Why wombats don’t cut corners: scientists discover how they produce square poo from a round hole

Squaring the circle: wombat droppings come with eight corners (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

We all have different abilities and skills to boast of at dinner parties, but the bare-nosed wombat has one that’s genuinely unique among living creatures: it produces cube-shaped poo.  

And now scientists say they have discovered how it does so from a round anus.

For years, experts had been puzzled by the animal’s particular talent, so the discovery has caused much excrement – sorry, excitement – among biologists.