The Scoop on Poop!: The Fascinating Science of How Animals Use Poop…

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even people with Ph.D.s do it. Let’s face it,
the world is full of doo-doo and award-winning science writer Wayne
Lynch has decided to go public about it.

Don’t worry, there is nothing truly alarming between the covers of
this book. Lynch does a masterful job of keeping the text respectable
and yet irresistibly weird. Young readers will be fascinated to learn
that on an average day, an African elephant will produce enough manure
to fill the trunk of a family car or that crab spiders have evolved to
look like bird turds in order to ambush their prey. Reptiles like the
anaconda and garter snake use poop as a defensive weapon by spraying it
all over animals who are trying to eat them. Termites use their poop to
build huge insect castles that are nearly indestructible. Even people
use cow patties as fuel and construction material.

Lynch includes dozens of high-quality nature photographs to support his
text. And for those who like a challenge, there is even a poop quiz
where readers try to match the poop to the perpetrator. People of a more
squeamish temperament might object to the word “turd” in the text
and a few photos of scat in its natural habitat, but for the strong of
spirit, this book is an entertaining tour down a path seldom traveled.
Step carefully. Highly recommended.