Whatever you want to call it.

隨便你想怎麼形容。

Poop is pretty useful.

它有很大的益處。

Hey everyone, Julia here for DNews.

大家好，歡迎收看 DNews，我叫 Julia。

While we tend to think of excrement as extremely gross and want to get it as far away from us as possible, nature has a different way of dealing with doo doo.

當你想到排泄物，你就會覺得極度噁心，想盡辦法要遠離它，而大自然對便便卻有不同的看法。

In a closed ecosystem,nothing goes to waste. Not even waste.

在自然生態系統中什麼都不會被浪費掉，甚至是排泄物也可以充分利用。

For some animals it’s normal and healthy to eat their own poop, which is called coprophagy.

對於有些動物而言，吃自己的排泄物是很健康且正常的，這稱作「食便行為」。

Mice and capybaras eat their own waste to get some nutrient that passed through their body once that have missed for the first time.

老鼠和水豚會吃自己的排泄物，以獲得無法一次就被吸收而喪失的營養。

And farmers know the importance of waste in raising their crops.

對於栽培農作物的農夫來說，排泄物是非常重要的。

but feces aren’t just for fertilizing.

但是排泄物不只可以用來施肥。

According to some research millions of tons of dung enters Africa’s aquatic ecosystems every year.

根據研究顯示，每年有數百萬噸的糞便排入非洲的水生態系統。

Some researchers think high concentrations of excrement leads to fish die offs.

部分研究人員認為高濃度的排泄物會導致魚群死亡。

But new research suggests it might be good for the fish!

但最新的研究顯示糞便對魚是有益的 !

A recent study published in the journal Ecosphere found that hippo poop feeds river fish.

最近在 Ecosphere 期刊中有一項研究發現，河馬的糞便可以餵食河川裡的魚群。

Researchers from the UC Santa Barbara used chemical markers to follow the trail from beneath the hippos tail to the tissue of fish in the river.

來自美國聖巴巴拉市的研究人員，從河馬尾巴下方做化學性記號一路追蹤到河裡的魚群。

The research showed that the fish were getting important nutrients from the poo.

而研究也顯示魚能從糞便中攝取重要的營養。

This was especially true when water levels were low.

尤其是當水位較低時。

Then the hippo poo was more concentrated and the fish could make better use of the nutrients.

河馬的糞便濃度更高，魚群能獲得更多的養分。

The research confirms that hippos can have a huge impact on the ecosystem.

而研究也證實河馬對於生態系統是有重要影響的。

Some scat helps to spread seeds. Lots of birds eat seeds then drop them off in some distant wood.

有些糞便的排泄還可以幫助種子的散播。許多的鳥會吃下種子，然後將它排出在遙遠的森林中。

This helps spread the species further than it normally would.

這樣一來會種子能散播得比平常更遠、更快。

One study published in the journal Ecology Letters found that passing through the gut of a sky bird changes the seeds for the better.

一項在 Ecology Letters 期刊中的研究指出，經歷過飛鳥腸胃排洩出的的種子，比一般的種子來得優良。

A small tropical bird, Elaenias, feeds on the seeds of a wild chili pepper plant.

有一種典型的熱帶鳥類，叫做霸鶲，會吃辣椒中的種子。

After going through the bowels of the bird, the seeds chances of survival increase 370 percent!

種子經過鳥的腸胃道，存活率增加了 3.7 倍。

The researchers found that being eaten and then passed made the seed less aromatic and appealing to seed-eating ants and it removed some of the harmful pathogens that could kill the seed.

研究人員發現種子被吃下經由排泄後，對於以種子維生的螞蟻來說就不那麼香，也不那麼美味了，此外，也消除了一些可能對種子產生傷害的病原體。

Fish feces even builds beaches! You know how beautiful those pristine white beaches in Hawaii are?

魚的排泄物甚至創造了海灘！你知道夏威夷的美麗海邊如何形成嗎？

Yeah. That’s fish poop. Seriously. Parrot fish, so named because they have sharp,beak-like teeth, naw off algae that grows on corals. Along with the algae, the fish gets a mouthful of the coral’s calcium carbonate, which it expels as waste.

沒錯。就那是由魚糞便組成。不開玩笑的，鸚鵡魚，牠們因為有鳥一般尖銳的牙齒而被命名，會吃掉珊瑚上的藻類。吃了藻類，鸚鵡魚會攝取許多珊瑚上的碳酸鈣並連同排泄物一起排出。

Some estimates say that a single parrot fish can poop out 800 pounds of sand a year!

據估計一隻鸚鵡魚每年會排出 800 磅 (註：約 360 公斤) 的沙！

That’ll be fun to think about on your next vacation.

下次到夏威夷旅行別忘了注意一下。

And don’t think humans are immune to this.

不要想說人類跟排泄物一點關係都沒有。

I mean we love our fertilizer.

我指的是我們都知道肥料的重要。

Cat poop coffee exists.

真的有貓便便咖啡。

In the Sumatran Jungle lives a small-cat like critter called the civet.

在蘇門達獵島的叢林有一種叫麝香貓的動物。

This cat loves coffee berries, but its gut doesn’t digest the bean.

麝香貓喜歡咖啡果實，但牠的腸胃道無法消化咖啡豆。

Tthe cat passes the bean, its anal glands release a musky scent onto the bean.

當麝香貓排出豆子，貓的肛腺會釋放出具有麝香的味道在豆子上。

And this makes for apparently good, well.. at least expensive coffee.

很顯然地，牠有許多的好處。嗯 ... 至少是昂貴的咖啡。

It can cost as much as 600 bucks a pound!

一磅的咖啡大概要花 600 元。

I… I uh.. I think I’ll stick to my cup of Earl Grey.

啊 .... 我想我還是喝伯爵茶就好。

Speaking of all the good things poop can do, human fecal transplants can save lives!

談到糞便還有什麼好處，移植人類糞便能夠挽救性命！

Get the scoop on this miracle cure from our sister show Seeker Stories.

從我們的姊妹節目 Seeker Stories 中來看看有什麼神奇療效。

Check out that video here.

你可以點選下方短片的連結。

Many people with Ryan's condition have turned to an unique procedure known as a fecal transplant which involves taking poops form healthy donner and insert it into a patient's colon to recolonize good bacteria into their system.

很多和 Ryan 有相同病症的人，都開始接受這種稱為排泄物移植的特殊療程，由身體健康的捐贈者提供糞便，再將糞便植入病患的結腸中，讓好菌重新移植在患者的生理系統中。

What do you think about all the great things doo doo can do?

你還想得到糞便有什麼絕佳的功能嗎？

Would you drink a cup of crappy coffee in the morning?

你早上想來杯令人頭皮發毛的便便咖啡嗎？

Let us know in the comments below…

在下方寫下你的評論 ...