# 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:** 17
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/41 "2017-07-08T18:42:31Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> This one wonders how they _discovered_ it. What led someone to drink reindeer pee in the first place?
Sometimes when you try to give a reindeer a blowjob, things do go as planned.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/42 "2017-07-08T18:55:48Z")
I recall some documentary on Vikings that said they seasoned their food with reindeer droppings. Can’t find anything about this because searching turns up some kind of confection called Reindeer Poop instead of real info.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/43 "2017-07-08T18:59:49Z")
There is also a known medical treatment using Koala Bear excrement developed at Mercy Hospital. The droppings are steeped in hot water which is then consumed directly with chunks of the solid material still floating in the brew. It is done this way traditionally because… the Koala Tea of Mercy is not strained.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/44 "2017-07-08T21:40:55Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> It is done this way traditionally because…
**Tweeeeeeet!!** Groaner foul! Lose 1 point!!
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2017, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/45 "2017-07-08T22:18:00Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> There is also a known medical treatment using Koala Bear excrement developed at Mercy Hospital. The droppings are steeped in hot water which is then consumed directly with chunks of the solid material still floating in the brew. It is done this way traditionally because… the Koala Tea of Mercy is not strained.
It droppeth like a bear from trees?
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/46 "2017-07-09T00:31:14Z")
I’m inclined to file this under bullshit: [Ttongsul](https://youtu.be/74V4BOF5IAg)
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/47 "2017-07-09T00:44:05Z")
[Medicinal shit, including references to historical uses.](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3719997/)
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### Author:  [@Mikeisskeptical](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikeisskeptical)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/48 "2017-07-09T03:01:18Z")
> [@HoneyBadgerDC](#):
>
> 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.
They have much better vision than mammals.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/49 "2017-07-09T03:14:14Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#):
>
> This one wonders how they _discovered_ it. What led someone to drink reindeer pee in the first place?
My guess? People ate some vegetables or fruits right off the plant without washing them and got high from it, and wondered what was causing it and discovered that the location coincided with wherever the reindeer were marking their territory.
😕
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/50 "2017-07-09T06:23:30Z")
Examples of traditional Inuit diet including feces.
> [@](#):
>
> REPORT OF THE FIFTH THULE EXPEDITION 1921—24
>
> THE DANISH EXPEDITION TO ARCTIC NORTH AMERICA IN CHARGE
> OF KNUD RASMUSSEN, ph. d.
> VOL. VII. NO. 2, GYLDENDALSKE BOGHANDEL, 1930
> [Full text of "Intellectual culture of the Hudson Bay Eskimos"](https://archive.org/stream/intellectualcult00rasm_0/intellectualcult00rasm_0_djvu.txt) Page 44
> The bones, after
> being smashed with stones, were mixed with a little water and boiled
> together with caribou hooves; as a rule there were- considerable quanti-
> ties of old excrement between the toes, and this merely gave the soup
> colour but without exactly imparting to it a taste that we thought
> pleasant.
> [@](#):
>
> The life of the Copper Eskimos
> by Jenness, Diamond, 1886-1969; Canadian Arctic Expedition (1913-1918)
> Ackland 1922
> [The life of the Copper Eskimos : Jenness, Diamond, 1886-1969 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/lifeofcoppereski00jenn)
>
> Page 102.
> In cutting up a caribou the Eskimo is careful to preserve every particle of fat, even around the intestines. In the summer and autumn indeed, when the black pellets of excrement being usually, but not always, squeezed out between the thumb and finger.
>
> Page 104
> The Copper Eskimos seldom take the trouble to clean their fish before boiling them. The intestines are drawn out and eaten raw, the remainder divided into large cross-sections and inserted into the pot.
>
> Page 106
> Small birds, like longspurs, are skinned and swallowed whole without being cooked at all, and it was not uncommon to see a woman transfer the entrails of a freshly killed ptarmigan to her mouth. Caribou droppings are eaten occasionally in the hunting field . . .
