Bird droppings and guano Trivia Quiz

Answer: False

Although natural guano is harvested from birds' breeding grounds and colonies worldwide, it also made from bat and seal droppings. It now also means any manure made with the same active ingredients, which can include processed fish and coral. As many birds and seals eat similar aquatic life it can also be made directly without passing through the animal's digestive system first.

Answer: Virtually any colours

Bird droppings are coloured by certain foods which are not digested sufficiently to degrade. Purple pigeon droppings are particularly common in the UK from the berries they eat.

Answer: Shampoo

Whether provided by nature or utilised by man, bird droppings are not worthless waste products, but have a variety of uses. Birds operate as a distributor of undigested seeds far and wide. Man has found the benefits of guano as a fertiliser and pesticide, as the organisms living in it kill harmful fungi and nematode worms as well as providing plant nutrients.

It is also a good source of the saltpetre used in gunpowder.

Answer: Mistletoe

Mistletoe is from the Anglo-Saxon 'mistle' =dung and 'tan' =twig as medieval scientists believed it grew from where birds had left their droppings on the trees. Although some is recycled in this way, it can spread without the help from birds. 'Mist' still means dung in modern German.
Plenty of blackberries and currants have been seeded by birds. Tomatoes, however, are very successfully distributed via human faeces. As the seeds aren't affected by passing through the digestive system, the plants grow spontaneously at sewage farms and their fruits are perfectly edible.

Answer: Its composition

Guano was named by the Peruvians as 'Wanu' in Quechua to distinguish it from other bird droppings. It refers to the sort that can be used for fertiliser and depends on the bird's species and diet. I'm glad they can tell the difference as I can't!

Answer: Faeces and urine

The black or dark part is faeces and the white or light part is urine, but other colours can be included depending on their diet.

Because birds share a single orifice from the digestive, reproductive and urinary systems, the cloaca, their excretion is very efficient and everything is let out at once. Most animal urine breaks down to ammonia which is a rich source of nitrates. Rotted or processed faeces from most animals has been used as a fertiliser since humans began farming.

Answer: All of these

Nitrogen and phosphorus compounds are very helpful in feeding plants, and bacteria found in guano act to protect the plants from disease and pests. It is similar to spreading fish meal on plants but unlike the fish the guano is a lot easier to harvest on the land and needs very little processing.

Answer: Guanay cormorant

Although all have also provided good supplies of guano, the guanay cormorant (the name gives a clue) provides the best quality as it contains the richest source of nitrates, and formed the foundation of the industry in South America.

Answer: Loss of biodiversity

In bat caves in particular a large variety of invertebrates and fungi live on the guano and it is reduced in population as a result of collection. Bats also do not like to be disturbed and it does reduce their population as the collectors interfere with their breeding cycle. It is almost impossible to collect guano commercially without disturbing the host species.

It does not affect the ground it is deposited on though, as it is easily removed from hard surfaces. Although many things are now blamed for climate change, guano farming is not yet one of them, although it is also used to discover climate records much as ice deposits are.

Answer: Burning it

The original local Peruvian farmers burnt the guano before spreading it. Unlike most other manure like horses', guano can be used as it is without being rotted or processed in any way, and burning does not seem to have caught on elsewhere.