It's gross and it's great—Animals doing what comes naturally.

"Ewwwww" might be the first thought that comes to mind when you think of feces, but animals use poop in dozens of cool ways. They use it to trick predators and prey, send messages, feed themselves and their babies, build homes, mark their territories, and so much more.

Discover why rabbits, hamsters, pigs, and gorillas eat their own poop, and why apes eat horse turds, monkeys eat elephant dung, and moths eat koala bear poop. And really weird—baby elephants and termites eat their mom's poop. And all these pictures of the animals taking a poop, using it, eating it, and more will just be so much fun to look at and learn from.

Animal poop is good for much more than just food. Some ground-nesting birds spray a thick circle of poop around their eggs to keep insects away, while hippos and rhinos use poop to mark their territories. Some caterpillars shoot it to throw predatory wasps off their trail, while other caterpillars build umbrellas with their poop to hide under. Parasites may take the poop prize: Some use poop to reproduce, creating zombie ants and zombie snails!

Get the scoop on animal poop with fun facts and cool photos, then use what you learn to surprise friends and gross out teachers and family.

Dawn Cusick enjoys making science education fun for both kids and adults. She is the author of Cool Animal Names (Imagine/Charlesbridge) and Animal Tongues, Bug Butts, and Animal Eggs (EarlyLight Books).