VDA#7                                                                                           1. What is the benefit of checking feces (poop, scat, dung, droppings) for Tversus checking the blood of the animal?  When an animal poops, the dropping contain cells from the creature's own digestive tract. Those cells contain D.N.A a molecule unique to each animal.
 2. What four things can you learn from an organism's droppings?  1. the droppings contain cells from the creature’s own digestive tract. 2.when animals are rare, so is their poop. 3. dogs help us by sniffing out bombs and drugs.4.Humans hunted to extinction the last of the wingless moa about 500 years ago.                                                          3. What hormone is produced when some animals are stressed or starving? The researchers measured levels of a hormone called GC, or glucocorticoid  in the orca poop. Animals make more of this chemical when stressed or starved.                                                                                                                           4. What did the researchers conclude contributed to the higher stress in orcas and how did the scientists come to that conclusion?Every August, there were plenty of fish for the whales to eat — and a lot of whale-watching boats in the area too. Around that time, GC levels in the whale poop dropped to their lowest levels, the team found. If the boats stressed the whales, then GC levels should have been high at that time.

Later, when the number of Chinook salmon, a favorite food, dropped, GC levels in the orca scat rose. So the researchers concluded that fewer fish created more stress for the whales than did more boats. That is worrisome, because Chinook salmon are scarcer as people overfish this species.

5.  Give two reasons why dung beetles climb atop the balls of dung.the researchers made a beetle roll its ball into a plastic tunnel and collide with a door that closed off the far end. In another, each beetle was forced to roll its ball through a curved tunnel — one that ultimately took it off-course.

Beetles confronted with these disruptions danced on their dung balls much more often than did the beetles left undisturbed. These findings suggested the insects danced to orient themselves and get back on track. For example, a beetle might check the position of the sun to aid its returning to the right path. And by looking around from atop its ball, the beetle also might prevent losing its lunch to another hungry beetle.But the researchers still weren’t satisfied. The beetles seemed to climb atop their balls more frequently at midday, when it was hot. When Baird’s team cooled down the surrounding sand, the beetles clambered up less frequently.

Because dung is moist, it’s usually cooler than the sand. Baird and her colleagues wondered whether the beetles climbed up to cool their feet.

                                                                  6.  What is the relationship between the Kakapo and the Hades flowers?  In your answer, be sure to include how each species benefits the other.      the team soon discovered the ancient poop contained the pollen of a strange plant calledDactylanthus taylorii. The plant, also known as the Hades flower, grows underground and pokes its flower up through the soil. Today, the Hades flower is also in decline. In the past, when larger numbers of both species overlapped, kakapos probably dined on the flowers, Wood says.

While the flower fed the bird, the bird probably also helped the flower. Kakapos have whiskerlike feathers just right for picking up pollen when they feed on a Hades blossom. When the parrots transferred that pollen from flower to flower, it would have pollinated the plant. Wood suspects kakapos could help the Hades flower thrive again. Scientists recently moved some kakapos to an island where Hades flowers grow, so Wood may soon find out if his hunch is right.

The research done by Wood and the other scientists profiled here emphasizes why studying poop can help us better understand (and help) species too rare or too difficult to study directly. Says Wood: “It might seem quite a weird thing to do, but it does actually have applications in the real world.”                                                                                    7. Why is the Hades flower called "Hades" flower? Dactylanthus taylorii, commonly known as wood rose orHades flower,^[2][3] is a fully parasitic plant that grows on the roots of certain trees in New Zealand. The host tree responds to the presence of Dactylanthus by forming a burl-like structure that resembles a fluted wooden rose (hence the common name). Māori names for wood rose are pua o te reinga or pua reinga ("flower of the underworld")^[4] andwaewae atua, "feet of gods". It is monotypic to theDactylanthus genus. One of its most common host trees is pate or seven-finger (Schefflera digitata).