Wombats produce distinctive cube‑shaped feces that stay in place for scent marking and territory signalling. Recent research links the shape to specialised intestinal mechanics and variable tissue elasticity
What the cubes are used for
Wombats deposit stacks of cube‑shaped droppings on rocks, logs and other prominences to mark territory and communicate with conspecifics, and the near‑nonrolling shape helps these scent signals remain where they were placed.
How the cubes form
Research indicates the cube shape arises in the final stages of digestion where the intestine’s geometry and regions of differing elasticity compress and shape the fecal matter into roughly cubic pellets as it dries and moves toward excretion.
Scientific evidence and studies
Studies including biomechanical analyses and imaging of wombat intestines have shown that the alternating stiff and stretchy regions of the gut wall produce nonuniform compression, which, together with slow transit time and water absorption, yields sharply cornered pellets rather than rounded droppings.
Ecological and behavioural context
Producing many small, cube‑shaped droppings is an efficient signalling strategy for a solitary, burrowing herbivore. Stable piles convey territorial boundaries and individual presence to other wombats while requiring little energy to produce relative to their communicative value.
Takeaway
Wombat cube‑shaped poop is a striking example of how anatomy and behaviour co‑evolve: specialised intestinal properties and slow digestion create the cubes, and those cubes serve an important role in scent marking and communication in the wild.