Lizard shit collector flushed to failure

[Oolon Colluphid]

Saw this a couple of weeks back but didn't get around to sharing. I laughed; I bet the poor bugger cried.

From the Grauniad...

Lost to science - the world's biggest collection of lizard poo (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/07/animals-wildlife-butaan-lizard-faeces-daniel-bennett-leeds-university)

After five years spent in hot and difficult pursuit of the rare butaan lizard, cousin to the mighty komodo dragon, the PhD student had managed to collect 35kg (77lb) of its faeces.

Which perhaps explains why he was so furious to return to Leeds University for his third year only to discover that a lab technician had thrown out his sack of samples.

"I was surprised to find my desk space occupied by another student," he said. "My personal effects had been carefully stowed in boxes, but there was no sign of my 35kg bag of lizard shit."

Bennett told the Times Higher Education supplement: "To some people it might have been just a bag of lizard shit, but to me it represented seven years of painstaking work searching the rainforest with a team of reformed poachers to find the faeces of one of the world's largest, rarest and most mysterious lizards."

[Mung Dynasty]

That's hilarious. I'm nicking that story.

[Pendaric]

I'm sure there's a proper botanical reason for it, but what earthly use is a collection of lizard crap?

[Mung Dynasty]

He was probably trying to figure out their diet and relationship with the rest of the ecosystem, etc. Tis terribly sciency, old chap. Boffins are like that.

[Oolon Colluphid]

I'm sure there's a proper botanical reason for it, but what earthly use is a collection of lizard crap?

You got me wondering, so I stuck 'lizard faeces' into PubMed (or should that be, in this case, what I just typo-ed: PubMerd(e)...) and got 95 hits, including:

Stable isotopes may provide evidence for starvation in reptiles (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18613003?ordinalpos=3&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)
We examined the effects that starvation has on delta13C and delta15N signatures in the tissues (excreta, carcass, scales, and claws) of six, distantly related squamate reptiles [...] In contrast, the isotopic signatures of reptile excreta became significantly enriched in 15N and depleted in 13C during starvation. The isotopic signatures of reptile scales and lizard claws were less indicative of starvation time than those of excreta.

Influence of drying time on nematode eggs in scats of scincid lizard Egernia stokesii (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16629337?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsP anel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum)
Two pharyngodonid nematode species, Pharyngodon tiliquae and Thelandros trachysauri, infect the Australian lizard Egernia stokesii (gidgee skink) in populations from South Australia. Eggs are detected in lizard scats that are deposited in piles outside the rock crevice refuges that the lizards occupy. Eggs were isolated by salt flotation from fresh scats and from scats that had been dried in simulated field conditions for 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. Egg counts decreased with drying time for both nematode species, but T. trachysauri eggs were still detected after 28 days of drying, whereas P. tiliquae eggs were rarely detected after 14 days. These results suggest that egg counts can be used to infer host infection status only from relatively fresh scats and that eggs of the 2 species persist in a state where they can be detected by standard flotation techniques, for different times.

Seems you can tell all manner of stuff about their diets (and regularity of eating), as well as what parasites they have, how those parasites spread. I noticed that several of the parasites are relatives of ones that infect humans, so I guess there could be medical reasons for collecting lizard scats too.

Amazing.

[Puck]

Okay, that's both sad and funny. Sad that someone was dense enough to toss something someone took the time and money to ship from another country. But if it smells like shit...

[Anne]

you want to hear sad? ddd has 10-20 years (http://www.rationalpagans.com/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=2002&start=15)of old sheep shit in his barn...

of course, he's not collecting it...

[DMB]

We used to have an old French barn like that. Decades of sheep shit. But we cleared it out and got it converted into a fabulous holiday cottage.

[Anne]

and do you rent this place out?

[Ray Moscow]

Yeah, I saw that, too. Poor guy (though it's kind of funny if you're not him).