what type of science is this?

Question

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/26/panda.poop.ap/index.html

Answer 1

I doubt it has a word! "Fantastic" maybe? Hehe...where do I buy some?

Okay, seriously though...the study of animal droppings is called "Scatology" or "Coprology" so it's a mix of that and zoology - the keepers would have been asking some serious questions about disposal; ecology - you can't just dump that amount of droppings every day without causing some kind of problem somewhere. In the wild, they are able to spread such impact over a large area. Often the plant species within the Panda's natural habitat have evolved to use the nutrient-rich droppings thus taking care of the problem;

Finally, there's probably someone at the zoo who's been involved in making paper before. This someone saw how fibre-rich the droppings were (Pandas live on almost nothing but bamboo)and put 2 and 2 together, so to speak!

Btw. I am serious that the sciences of Coprology and Scatology exist! The existence of animal dung allows you to quickly assess and identify who lives in a place, when they were last there, what they ate last...there's a whole lot of things you can tell from a simple "poop"! There's a great animal guide book available in Australia called "Mammal Tracks and Other Signs" by Barbara Triggs. Her book includes several pages (in colour) of animal droppings!

Hope this helps!

Love and Light,


Jarrah

Answer 2

Jarrah is right that the study of feces would be
called coprology or scatology. However, making
paper from panda droppings is not a matter of
science, it is technology. Science is a process
of finding out new information. Technology is
using that information for practical purposes.
Since the food of both elephants and pandas is
plant matter, largely wood, the fecal material
is primarily wood fibers, which is what paper is
made from. The relatively small amount of other
material should be easily washed away, leaving
clean wood pulp for paper making.

Answer 3

Zoology?