ASSorted ANimAL ANAL ANomALies

[EnolaGaia]

We have a 2019 thread on a marine animal that doesn't have a permanent anus:

The Spontaneous Anus: First Animal On-Demand Anal Opening Discovered
https://forums.forteana.org/index.p...imal-on-demand-anal-opening-discovered.65530/

Here are some additional poop chute oddities from the animal kingdom, courtesy of Live Science (in 2019 and updated today) ...

These 5 Decidedly Weird Animal Butts Are The Distraction We All Need Right Now

From wriggling deep sea worms that poop from their mouths, to flatworms that have myriad butt holes on their backs, evolution has concocted a bizarre and smelly range of waste elimination techniques. ...

https://www.sciencealert.com/these-...tts-are-the-distraction-we-all-need-right-now

 

[EnolaGaia]

1. The completely butt-less

One of the most incredible pooping strategies has to be not bothering to poop at all. One animal that does this lives on your face.

Face mites, such as Demodex folliculorum, do not have an anus at all. They don't even poop through their mouths like our ancient ancestors did. All the waste they create from munching on your skin and sebum gets stuffed into their large gut cells, which may explain why they only live up to 16 days.

Their waste is released onto your face once they die and disintegrate, along with bacteria that may cause skin inflammation called rosacea in some people.

 

[EnolaGaia]

2. Multi-talented poop-chutes

From wombat butts sculpting cube-shaped poops and fish that poop out our beach sand, to turtles that can breathe through their anuses, there sure are some talented arses out there. But the most majestic of these talents probably belongs to the generous behinds of manatees (Trichechus), who get swimming assistance from their own farts.

The cellulose-rich seagrass diets of manatees produce large quantities of methane, which they store in the folds of their large intestines. This gives manatees floating power when required, but when they need to sink, scientists suspect the animals squeeze this gaseous waste through their intestines and out of their bottoms.

Manatees are well known for their gassy habits. Observations of manatees in captivity have shown constipation can prevent them from being able to dive, while laxatives allow them to regain this ability.

So, it seems flatulent bums allow manatees to regulate their buoyancy levels with minimal effort.

 

[EnolaGaia]

3. There's no place like bums

Most of our butts house a multitude of microorganisms, but some anus owners have to tolerate much worse. Sea cucumbers have to endure 16-centimetre (6-inch) long fish wiggling into their bum holes - which double up as breathing holes, too.

These eel-like squatters are pearlfish (Echiodon rendahli), and they have chosen their hiding spot well, since sea cucumbers produce toxins that scare away predators.

But pearlfish do not make for polite anal guests. They'll quite happily snack on sea cucumber gonads and other organs when they can't be bothered going out for dinner, and they resist the sea cucumbers' foul toxins by oozing a protective mucal goo around themselves.

Luckily, sea cucumbers can regrow their organs, because they certainly can't hold their butt breath for long enough to keep the pearlfish out of their rectums indefinitely.

 

[EnolaGaia]

4. Anal loss

There is at least one creature that can save its own arse by letting go of it. This South American scorpion species (Ananteris balzani) has an anus right up near the poisonous stabby bit on its tail.

If attacked, the scorpion has the ability to drop its tail, much like some lizards can - severing your own body part in this way is called an autotomy. Except, unlike lizards whose anuses are more sensibly positioned closer to their hindlegs, these scorpions also drop their butts along with their tails, in exchange for slightly prolonging their life.

It is typically only the adult males that will make this sacrifice, as the price is high. Once the tail and butt segments are gone, the wound heals over leaving no opening for their waste to escape.

While it may buy the scorpions a little more time to mate, they can never poop again. The scorpions will keep hunting (small prey only, because they can no longer take down a big meal without their stinger) and stuffing food into themselves, swelling their abdomens with trapped excrement.

Researchers have observed some of these scorpions lost further segments of their tails when the pressure of the built up waste got too much.

Ultimately, these little guys will suffer death by slow internal poop-splosion, as waste fills their innards. ...

 

[EnolaGaia]

5. Bum power

Bum jokes aside, butts and the poop they exude perform a vital role in sustaining life on Earth as we know it, not least thanks to recycling nutrients.

Take whales, for instance. Just as we use cow manure to fertilise our crops, whale excrement fertilises the life that grows in the sea.

Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) defecate a disgustingly bright-orange floating plume, and like the whales themselves, their poop plume is ginormous. In fact, marine biologists have dubbed them "poonamis".

These plumes feed floating plankton, which nourish most of the marine food chain and photosynthesise carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.

Scientists have estimated this cycle can remove 200,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide a year; before industrial whaling drastically diminished whale numbers, this effort was closer to two million tonnes. ...

