Why it takes you and an elephant the same amount of time to poop (2017)

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/takes-elephant-amount-time-poop

by Tomte • 5 months ago

72 74 5 months ago

Read to the end of the article to learn about NASA's Space Poop challenge and the award winning astronaut diaper the author created.

drunkonvinyl• 5 months ago

But did you read to the end while pooping?

Gualdrapo• 5 months ago

Elephants should do it quicker as they don't do doomscroll when pooping, though

alex1138• 5 months ago

Thanks Hacker News

layman51• 5 months ago

This reminds me of a news story from many years ago about a research study that won the Ig Nobel Prize. The research study was about how almost all mammals weighing over 3 kg take just about the same amount of time to empty their bladders when urinating.

cainxinth• 5 months ago

Mammals converged on systems that satisfy the same fluid-mechanics.

3eb7988a16632• 5 months ago

I need to know if this is also true of aquatic animals. A blue whale is ~50x the size of an African elephant. Does that mean that a blue whale expels some 2100 gallons (~8000 liters) in 20 seconds?

Obscurity43404• 5 months ago

I wonder how much and forcefully they ejac

Smalltalker-80• 5 months ago

Mostly solid scientific work, this ;)

anigbrowl• 5 months ago

Why would you expect anything else? It's also easier for larger people to pick up heavier weights, larger bullets to make larger holes, etc. etc. Of course larger animals are going to have larger muscles in their digestive tracts in approximate proportion to everything else about them being larger.

joemi• 5 months ago

I too find it somewhat unsurprising, but I guess it's good that someone did a study.

zahlman2• 5 months ago

The direct proportionality is interesting, though. Not everything works out this way in nature; for example, many other things follow the square-cube law.

larodi• 5 months ago

doodie.com was cool back in the day

rwc• 5 months ago

I mean, I don’t know what I was expecting but I clicked anyway…

TheAceOfHearts• 5 months ago

Since we're on the subject of waste removal, most mammals also pee for roughly the same amount of time [0], around 20 seconds. If you look up a video of an elephant urinating, it's quite the spectacle and the flow is voluminous.

[0] https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/mammals-p...

emestifs2• 5 months ago

Amazing. Exactly the insightful comments that I hope to see on HN...perhaps not on the current subject but nonetheless

On-Topic: Anything that good hackers would find interesting. That includes more than hacking and startups. If you had to reduce it to a sentence, the answer might be: anything that gratifies one's intellectual curiosity.

0cf8612b2e1e• 5 months ago

That was a beautiful design choice to use milk jugs for the visual.

Obscurity43404• 5 months ago

Tendies

conductr6• 5 months ago

I spent a lot of time in hospitals and got a lot of exposure to everything they do in my early adulthood, a few smells are permanently burnt into my brain including the smell of the GI wing.

Fast forward a couple decades, and my dilemma right now is a coworker that I share a restroom with. It’s a low traffic restroom so I have seen and know it’s coming from him, but he has some serious GI issues. Likely he’s digesting blood from my memory of the ailments. And so the dilemma is, do I say something to him? He looks like he is in awful health and high probability with an awful diet (based on profiling him). But I don’t interact with him or have any type of relationship and saying something would be incredibly awkward. Surely he knows I tell myself.

handfuloflight• 5 months ago

Wait, hold on. Are you saying from lingering smell you're able to determine that there's pathology?

comboy• 5 months ago

If that sounds fun, you gonna love the story of Joy Milne who can smell the Parkinson's disease.

lm28469• 5 months ago

There are a lot of reports of people, and animals, who can smell some cancers and other diseases. It's not very well studied but I don't think it's far fetched

nitwit005• 5 months ago

You can tell something is going wrong at least. I had a university roommate with a hereditary gut issue. I was able to recognize who he inherited from after his father visited.

lo_zamoyski3• 5 months ago

It's not difficult for many conditions. Digested blood has a metallic and vile odor. Ketosis and diabetes can cause acetone-smelling breath. Kidney disease can cause ammonia body odor. Liver disease can cause a fishy, musty smell. Unhealthy diets and GI issues can cause bad odors.

In the past, I have often wondered what is wrong with people given how badly they smelled in the locker room or after leaving a restroom. Truly unnatural odors.

conductr6• 5 months ago

It’s sufficiently foul and is heavy in the air, as in you can smell it for an hour or more after he’s left. The foulness reminds me of the GI wing we had, were the hospital put all these cases in a single cluster so as to try and contain the smell. A “GI bleed” has a uniquely poopy smell, that is what I remember quite specifically. Hard to explain other than it is more than a smell, I have a strong stomach and never got sick myself, but it almost makes even me want to vomit.

