# Is the excrement of any living being eaten by humans anywhere
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [July 7, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679 "2017-07-07T10:19:31Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/21 "2017-07-07T14:36:09Z")
You guys stole my answer of “yeast”
I used to have this quote on the wall of my brewery lab from a book by Friederich Wöhler (in the early days of microscopy):
> [@](#):
>
> In a word, these creatures eat sugar and excrete alcohol from the intestinal tract and carbon dioxide from their urinary organs…From the anus of the animal one can see the incessant emergence of a fluid that is lighter than the liquid medium, and from their enormously large genitals there squirts at very short intervals a stream of carbonic acid gas
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### Author:  [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/22 "2017-07-07T14:44:50Z")
[Jenkem,](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jenkem) with the following caveats: (1) It’s not actually consumed, but used as a hallucinogenic inhalant; and (2) it’s probably an urban legend.
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### Author:  [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/23 "2017-07-07T14:57:39Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> Similar to the civit poop coffee, is [Jacu birdshit coffee](http://modernfarmer.com/2013/10/flight-jacu-bird/), which I expect is even more expensive.
My guess about the price seems to be correct. Google produced these numbers:
organic coffee beans: $15.00 / 12 oz
Kopi Luwak civit poop coffee beans: $51.88 / 2 oz
Jacu birdshit coffee beans: $64.00 / 1.8 oz
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### Author:  [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/24 "2017-07-07T15:55:15Z")
> [@dtilque](#):
>
> My guess about the price seems to be correct. Google produced these numbers:
>
> organic coffee beans: $15.00 / 12 oz
> Kopi Luwak civit poop coffee beans: $51.88 / 2 oz
> Jacu birdshit coffee beans: $64.00 / 1.8 oz
In general birds do seem to be a better judge of quality and ripeness than the mammals who also do a pretty good job. As evidenced by my own fruit trees birds tend to be slightly more discerning than mammals. I never could understand this as supposedly birds have no sense of smell or taste. They must have something at least comparable.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/25 "2017-07-07T16:28:22Z")
Of course, Wöhler might not have known any better, but yeast don’t have anything really comparable to intestines, urinary organs, an anus, or genitals, and the alcohol and carbon dioxide produced by them don’t really fit into the categories of “pee” and “poop”.
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### Author:  [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/26 "2017-07-07T17:29:34Z")
This column might be relevant…
> **[Is that black line down the back of a shrimp what I think it is?](https://www.straightdope.com/21342983/is-that-black-line-down-the-back-of-a-shrimp-what-i-think-it-is)**
>
> A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
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### Author:  [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/27 "2017-07-07T18:07:32Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> Of course, Wöhler might not have known any better, but yeast don’t have anything really comparable to intestines, urinary organs, an anus, or genitals, and the alcohol and carbon dioxide produced by them don’t really fit into the categories of “pee” and “poop”.
Oh I know, part of my job was propagating yeast, counting yeast on a hematocytometer, plating yeast, etc. I always half suspected he was joking in his descriptions, but when you work with yeast every day, you can’t help enjoying a quote that describes them as having “enormously large genitals” 😃
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/28 "2017-07-07T18:15:59Z")
Hey, eating an excretion of an animal is positively Biblical!
“Manna” is thought to have been the sugary excretion from certain species of insects:
> [@](#):
>
> In the Biblical account, the name manna is said to derive from the question man hu, seemingly meaning “What is it?”;[20] this is perhaps an Aramaic etymology, not a Hebrew one.[17] Man is possibly cognate with the Arabic term man, meaning plant lice, with man hu thus meaning “this is plant lice”,[17] which fits one widespread modern identification of manna, the crystallized honeydew of certain scale insects.[17][21] In the environment of a desert, such honeydew rapidly dries due to evaporation of its water content, becoming a sticky solid, and later turning whitish, yellowish, or brownish;[17] honeydew of this form is considered a delicacy in the Middle East, and is a good source of carbohydrates.[21] In particular, there is a scale insect that feeds on tamarisk, the Tamarisk manna scale (Trabutina mannipara), which is often considered to be the prime candidate for biblical manna.[22][23]
> **[Manna](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manna)**
>
> Manna (Hebrew: מָן, romanized: mān, Greek: μάννα; Arabic: اَلْمَنُّ; sometimes or archaically spelled mana), according to the Bible and the Quran, is an edible substance which God provided for the Israelites during their travels in the desert during the 40-year period following the Exodus and prior to the conquest of Canaan.
> In the Hebrew Bible, manna is described twice: once in Exodus 16:1–36 with the full narrative surrounding it, and once again in Numbers 11:1–9 as a part of a separate narrat...
> **[Honeydew (secretion)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeydew_(secretion))**
>
> Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by aphids, some scale insects, and many other true bugs and some other insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the insects, allowing them to rapidly process the large volume of sap required to extract essential nutrients present at low concentrations. Honeydew is particularly common as a secretion in hemipteran insects and is often the basis for tro...
> [@](#):
>
> Honeydew is a sugar-rich sticky liquid, secreted by aphids and some scale insects as they feed on plant sap. When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the aphid.
