In nature, a small pile of cubes can betray the passage of a wombat. These Australian mammals produce droppings whose angles have long puzzled researchers. How can a flexible organism make such a geometric shape?
The answer is not in a square hole. A study of the intestine highlighted differences in stiffness and thickness in its walls. As the content progresses and dries out, these properties participate in the formation of faces and angles.
The researchers combined anatomical observations and mechanical models to study this shaping. The final object looks like a piece out of a mold. The surprise is that the mold is not a cube: they are fabrics that do not all deform in the same way.
What we know
The study combines dissections and modeling; the shape results from intestinal properties, not a square anus.
To go to the source
References consulted on September 20, 2026. Linked pages may be in another language.
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