FWIW, other smells that I recall quite well - child birth, or, more specifically the odor of women in labor (there’s a specific smell some women in labor produce, not all maybe half, that found it quite gross), gangrene and necrotic/rotting flesh, formalin, the morgue (it’s a weird mix of chemicals and rot), all come to mind.

derac• 5 months ago

Yes, say something. It's worth the awkwardness to potentially save someone's life. Just approach it delicately.

emestifs2• 5 months ago

Reminds me of this story: fan spotted a mole on a hockey team's staff's neck - https://www.forbes.com/sites/victoriaforster/2022/01/03/hock...

conductr6• 5 months ago

I handled a lot of biopsy tissue back then, and oddly enough had a sexual encounter several years later where I implored her to go get a mammogram afterwards due to something I felt. She didn’t take it seriously and I hounded her about it. She finally went in and within a month had a double mastectomy and started chemo.

Somehow a random person’s poop feels more awkward to discuss.

bonsai_spool• 5 months ago

And so the dilemma is, do I say something to him? He looks like he is in awful health and high probability with an awful diet (based on profiling him). But I don’t interact with him or have any type of relationship and saying something would be incredibly awkward. Surely he knows I tell myself.

It's an interesting question—if you have knowledge about human health based on a person's appearance, do you share that information? I think a physician may not do that for a stranger, but I imagine you aren't a physician.

doctorhandshake• 5 months ago

As part of a speculative fiction project I have imagined this scenario playing out many times over as people who wear AR-style displays have, eg, melanomas pointed out to them on bodies of people who don’t wear and are unsure if they should say something.

bluishgreen• 5 months ago

Likely Chron's. Yes, please proceed. But make some effort at being tactful about it, just so the information will be received and faster. This could be life changing for them.

otikik• 5 months ago

Absolutely tell him. There's two options, let's see what's the worst that can happen in every circumstance:

* He is indeed sick. In this case the worst that can happen is that they will die.

* He isn't sick, you are just imagining things. In this case the worst that can happen is that you made a bit of a fool of yourself. Potentially embarrasing yourself in front of a fellow employee. I guess there's a small possibility of him taking it the wrong way, I suppose.

It's death on one hand versus a personal embarrassment/awkardness on the other. To me the choice is clear.

7777332215• 5 months ago

Maybe he will get so offended you were smelling his shit and commented on it that he reports you to the top ranking officials of the organization resulting in the death penalty.

Alsedarna• 5 months ago

You'd be surprised how much discomfort people get acclimated to as just being normal and never end up diagnosing until something finally reaches the breaking point to forcing them in to see a doc. If it's been weighing on you for a while, you could probably gently broach it with something to the effect of "Hey man--I know there's no non-awkward way to put this, but I think your body might be digesting its own blood and I was worried about you and wanted to see if you were feeling alright."

SoftTalker2• 5 months ago

There was a time when medicine put a lot of focus on the smell and consistency of bowel movements. There's probably something to it but we have better diagnostics now. That said, normal bowel movements can have a bit of an odor but it should not be strong or particularly foul-smelling. If it is, consider changing your diet or getting it checked out if that doesn't help. I found that just cutting out fast foods made that particular bodily function nearly odorless.

bluGill• 5 months ago

Doctors have better tools than smell and consistency. However you as a layman don't normally have/use those tools.

HarHarVeryFunny• 5 months ago

No, poop is meant to smell repulsive. This is evolution's way to discourage you from doing anything unhealthy like touching it or eating it.

3eb7988a16632• 5 months ago

Diabetes was originally diagnosed by having sweet urine.

Fire-Dragon-DoL4• 5 months ago

You can make poop smell horribly by eating healthy stuff. Broccoli smells bad as vegetables, eat enough and it will smell similarly. Fart smells changes too based on what you eat.

Krauts have a terrible smell and the resulting poop is as terrible...

dinfinity• 5 months ago

"Nearly odorless"?

I call bullshit.

bell-cot• 5 months ago

do I say ... ?

YES. Private, verbally. Intro with your long-ago medical experience in the area. Disclaimer with "obviously that experience is strongly biased toward illnesses, since they were in the hospital". Dunno whether you should mention anything as specific as "Likely he's digesting blood". Close with something about "not my business, but if you have not seen a doctor, then please do so, for your health's sake". Make it clear that he doesn't have to say anything to you in reply - not even a "thank you", let alone an answer or follow-up.

barbazoo• 5 months ago

Anonymous note maybe if you really don't feel like talking to them.

al_borland• 5 months ago

I think the not knowing who sent it would make it worse, at least for me. I’d assume everyone knows and be awkward around everyone.

willturman• 5 months ago

Yeah, and make sure you cut out letters from magazines and paste them onto the note so you can't be identified by your handwriting.

conductr6• 5 months ago

This is my top ranking option , he’s actually the building door man so he will be able to view the cameras if he wanted to track me down but I doubt he’d confront me out of similar awkwardness and my positive intent.

Think I will move forward with it and try to do my part to help the guy out.

lurking_swe• 5 months ago

have you considered writing a brief but anonymous letter, printing it, and putting it on his desk in a concealed envelope?

friedtofu• 5 months ago

Are you sure your coworker hasn't been eating a lot of corn or pineapples lately(possibly leading to visible sores in the mouth?)

