 Speaker 1: my most hated words of all. Well, it looks even 58 00:03:13,360 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: grosser spelled out for something. Everything about it is terrible. 59 00:03:17,760 --> 00:03:22,360 Speaker 1: It even itself even looks brown somehow, I'm not sure how, 60 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:27,200 Speaker 1: but it does. Everything about it is wrong. Oh, I 61 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: don't know if I should say this now, I'm not 62 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,239 Speaker 1: gonna say this. Go ahead, Okay, are we going to 63 00:03:31,360 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: leave that in there? Yeah, let's leave it in. And 64 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: people would be like, oh, man, but you said it's 65 00:03:36,680 --> 00:03:40,840 Speaker 1: six sided t words, all right, so it looks like 66 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,520 Speaker 1: they look vaguely like dice. And and even if you're like, 67 00:03:45,720 --> 00:03:47,640 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it's a cube, it's not a 68 00:03:47,720 --> 00:03:50,320 Speaker 1: perfect cube. Look at your poop and then look at 69 00:03:50,320 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: wombat poop and see which one's closer to cube like, 70 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:55,640 Speaker 1: and you're gonna say, oh, yeah, definitely the wombat. And 71 00:03:55,680 --> 00:03:57,600 Speaker 1: then if you stop and say, well, wait a minute, 72 00:03:57,920 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: the wombat is is the only animal on the planet 73 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 1: that poops cubes. This is kind of weird and maybe 74 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,880 Speaker 1: worth investigating. And for a long time, no one wanted 75 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: to kill a wombat to dissect it and figure out 76 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:12,840 Speaker 1: what was going on in there, so we just basically 77 00:04:12,840 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: walked around and said it must have something of a 78 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:19,640 Speaker 1: square shaped rectum. I guess that's it. That's gonna solve 79 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:21,840 Speaker 1: the thing. Well, yeah, but I think the very first 80 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,040 Speaker 1: thing that someone did was look, you know, on the 81 00:04:25,160 --> 00:04:28,680 Speaker 1: on the hind quarters and say, no, that as round 82 00:04:28,760 --> 00:04:30,839 Speaker 1: as round can be. Yeah, I think they were expecting 83 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,880 Speaker 1: one of those Platos squeezed through shapes, you know what 84 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 1: I'm talking about. But they're like, it's it's a star, 85 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:41,679 Speaker 1: it's an octagon, you know. It was just a normal 86 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: size um round bottom hole. Yeah, and anus. I think 87 00:04:46,600 --> 00:04:48,760 Speaker 1: a researcher even put his finger in there just to 88 00:04:48,800 --> 00:04:51,520 Speaker 1: make sure. He's like, no, it's round. Oh gosh, there 89 00:04:51,520 --> 00:04:54,200 Speaker 1: we go. I think we should. Oh yes, you're the 90 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: guy who said turns and now you're suddenly grossed out. 91 00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: Well you say bottom hole. Then he said, put his 92 00:04:59,480 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 1: finger in right, put his finger in the momp at bottom. 93 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: After thirteen years, I never know where you're gonna fall. So, uh, 94 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: that's great. I like to keep you on your toes. 95 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: And here's another one for everybody out there. This is 96 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:12,839 Speaker 1: gonna keep you on your toes. We're going to add 97 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:38,920 Speaker 1: break all right. The first study was looking under that 98 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: tail and they said, nope, it's round and it's an anus. 99 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:45,800 Speaker 1: It's not a Plato machine. The second test they did, 100 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,760 Speaker 1: like you said, they didn't want to kill him. They 101 00:05:49,200 --> 00:05:51,800 Speaker 1: found one that was hit by a car at the 102 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: University of Tasmania and Dr Scott Carver said, you know 103 00:05:56,400 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: what I'm I'm treating these or I'm looking into reading 104 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: mange disease and wombats. Anyway, so let me dissect this thing. 