> [@](#):
>
> > [@](#):
> >
> > Bon Appetit
> > By Lawrence Millman
> > [bird poo | Lawrence Millman](http://lawrencemillman.com/tag/bird-poo/)
> > “Marmartuq?” he asked. (You like it?)
> > “Mamagiq!” I replied. (Delicious!)
> > At which point he provided me with the dish’s recipe:
> > Go out and kill a seal, then take a chunk of the meat, preferably from the flank, and cut it into small pieces
> > Chew each piece a number of times, then spit them into a bowl. Be sure you spit into the bowl too, as that helps the ingredients ferment and likewise serves as a sort of seasoning.
> > Mix in some ptarmigan shit. This ingredient should be dry. Fresh ptarmigan shit is somewhat astringent, and its viscosity is not pleasant to every palate.
> > Stir the aforementioned items for a few minutes, add a cup or two of slightly rancid seal oil, and –voila! –serve forth.
> > “Can you substitute something for the ptarmigan shit?” I inquired.
> > Avannaq shook his head vehemently. No less than Julia Child, he knew exactly what made a recipe work.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/51 "2017-07-09T18:37:27Z")
> [@GaryM](#):
>
> How about shrimp guts? I often don’t devein my shrimp and we know it’s not a vein but the gut. Same with crawfish.
The dark part of the “vein” is literally shrimp poop. So you eat shrimp poop and you’re providing a good answer to the OP.
So again, for the OP, the answer is yes, GaryM is the human eating excrement.
(I assume GaryM is human.)
And an obligatory note, [according to Uncle Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1843/is-that-black-line-down-the-back-of-a-shrimp-what-i-think-it-is) that vein is safe to eat if the shrimp is cooked properly. Shrimp are scavengers and their poop is mostly dirt with some decaying vegetable and animal bits (so kind of like human poop if humans ate lots of dirt along with our food). But at least if it’s cooked right then the bacteria is dead and you won’t get sick.
Still… it’s poop.
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### Author:  [@Nansbread1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nansbread1)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/52 "2017-07-09T19:26:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> The dark part of the “vein” is literally shrimp poop. So you eat shrimp poop and you’re providing a good answer to the OP.
>
> So again, for the OP, the answer is yes, GaryM is the human eating excrement.
>
> (I assume GaryM is human.)
>
> And an obligatory note, [according to Uncle Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1843/is-that-black-line-down-the-back-of-a-shrimp-what-i-think-it-is) that vein is safe to eat if the shrimp is cooked properly. Shrimp are scavengers and their poop is mostly dirt with some decaying vegetable and animal bits (so kind of like human poop if humans ate lots of dirt along with our food). But at least if it’s cooked right then the bacteria is dead and you won’t get sick.
>
> Still… it’s poop.
Whilst in accept you answer i still think eating the whole animal with its poop inside it does not fully meet my criteria.
It has to be just the poop as a separate entity.
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### Author:  [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/53 "2017-07-09T19:45:09Z")
Beer Wine Distilled Spirits
excrement of yeast mold
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### Author:  [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/54 "2017-07-09T20:11:44Z")
There is a scene in the John Waters movie _Pink Flamingos_ that shows Divine eating fresh dog turd. Everyone involved swears it was real.
I’m just going to go and call it NSFW:
[How much is that doggy in the window](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g09RQfWEY4)
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [July 9, 2017, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/55 "2017-07-09T20:44:08Z")
> [@Weisshund](#):
>
> Beer Wine Distilled Spirits
> excrement of yeast mold
Beer wine distilled spirits
all excrement of yeast mold
worst haiku ever.
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### Author:  [@Mrdeals](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mrdeals)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2017, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/56 "2017-07-10T03:22:41Z")
There was a riveting documentary released called “Ace Venture; Pet Detective” in it, he eats a dish of “bat guano” which the tribesman said was bat droppings…how accurate was that documentary? 🙂
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2017, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-excrement-of-any-living-being-eaten-by-humans-anywhere/790679/57 "2017-07-10T15:00:53Z")
It is accurate in that “guano” is in fact the word for bat droppings.
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