 

[Ladyloafer]

1. The completely butt-less

One of the most incredible pooping strategies has to be not bothering to poop at all. One animal that does this lives on your face.

Face mites, such as Demodex folliculorum, do not have an anus at all. They don't even poop through their mouths like our ancient ancestors did. All the waste they create from munching on your skin and sebum gets stuffed into their large gut cells, which may explain why they only live up to 16 days.

Their waste is released onto your face once they die and disintegrate, along with bacteria that may cause skin inflammation called rosacea in some people.

WTF! Nopenopenope *goes off to wash face*

 

[EnolaGaia]

4. Anal loss
There is at least one creature that can save its own arse by letting go of it. This South American scorpion species (Ananteris balzani) has an anus right up near the poisonous stabby bit on its tail.
If attacked, the scorpion has the ability to drop its tail, much like some lizards can ...
Once the tail and butt segments are gone, the wound heals over leaving no opening for their waste to escape. ...
Ultimately, these little guys will suffer death by slow internal poop-splosion, as waste fills their innards. ...

An update ... Further research on these Brazilian scorpions indicates that the loss of the stinger / tail does not negatively impact male scorpions' ability to successfully get a mate and reproduce. In contrast, tailless females are significantly impaired in successfully bearing and birthing scorplings.

For Constipated Scorpions, Females Suffer Reproductively. Males, Not So Much
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/scie...r-reproductively-males-not-so-much-180977034/

 

[Victory]

PETA lists some foods containing parts of animal rectums

https://www.peta.org/blog/foods-made-animal-rectums/


This blog explores the traditional Chinese delicacy of Pork Bung aka Pig's rectum.

https://littleballofmadness.wordpress.com/2012/12/15/what-is-pork-bung/

 

[EnolaGaia]

This weird annelid worm lives in and upon sponges. It branches as it grows so as to eventually have a form leading from a single head to multiple posteriors (one at the end of each branch). Newly reported research has finally provided some data on this fragile creature's anatomy and physiology. However, its apparently multiple digestive tracts are devoid of food, and researchers still have no clue what or how it eats (much less excretes via all those butts).

This Bizarre Sea Worm Branches Like a Tree, And Each Segment Has Its Own Butt

Nature is so weird. You can have worms living in the deep sea that are completely butt-free… while in reef-dwelling segmented worms whose bodies branch like a tree from its head, each branch ends in a separate butt.

This species is called Ramisyllis multicaudata, and it's possibly the strangest worm on the planet. It was first discovered in 2006, and formally described in 2012. Now, for the first time, scientists have conducted a detailed study of its anatomy, finally revealing more about this enigmatic creature - and raising even more questions about how it lives its bizarre life.

"Our research solves some of the puzzles that these curious animals have posed ever since the first branched annelid was discovered at the end of the 19th century," said evolutionary biologist Maite Aguado ...

"However, there is still a long way to go to fully understand how these fascinating animals live in the wild."

R. multicaudata seems to be the very embodiment of introversion. It lives symbiotically in sea sponges to shallow depths of 20 meters (66 feet) in the waters off the north coast of Australia, its head buried deep in its living home.

As it grows, its bristled branching body, with diameters around 1 millimeter, extends along channels in the sponge. Only the very ends of those branches - the worm's many posteriors - stick out, giving the sponge a slightly patterned appearance. ...

For the first time, they were able to confirm that when the worm's body divides and branches, so too do its internal organs. Digestive tracts split, and the worm's guts run through the new branches as well as the old. ...

However, there's one mystery we still don't have an answer for: With just one head, buried deep in a sponge, how and what does R. multicaudata eat?

"This study has concluded that the intestine of these animals could be functional, yet no trace of food has ever been seen inside them and so it is still a mystery how they can feed their huge branched bodies," Aguado said. ...

All those butts, and the worm's not even using them… at least, not in a way that we can currently recognize. ...

FULL STORY:
https://www.sciencealert.com/this-incredible-branching-sea-worm-has-one-head-and-many-butts

PUBLISHED REPORT:
Integrative anatomical study of the branched annelid Ramisyllis multicaudata (Annelida, Syllidae)
Guillermo Ponz‐Segrelles Christopher J. Glasby Conrad Helm et al.
Journal of Morphology. 04 April 2021
https://doi.org/10.1002/jmor.21356

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.21356

 

[EnolaGaia]

2. Multi-talented poop-chutes

From wombat butts sculpting cube-shaped poops ... to turtles that can breathe through their anuses, there sure are some talented arses out there. ...

Snopes provides more details on turtles' (and other species') ability to respire via their cloaca (the multi-purpose organ that serves the anal function).

