The Poop Sleuth

The scoop on animal poop! 

Animals poop, that’s a given. But what does this natural output say about what’s going on inside an animal? Ask Sarah Putnam, the “Poop Sleuth” at Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Sarah and the other scientists and assistants in her lab study animal scat—what it looks like, smells like, is made of—to learn about the health and well-being of the animals under their care and to help with the conversation of endangered animals in the wild.