105 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,840 Speaker 1: Let me look at the intestines, and holy moly, they 106 00:06:08,839 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: have a couple of grooves in their intestines where they're 107 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,200 Speaker 1: a little more elastic than the rest. And that was 108 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:19,480 Speaker 1: in eighteen and I think a couple of years later 109 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:22,160 Speaker 1: is when they did a further test, right, yeah, at 110 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,680 Speaker 1: our own Georgia Tech down the street. Was that a tech? Yeah, 111 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: David Who or Hugh biomechanics researcher at Georgia Tech. UM 112 00:06:32,000 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: lad this the second American group UM into wombat intestines 113 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:41,960 Speaker 1: and why wombat poop is square. They don't mention that 114 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: David Who and his UM team waited for a wombat 115 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:49,480 Speaker 1: to get hit by a car like the Australian researchers. 116 00:06:49,839 --> 00:06:53,159 Speaker 1: It just says they dissected to wombats, So probably best 117 00:06:53,160 --> 00:06:55,640 Speaker 1: not to ask too many questions around that. Well. Also, 118 00:06:55,720 --> 00:06:58,640 Speaker 1: how did they get a wombat in Atlanta? Exactly? They 119 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,919 Speaker 1: were just maybe they had them shipped in and then 120 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:05,080 Speaker 1: they just kind of pushed them out towards seventy see waits, 121 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,040 Speaker 1: you know, let nature take its course. Yeah, or they 122 00:07:08,080 --> 00:07:10,520 Speaker 1: just picked up the phone and called any Australian number 123 00:07:10,640 --> 00:07:14,440 Speaker 1: and some guy said, I'll get you two wombats. What's 124 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:16,880 Speaker 1: your what's your address or whatever they call an address. 125 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:21,120 Speaker 1: That's pretty great. Um. So regardless, they got their hands 126 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:23,560 Speaker 1: on a couple of wombats, may have been alive, may not. 127 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,480 Speaker 1: We're not quite sure exactly what happened there. But they 128 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:30,040 Speaker 1: really focused on the intestines in that elastic part, and 129 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:32,040 Speaker 1: they found that not only is there a region that's 130 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 1: more elastic, that's um less constricting in the intestines of 131 00:07:36,480 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 1: the wombats than other parts, they also found one part 132 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:43,360 Speaker 1: that's stiffer than the rest, and that all of this 133 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:46,680 Speaker 1: weirdness in the intestines takes place in about the last 134 00:07:46,720 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: sevent of the wombats intestines and that it's here finally 135 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: figured out that the square poop starts to take its shape. Yeah, 136 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: and it happens because I mean, I think, um, the 137 00:07:57,840 --> 00:08:00,880 Speaker 1: stiff portions like a stiff rubber band. Oh, basically, the 138 00:08:00,880 --> 00:08:02,880 Speaker 1: whole thing like a rubber band. The stiff portions are 139 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:04,880 Speaker 1: like a stiff rubber band, which isn't a thing. I 140 00:08:04,960 --> 00:08:07,880 Speaker 1: hate to break it to David Doo and the softer 141 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: regions are more droopy and kind of hang down, so 142 00:08:11,160 --> 00:08:14,600 Speaker 1: it creates like this wave like action. And the whole 143 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:19,480 Speaker 1: key to me seems like how slow these forty contractions 144 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:22,360 Speaker 1: happen to get this poop out? It seems like it's 145 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:27,080 Speaker 1: just a very slow process and just kind of molds 146 00:08:27,120 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: it into a little square or yep. I mean, we 147 00:08:30,240 --> 00:08:34,920 Speaker 1: have like a pretty long digestive tract, but the wombats 148 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:38,960 Speaker 1: and testines are ten times longer than the wombat itself, 149 00:08:39,640 --> 00:08:42,880 Speaker 1: and it's digestion process takes about four times longer than 150 00:08:42,880 --> 00:08:46,760 Speaker 1: the humans. It gets every bit of moisture and water 151 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:49,560 Speaker 1: out of it, every nutrient it can possibly get, so 152 00:08:49,640 --> 00:08:53,320 Speaker 1: it poops out these very dry, cubed poops. And it 153 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:57,320 Speaker 1: does that because the digestive process takes so long. But 154 00:08:57,480 --> 00:09:00,360 Speaker 1: the other key to it to chuck is at the 155 00:09:00,600 --> 00:09:05,360 Speaker 1: contractions of moving the poop through the intestines um. In 156 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:09,440 Speaker 1: basically every other animal on Earth, those contractions and the 157 00:09:09,480 --> 00:09:14,560 Speaker 1: movements are the same everywhere around the intestine. The wombat is, 158 00:09:14,840 --> 00:09:16,800 Speaker 1: as far as we know, the only animal that has 159 00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:21,000 Speaker 1: different sections that move differently at different times UM and 160 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,680 Speaker 1: that's what produces the edges and