Can Some Turtles Breathe Through Their Butts?

... Like many animals, turtles breathe oxygen in through their mouth and lungs – inhaling brings oxygen from the air into the lungs that diffuse across the lung tissue and into the bloodstream. ...

Some turtles, including the bog turtle of the U.S. Appalachian mountain range, absorb oxygen from the water through the cloaca – a multipurpose tube and makeshift “butt” that serves breeding and egg-laying purposes, as well excreting waste. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), bog turtles burrow into the mud along the bottom of bogs at depths of up to two feet for which they have adopted a very unique skill – cloacal breathing ...

“Unlike most mammals, reptiles, amphibians, and birds don’t have a separate rectum and urethra, but rather a single organ, called a cloaca, serves the intestinal, urinary, and genital tracts. Some aquatic turtles, including the bog turtle, have openings off the cloaca, called bursae, which are densely laced with blood vessels,” wrote the agency.

“Water enters these chambers and the oxygen is removed, allowing the turtle to wander at length in the murky depths of Appalachian bogs. The ability to breathe at the end of your digestive tract isn’t limited to aquatic turtles, but rather a feat that can be pulled off by animals as diverse as sea cucumbers and young dragonflies which spend their nymph stage as aquatic insects.” ...

FULL STORY:
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/turtles-breathe-butts/

 

[Aether Blue]

I keep hoping that, in reference to the elimination habits of wombats, some cheeky Aussie names his or her new game software company, "Square Anus."

 

[EnolaGaia]

Speaking of butt-breathers ...

Natural intake of oxygen is as yet unproven in mammals. Recent research in Japan has demonstrated it's possible to proactively pump oxygen into test mammals (mice and pigs) via their lower intestines. The researchers are optimistic these results could lead to new practical methods for sustaining oxygen uptake in patients suffering from respiratory failure. Whether or not prospective patients should be optimistic about oxygenated enemas is a different matter.

Pigs And Rodents Can Breathe Through Their Butts, And This Could Be a Vital Discovery

... According to new research, rodents and pigs can also respirate through their butts.

Technically, delivery of oxygen via their rectal intestines suggests a new, enema-like means of ventilating patients under respiratory distress - if the same strange ability can be demonstrated in humans.

Intestinal respiration sounds extremely weird, but it's actually been known about for some time - in fish, anyway. In emergency low oxygen, or hypoxic, conditions, some aquatic animals such as sea cucumbers, freshwater catfish, and freshwater loaches can maximize their oxygen intake by breathing through their guts.

Naturally, this raised the fascinating question of whether other animals can do the same - including mammals. Although it seemed unlikely, a team of Japanese and American scientists led by thoracic surgeon Ryo Okabe of Kyoto University decided to try and find out, in the hopes of determining the feasibility of rectal ventilators for human patients. ...

As the team points out, standard medical options for patients with respiratory failure rely on mechanical ventilation or artificial lung systems; however, the current pandemic has resulted in a critical shortage of such devices, and a safe alternative method could provide life-saving additional support for patients in dire situations. ...

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/pigs-and-rodents-can-breathe-through-their-butts-apparently

See Also:
No Joke: Pigs and Rodents Can Breathe Through Their Butts
https://scitechdaily.com/no-joke-pigs-and-rodents-can-breathe-through-their-butts/

 

[Nosmo King]

Speaking of butt-breathers ...

Natural intake of oxygen is as yet unproven in mammals. Recent research in Japan has demonstrated it's possible to proactively pump oxygen into test mammals (mice and pigs) via their lower intestines. The researchers are optimistic these results could lead to new practical methods for sustaining oxygen uptake in patients suffering from respiratory failure. Whether or not prospective patients should be optimistic about oxygenated enemas is a different matter.

FULL STORY: https://www.sciencealert.com/pigs-and-rodents-can-breathe-through-their-butts-apparently

See Also:
No Joke: Pigs and Rodents Can Breathe Through Their Butts
https://scitechdaily.com/no-joke-pigs-and-rodents-can-breathe-through-their-butts/

Is there not an issue with inflation?

 

[Mythopoeika]

Is there not an issue with inflation?

Not only that, but a large air bubble in a ruptured blood vessel could have serious consequences.

 

[Kondoru]

I can see a lot of people being unenthusiastic about such a treatment.

 

[Frideswide]

Newly reported research has finally provided some data on this fragile creature's anatomy and physiology. However, its apparently multiple digestive tracts are devoid of food, and researchers still have no clue what or how it eats (much less excretes via all those butts).

If a butt does not excrete, is it a butt? :sherlock: