Can Bird Poop Make Clouds?

Bird poop could help clouds form, keeping our planet a little bit cooler. Gross!
↓Want more gross info?↓

--

Host, Writer, Animator, Editor
Anna Rothschild

Camera, Sound
Janet DeFilippo

Plucky Little Thing
Music Provided by APM

Many thanks to Dr. Greg Wentworth

GROSS FOOTAGE AND IMAGES

Bird Photography Outtakes
Flickr/Ingrid Taylor

Monterey a rock with bird+their crap
Wikimedia Commons/Mrmariokartguy

Bagged Quano & Trolly
Wikimedia Commons/J.R. Mann

Grímsey puffins
Flickr/Jennifer Boyer

Guillemots on Bear Island Svalbard Arctic
Flickr/Gary Bembridge

Dreierprofil

GROSS SFX

Cockroaches
Freesound/StateAardvark­
(used with permission from author)

Squeak Pack/squeak_10
Freesound/Corsica_S

Slide Whistle Down 01
Freesound/joedeshon

Slide Whistle Up 01
Freesound/joedeshon

Wink
Freesound/bennychico11

Gross Science is produced by WGBH for PBS Digital Studios

[theloniuspunkify]

Wow, great job with this! I'm one of the authors on the Nature Communication paper with Greg Wentworth. You made all aspects of the system very clear! That is not easy! I'm really impressed, and thank you!

[Meloncarty]

don't forget because of the rich minerals in bird poop it was actually used to create explosives.
If Transfomers G1 taught me anything, it was this.

[Naz-tjhv]

I like that you reply to most of your fans :) I don't see many you tubers that reply often to their fans

[TheV-Man]

congrats on 100k Anna! Love your channel keep up the good work

[greenbeevideo]

I never knew all this! Super cool :)

ps. one of the clouds you have in the background looks like it has a happy face. Very cute.

[arisalcalde]

Amazing and ravishing host! Great channel. Looking forward to your next video. Thanks a lot! Cheers!🍾

[ozdergekko]

100k! Yessss!
I remember when it was only 25k. Constant quality pays

[butterscotch]

Hello! Idk if you take suggestions, but can you do another video on other carnivorous plants the last one really interested me.

[lloydtunes]

"The birds make a relatively small yet SMELLY contribution." *brain exploded I'll say, that's art.

[jakerobbins]

Hi Anna, great video as always. Question though: would this process apply to other wastes? Animal or otherwise?

[marj]

Our ancestors harvested bird feces?! That explains why these modern birds like to poo my car. They think that I'm interested in their feces.

[kguy]

Does the amount of ammonia in the air have any adverse health effects which would be noticeable (not that I plan on going to the Arctic anytime soon)?

[MichaelDavis-wxpw]

How is this hypothesis being put to the test? And I'll never catch rain on my tongue again, thanks for that.

[Apocro]

nice vid! greatings from chile! (south'murica)

[MusiCaninesTheMusicalDogs]

Kinda of an unrelated question here. What is dog poo made of? It's probably nitrogen poor, right? Every time I'm collecting my dogs poo I wonder if I could do something useful with it, instead of just throwing it away.

Thanks!

[zaphodb]

Mix bird poop, or even better bat guano with finely crushed fruit loops, light it on fire... And you'll have instant clouds... Of smoke!

[angrypigeon]

there goes my childhood, I guess that's why I felt sick after eating raindrops, they're made out of bird crap, dust, ice. pollution, and fungal spore. How have I not died yet?

[MegaMementoMori]

This means that the XIX method of crushing thousands of sea birds to turn them into oil looks even more sinister...

[Bruniinha]

Gosto muito do seu canal, adoro o conteúdo, mas sinto que não vai entender meu comentário porque tá em português, então... Thanks, your channel is very interesting, I love your videos <3 And I really feel inspired by them :B /sorry if I wrote something wrong/

[critter-crew-sys]

I think their might be a Guano deposit in the schoolyard.