[HN Gopher] Pooping hippos create 'community guts' in African ponds ___________________________________________________________________ Pooping hippos create 'community guts' in African ponds Author : rbanffy Score : 66 points Date : 2021-12-10 12:56 UTC (2 days ago) (HTM) web link (www.science.org) (TXT) w3m dump (www.science.org) | [deleted] | aaron695 wrote: | This is dumb | | When giving cattle Leuceana rumen inoculum you only give it to | 10% of the herd because the rest will share it at drinking | locations. This was first found naturally in Hawaii in goats but | now has been brought to other locations for cattle [1] | | Similarity when using camels for a different rumen inoculum for | cattle not for sale yet it's also at drinking locations the camel | shares it to the cattle. | | We know this is true in cattle, because this is done in business | after multiple studies. | | Is this claiming it's fecal matter based? Ok, perhaps that's not | dumb, I assumed it was shared from the mouth, but perhaps I've | never thought it was fecal matter because that's icky. Fecal | matter will get in drinking troughs. | | Is this what it's saying, fecal not saliva? Hippos, goats, camels | and cows all chew their cud, so they have gut bacteria in their | mouths. | | [1] https://csiropedia.csiro.au/leucaena-toxicity-solution/ | DonHopkins wrote: | Flanders and Swan's Hippopotamus Song: | | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zpDF3Py7r8 | | >Mud, mud, glorious mud, nothing quite like it for cooling the | blood. | rectang wrote: | > _If swallowed by other hippos, the bacteria may possibly aid | digestion and disease resistance._ | | Presumably it also aids in the spread of hippo-hosted parasites? | | And yet apparently that cost doesn't outweigh the benefits of | this behavior. | londons_explore wrote: | Lots of behaviours of mammals seem to assist the propagation of | parasites. For example sneezing seems to have very little | biological need, yet is incredibly good at distribution of | airborne pathogens. | | The sneeze reflex is complex, and clearly not encoded in the | very small and simple viruses that trigger it. | | I have a hypothesis that many undiscovered pathogens in fact | have a positive impact on survival rates of their host, which | is why behaviours that deliberately spread (some) pathogens are | so common. | heavyset_go wrote: | A sneeze is a like a cough in that its a mechanical way to | expel blockage and foreign bodies from nasal mucous membranes | that happen to be great environments for pathogens to grow. | culi wrote: | In general parasites that kill their hosts are failures. | That's why every single human pandemic has come from zoonotic | parasites. It's parasites that are not adapted to humans and | accidentally kill them. Generally, given enough time, they | would eventually adapt and the strains that are the least | harmful (sometimes even most beneficial) would win out as | their hosts would do better and allow the parasites to spread | more | | This happened in South America with a cholera outbreak. In | countries with good sanitation, strains that made their hosts | sicker ended up dying out because people had to stay indoors | more. So the strains that were less sever allowed people to | go out and interact socially and therefore spread the cholera | further. | | Arguably the same thing might be happening with the Omicron | variant which early data suggests is much much milder than | previous variants | kadoban wrote: | The hippo isn't the only thing involved here though, the | parasites and bacteria are too. So it may not be strictly best | for the hippo, it may be best for something else that is able | to influence the hippo. | Robotbeat wrote: | It may mean development of pathogens that that hippo clan is | resistant to but which rival hippo clans, or perhaps rival | species, are not. Like "Guns, Germs, and Steel" but for hippos. | 1cvmask wrote: | Humans display similar outcomes in the Ganges river. But it is | dangerous for outside tourists for sure and it seems the locals | are immune or inoculated to all the e. coli bacili in the river. | The humans there believe the river to be purifying the soul and | spirit. | | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges | | https://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/fatal-bacteria-like-e-... | sjtindell wrote: | When I visited Varanasi there were literally bodies and ashes | being put in the river right upstream from thousands of people | bathing, drinking, playing, and worshipping. Wild. | xchaotic wrote: | just don't tell Gwyneth Paltrow | (https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/gwyneth-paltr...) | silexia wrote: | Fecal transplants in humans are purported to have a myriad of | health benefits. I wonder if the clean water push may actually be | harmful in some ways as people lose some diverse, healthy | bacteria in our guts? | culi wrote: | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygiene_hypothesis | | In my native country there's a joke/saying that says that kids | who ate their own shit as babies have good luck. So if someone | tells you you have good luck, their making a joke about you | being a shiteater lol. | | I've always wondered if this might be rooted in the large | number of observed health benefits associated with early | childhood exposure to diverse microbiomes | kadoban wrote: | As far as I know fecal transplants are only known to be | beneficial in some cases, presumably when there is something | seriously wrong with the recipient's gut biome. It doesn't seem | clear to me that clean water is bad or fecal transplants are | generally helpful. | | Keep in mind that lack of clean water is a _huge_ killer. The | benefits would have to be ridiculous for it to be worth it. | ng12 wrote: | Some chronic gastro issues like IBS and Crohn's are virtually | unheard of in developing countries. There's a theory that | this because people in developed countries have | underdeveloped immune systems from underexposure to foodborne | bacteria/viruses. | | Net-net clean water is definitely more important but there's | still some drawbacks. | dsizzle wrote: | I'm surprised an article on hippo poop altering the local | environment doesn't mention the unique (and disgusting!) way that | hippos poop: by spraying it everywhere propeller-style with their | tails! The usual explanation for that is that it's to mark their | territory, but I wonder if this offers a more cooperative | explanation? (I would be skeptical of that explanation TBC.) | Thiez wrote: | It may be disgusting, but it makes for a great effect when | played in reverse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5SSnQBtaq4 | :-) | hawk_ wrote: | what's with the blurring in that video? | junon wrote: | To prevent it from being flagged as for mature audiences | and potentially getting a strike on the channel. Showing | fecal matter in high, up-close detail would mark it as a | "V" rating (violence/disturbing)[0]: | | > Examples include real or dramatized medical footage, or | depictions of disgusting or scary content in a horror or | fantasy context. | | [0] https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/146399 | chongli wrote: | But this is not a horror or fantasy context, it's an | educational context. Am I missing something? | junon wrote: | Youtube doesn't care about that. At least, content | creators don't generally take that chance. There is very | little recourse if Youtube decides your content violates | their rules. | | That was from the "mild" section, too. Looking at the | more extreme bullet point for the same rating, there's | | > It may also include pervasive imagery or situations | that are disturbing or repulsive to the average viewer. | | Which, given that the entire video is about literal | buttholes and feces, probably fits to some degree. | 1cvmask wrote: | That was so funny and clever. | samcheng wrote: | It's a spectacular experience if you're lucky enough to see it | at the zoo! | jonsen wrote: | Out of luck if you wear glasses. | setgree wrote: | This comes up in the movie Okja but I didn't know it was based | on a real thing ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-12-12 23:00 UTC)