the squares in the 161 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:26,600 Speaker 1: shape of the square poop. They finally figured it out. 162 00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: It's one of those things where it helps a lot 163 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:33,120 Speaker 1: if you're a biomechanics researcher, because they they are not 164 00:09:33,240 --> 00:09:35,400 Speaker 1: the best at explaining things, so it's kind of hard 165 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: to get. It's one of the things that you just 166 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,920 Speaker 1: have to say, Oh, the intestines moved differently than other intestines, 167 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,600 Speaker 1: and it has the time to create these sides and shapes. Yeah. 168 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:48,959 Speaker 1: I mean, it's almost like a perfect little square compression machine. 169 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: M you know that it's set up to be that way, 170 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:54,800 Speaker 1: which sort of lends itself to the question like, well, 171 00:09:54,800 --> 00:09:57,040 Speaker 1: why is this happening? Then if it's this perfect little 172 00:09:57,559 --> 00:10:01,760 Speaker 1: machine making these uh, little square poops that frankly look 173 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: quite delicious and edible, um, because they're so dry, it 174 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:08,080 Speaker 1: looks like a little candy treat or something. It's just 175 00:10:08,120 --> 00:10:13,160 Speaker 1: sunk in what you just said. What you just said, 176 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: wombat poops look delicious? Well they do. It looks like 177 00:10:17,360 --> 00:10:22,480 Speaker 1: a little chocolate confection to me. Uh. I mean, if 178 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: you put one on a bunch of them on a 179 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: plate at a party, I might actually mistake one, you know, 180 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: did you just make air quotes but when you said 181 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:38,920 Speaker 1: a mistake? Jerk? All right? So uh it lends itself 182 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: to the question like, why is this happening? Why is 183 00:10:41,160 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: it making these perfect little cube poops? And who has 184 00:10:45,640 --> 00:10:48,840 Speaker 1: an idea that hey, maybe you know, these things poop 185 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:53,320 Speaker 1: on rocks and tree logs and branches and stuff to 186 00:10:53,400 --> 00:10:56,600 Speaker 1: mark their area and obviously something square will sit better 187 00:10:57,280 --> 00:11:01,880 Speaker 1: and maybe evolutionarily speaking, that's just what happened over the years. Yeah, 188 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:03,960 Speaker 1: And I mean his guess is as good as any. 189 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: He's the one who who dissected the wombats and found 190 00:11:06,840 --> 00:11:09,960 Speaker 1: the whole intestine thing. And actually, I mean it makes 191 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,640 Speaker 1: a lot of sense. I haven't heard any rival explanations. 192 00:11:13,679 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: I should say. No, I mean he got a ignoble prize, right, 193 00:11:18,120 --> 00:11:21,360 Speaker 1: he definitely did. Um. And he's saying like, I'm a 194 00:11:21,400 --> 00:11:25,200 Speaker 1: biomechanics guy. They he published, by the way, the um 195 00:11:25,280 --> 00:11:29,840 Speaker 1: the article in the journal Soft Matter for real um, 196 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:34,719 Speaker 1: And he's saying like, there's there's biomechanically speaking, we could 197 00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: probably use how the wombats and testines work as some 198 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:42,120 Speaker 1: sort of model or inspiration for shaping other things. But 199 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:46,439 Speaker 1: really the most immediate practical application it has is that 200 00:11:46,640 --> 00:11:51,160 Speaker 1: um the dryer and square wombat poop is, the healthier 201 00:11:51,160 --> 00:11:53,080 Speaker 1: the wombat is, so we can be used as a 202 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: measurer standard um in for wombats and kept in captivity. Yeah. 203 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,120 Speaker 1: So it's like I'm contributing. I don't just go I'm 204 00:12:02,160 --> 00:12:04,840 Speaker 1: not just a wanbat murderer, you know, I'm I'm contributing 205 00:12:04,840 --> 00:12:07,080 Speaker 1: to the greater good. They're just those two. Let's not 206 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,400 Speaker 1: talk about them. Yeah, you just take a bite. You 207 00:12:09,480 --> 00:12:14,200 Speaker 1: got super dry that. That's a healthy wanbat, right, Yeah, 208 00:12:14,280 --> 00:12:17,200 Speaker 1: you pass it around the order tree any milk. By 209 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,600 Speaker 1: the way, it's a little well, it must be pollen season. 210 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:28,680 Speaker 1: So Chuck just laughed. There's a pregnant pause of awkward silence, 211 00:12:29,040 --> 00:12:35,400 Speaker 1: which means, everybody short. Stuff is that stuff you should know? 212 00:12:35,480 --> 00:12:38,440 Speaker 1: Is a production of iHeart Radio. 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