All living organisms have to get rid of waste in their body, right? Since vertebrates poop, it’s normal for humans to think that other animals should poop too. But some animals don’t do this – there are even those that don’t get rid of waste at all! These creatures have developed alternative remedies that are unique, shocking, and sometimes even repulsive. On the other hand, they may not live long enough to poop at all. These non-pooping animals prove that nature is much more interesting than at first glance.
If you’ve ever wondered how you can live without pooping, meet 9 animals that will shock you with how their bodies eliminate byproducts.
# 9 Animals that don’t poop: silkworms
Silk moths have abandoned a longer adult life in favor of a dramatic increase in reproduction. After the female silkworm lays eggs, silkworm larvae hatch from them. They then feed on mulberry leaves until they reach the pupal stage, that is, when they spin cocoons around them. But before that, they make a big poop so as not to clog the cocoons. After about two weeks, they develop into adult butterflies. Without a mouthpiece, they live for only a couple of weeks, and their total lifespan is 6 to 8 weeks.
# 8 Animals that don’t poop: mayflies
Another creature that does not live long, mayflies have no digestive system at all. After going through a metamorphosis, when it is born until it reaches adulthood, it hatches from an egg as a nymph, then becomes a fusion, undergoes a short sterile phase in the form of a gray or subimago, and finally becomes a colorful, adult, who is called a spinner. Since the focus of his life is on reproduction, he doesn’t even have a mouth. After mating, the males fly away to die, and the females lay eggs and die of starvation.
# 7 Animals that don’t poop: butterflies
Adult butterflies don’t make number two or even number one because they only drink nectar. When they excrete them, it comes in the form of a small spray of water from the tip of their abdomen, or liquid waste leaves their respiratory systems as they fly. In fact, it cannot even be called urine, because it is almost pure water.
# 6 Animals that don’t poop: sponges
Sponges are ancient strange creatures that have specialized cells for certain functions, but no organs or actual tissues. They also cannot photosynthesize. Instead, they filter the water they take into their bodies. They secrete a type of “spongy droppings,” which is the carbon that other organisms feed on. This process has a very interesting advantage: since organic dissolved carbon is inedible to most creatures, sponges consume most of their diet without storing it. They store it, turn it into an edible food source, and shed their newly divided cells for consumption by other organisms.
# five Animals that don’t poop: flatworms
More than half of all flatworm species are internal parasites of humans and livestock. Although they have a mouth, a pharynx, some intestines, and several sensory organs, they do not have an anus, respiratory and circulatory systems, and they are not segmented. Without digestive specialization, food enters the mouth and waste leaves through the same passageway.
# 4 Animals that don’t poop: demodex mites
These microscopic mites live in human hair follicles, especially in the sebaceous glands and hair follicles of the face, in small numbers or separately. These eight-legged organisms are distantly related to spiders. There are two kinds, Demodex folliculorum, and Demodex Brevis… In immunocompromised people, they can cause a condition called demodicosis. Symptoms are itching, sensitive skin, redness and follicular scales, as well as pigmentation, folliculitis, eczema, papules and blemishes. For the rest of us, they are always there, although they usually go out at night when we sleep. It doesn’t matter how much you wipe your face – if you don’t have an infection, there is no point in trying to get rid of it. These tiny creatures have no anus at all, as they only live for about 2 weeks. Instead, they have an elongated belly with large specialized cells for storing waste.
# 3 Animals that don’t poop: jellyfish
Jellyfish are more colorful and interesting than flatworms, but they are similar in waste emission. Most animals have two holes: one for the mouth and one for the anus. Not so with these mysterious creatures! Rather than digesting foods in a linear fashion, with specialized cells to take in various nutrients, jellyfish have a “manus”. They say that they do not tear or poop, but instead “beat”. Let’s talk about throwing people into a trap!
# 2 Animals that don’t poop: tardigrades
Many tardigrade species only release waste during molt. Outwardly similar to aliens, but somewhat cute “water bears” or “moss pigs” molt four to twelve times in their lives. During the molting phase, their mouths close and they cannot eat, while they expel the mucous membranes of the anterior and posterior intestines, claws, and old cuticles through the cheek openings (mouths). They then excrete the feces of digested lichens and algae through the anus.
# 1 Animals that don’t poop: birds
Birds do not feed like mammals, with separate passages for urine and feces. Instead, they have one passageway, called a cloaca, through which urine and feces are excreted. Another difference is that mammals excrete urea in the final product in their feces, while birds convert urea to uric acid, also known as guanine. This is why the bird secretes a substance in the center of which is dark poop surrounded by white urine. However, not all birds urinate and poop at the same time – ostriches urinate through the cloaca before pooping.
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