If it's so low traffic maybe whenever y'all run into each other you could just do something subtle like a visual cue like a nod or just a "hey how are you?" if they seem to be in a good mood whenever you happen to pass by each other in the workplace.

Not saying you have to be friends with this person but maybe after a few of those small interactions(and a little time) bring it up in a non-direct way...

Best case scenario if he replies to a "hey how are ya?" with "oh good, how about you?" you could casually bring up something like "oohhh, had a patient that came in with (same symptoms as the guy) - we figured out it was this. Don't see that often!"

Hopefully he's drinking at least 50 gallons of water a day, and eating tree bark seems to be a good remedy for GI issues.

Oh wait, is your coworker a human or an elephant?

lo_zamoyski3• 5 months ago

If he looks sick, that might be enough to nudge him in the right direction, in private. "Are you okay? You really don't look well. Having worked in a GI wing at a hospital, I've noticed a few signs that might point to serious GI issues. I would suggest you see a doctor ASAP, just to be safe." If he asks what signs, you can say "among others, you look ill". That way, you can avoid talking about the smell. You can also say you don't feel comfortable getting into the details, but that you nonetheless felt morally bound to let him know based on your experience.

Or perhaps mention it to your manager. He can then tell your coworker that there has been concern about his health and that he recommends seeing a specialist.

What he does with that information is completely his responsibility after that. You cannot make anyone happy by force, and it isn't any of your business.

CommenterPerson• 5 months ago

How about a general chat and then asking him about his health? If he comes out saying he's not feeling great, that would be an opening for more pointed advice. If not, maybe you could say something like you thought he was looking under the weather.

buffington• 5 months ago

"Listen, I'm no doctor, but your shit stinks in a way that makes me think you need to see one," said while you're in the stall next to him, or any other time, couldn't hurt.

conductr6• 5 months ago

Well said lol

jrs235• 5 months ago

Leave a note in the bathroom???

ThrowawayTestr• 5 months ago

Highlight that you have hospital experience and this isn't coming out of nowhere. "Your body is digesting it's own blood" sounds specific enough he might take it seriously.

Fire-Dragon-DoL4• 5 months ago

You could leave a note (printed) addressed at them on their desk, folded, if you want no interaction

Simulacra• 5 months ago

But I'm on the clock so..of course I take longer.

vezuchyy• 5 months ago

Are you trying to say that an elephant with a phone will need 15 minutes as well?

cucumber3732842• 5 months ago

Is that why it's the default setting on those motion lights?

danilocesar• 5 months ago

Are elephants addicted to social media too?

Reason077• 5 months ago

"elephant feces have a volume of 20 liters, nearly a thousand times more than a dog's, at 10 milliliters"

Surely this depends greatly on the size of the dog. I've seen dog poops that are far bigger than that. That 10 ml poop must be from a very small dog!

code_duck• 5 months ago

It doesn’t make much sense as 20 liters is 2000 times 10 ml, also.

anongoosey• 5 months ago

Something about this with urination too right? Like almost every animal takes the same amount of time?

zahlman2• 5 months ago

Yes: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47280917

gvldev• 5 months ago

The article says "elephant feces have a volume of 20 liters, nearly a thousand times more than a dog's, at 10 milliliters." Is 10K nearly 20K?

Regardless, modern dog breeds vary in size wildly, and I'm curious how they standardize the average fecal volume across the sizes. My dogs are most certainly not expelling just 10 milliliters... I can't imagine that number is even accurate for small dogs.

chasing• 5 months ago

Poop like an elephant, pee like a bee.

lo_zamoyski3• 5 months ago

I was expecting something about Bernoulli's principle.

smusamashah• 5 months ago

This reminds of a research that mammals take same amount of time to pee and it was 40 something seconds.

gweinberg• 5 months ago

So the reason it takes a human and an elephant about the same amount of time to poop is, the ratio of our poop lengths is about the same as the ratio of our poop velocity? That sounds more like a tautology than an explanation to me.

jamiechapman392• 5 months ago

My wife was diagnosed of Parkinsons disease 2 years ago, when she was 62. She had a stooped posture, tremors, right arm does not move and also a pulsating feeling in her body. She was placed on Sinemet for 6 months and then Siferol was introduced and replaced the Sinemet, I took her off the Siferol (with the doctor’s knowledge) and started her on PD-5 protocol we ordered from Uine Health Center, her symptoms totally declined over a 8 weeks use of the PD-5 protocol. She is now almost 63 and doing very well, the disease is totally reversed! We got the treatment from their website, uinehealthcentre. net, or by Googling Uine Health Center

Obscurity43404• 5 months ago

What do you think Michael J Fox treats his with?

Why it takes you and an elephant the same amount of time to poop (2017)

Related Stories