Most mammals need only 12 seconds to poop

Mechanical engineers studying the hydrodynamics of soft matter have a new universal constant to add to the annals of science: On average, most mammals take just 12 seconds to poop. The researchers studiously observed that mammals from cats to elephants all apply about the same amount of pressure to finish the job, regardless of body size, according to New Scientist . Larger animals compensate for their bigger feces and longer rectums with thicker mucus that keeps the action down to the 12-second average, the researchers write this week in Soft Matter . That’s fully 8 seconds shorter than the universal mammal urination time of 21 seconds, a discovery for which the same team won an Ig Nobel Prize in 2015.