New UGA study finds square-shaped poop might help wombats communicate

University of Tasmania graduate student Kate McMahon worked under the direction of UGA Odum School of Ecology professor Scott Carver to explore whether wombats communicate through poo and what they might be saying. (Photo courtesy of Kate McMahon)

Scientists at the University of Georgia dropped a new study on how wombats communicate using their square-shaped droppings. 

Wombats poop out little cubes that have long confounded scientists and the public, but Scott Carver, a professor in the Odom School of ecology at the University of Georgia, said there’s a lot more to the square scats than meets the eye. 

“Olfactory communication, or communication through a sense of smell is the most dominant form of communication across organisms, and so we had a strong sense pun intended that wombats engaged in this kind of communication already,” Carver said.