Unlike honey, this is a product extruded from the anus - it isn’t used or wanted by the insect itself.
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### Author:  [@iceiso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iceiso)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/29 "2017-07-07T18:21:08Z")
I heard on a podcast that Sami people would drink the urine of reindeer that ate psychedelic mushrooms as a means of ingesting the psychedelic compounds. Not sure why they wouldn’t eat the mushrooms themselves though…
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/30 "2017-07-07T18:23:16Z")
> [@iceiso](#):
>
> I heard on a podcast that Sami people would drink the urine of reindeer that ate psychedelic mushrooms as a means of ingesting the psychedelic compounds. Not sure why they wouldn’t eat the mushrooms themselves though…
The notion was I think that the reindeer would strain out whatever caused the undesirable side effects of eating the mushrooms, leaving just the good psychoactive chemicals behind in their pee.
Dunno if this counts though, as they aren’t drinking pee for its food value. Lots of cultures used pee or shit of various sorts in drugs (we did, with horse urine used in hormone replacement pills, I think).
[https://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325premarin.html](https://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325premarin.html)
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/31 "2017-07-07T18:28:44Z")
You should read the Egyptian Book of the Dead. A very large percentage of the prayers within involve ‘not being made to eat feces’ or making your enemy eat feces.
Must’ve been a very strange society when so many of their prayers about their own deaths or involvements with others revolve around eating shit. :eek:
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/32 "2017-07-07T18:30:09Z")
> [@Chimera](#):
>
> You should read the Egyptian Book of the Dead. A very large percentage of the prayers within involve ‘not being made to eat feces’ or making your enemy eat feces.
>
> Must’ve been a very strange society when so many of their prayers about their own deaths or involvements with others revolve around eating shit. :eek:
So … “die and eat shit” rather than “eat shit and die”? 😃
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/33 "2017-07-07T18:31:25Z")
> [@iceiso](#):
>
> I heard on a podcast that Sami people would drink the urine of reindeer that ate psychedelic mushrooms as a means of ingesting the psychedelic compounds.
Ah! I finally understand these lyrics from _Frozen_:
[QUOTE=some singing animated trolls]
His peculiar brain, dear, his thing for the reindeer
That’s outside a few of nature’s laws
[/QUOTE]
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/34 "2017-07-07T19:03:36Z")
> [@iceiso](#):
>
> I heard on a podcast that Sami people would drink the urine of reindeer that ate psychedelic mushrooms as a means of ingesting the psychedelic compounds. Not sure why they wouldn’t eat the mushrooms themselves though…
And the Aztec priests would fast, and then eat shrooms and drink a lot of water. Their urine was then collected and passed out for others to drink as part of the ceremony.
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### Author:  [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/35 "2017-07-07T21:25:04Z")
> [@Malthus](#):
>
> Lots of cultures used pee or shit of various sorts in drugs (we did, with horse urine used in hormone replacement pills, I think).
>
> [https://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325premarin.html](https://pubs.acs.org/cen/coverstory/83/8325/8325premarin.html)
The urine isn’t used directly as an ingredient in Premarin, though. Estrogen is extracted from the urine, and the estrogen is used to make Premarin.
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### Author:  [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/36 "2017-07-07T21:35:01Z")
> [@cwthree](#):
>
> The urine isn’t used directly as an ingredient in Premarin, though. Estrogen is extracted from the urine, and the estrogen is used to make Premarin.
Well, of course - it says that in the article I linked to: its an extract from pregnant mare’s piss.
I’m pretty certain that the shamans drinking reindeer piss would, if they could, extract the psychoactive factors in the piss and take that, and throw out the rest of the piss … if they had the tech.
In short, it isn’t the piss that they want, it is the valuable drug _contained in_ the piss.
Contrast with “manna”, in which the excretion of the insect is the sugary food itself.
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### Author:  [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)
#### Post date: [July 7, 2017, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/37 "2017-07-07T22:33:57Z")
Hence why the Aztec priests would fast and drink only water, to remove all the other stuff from their urine before sharing it.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/38 "2017-07-08T02:19:38Z")
In the novel “Shaman” by Kim Stanley Robinson, an old woman describes eating her own feces in times of extreme hardship. YES YES I KNOW IT’S FICTION, but would there be any way of testing human coprolites to determine if any had been re-ingested? Our close relatives the apes will sometimes eat their own excrement so it doesn’t seem completely out of the question.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/39 "2017-07-08T03:33:35Z")
There’s a “Dirty Jobs” episode where Mike Rowe is on a camel farm, and the farmer tells him that Bedouin tribespeople to this day sometimes swallow camel pellets to protect them against dysentery and other water- and food-borne diseases.
It sounds like the Sami urine-drinking thing is done because the mushrooms are poisonous to people but not reindeer, and the hallucinogenic component is indeed excreted in their urine. One wonders how they collect it. 😕
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/40 "2017-07-08T18:26:23Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#):
>
> It sounds like the Sami urine-drinking thing is done because the mushrooms are poisonous to people but not reindeer, and the hallucinogenic component is indeed excreted in their urine. One wonders how they collect it. 😕
This one wonders how they _discovered_ it. What led someone to drink reindeer pee in the first place?
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