Baby #koalas eat their mother's poo. 🐨💩⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ While that sounds pretty weird, 🤨 it's actually vital to koala health and survival. See, koalas subsist almost exclusively on #eucalyptus leaves. But eucalyptus is indigestible and toxic to virtually every other #mammal on #Earth. So how do they do it?⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ In a study comparing the gut #microbiomes of koalas and #wombats (their nearest living relative), scientists found communities of #bacteria distinctive to each animal—⠀⠀ specifically, a class of Synergistaceae bacteria present in koalas (but not in wombats) that are likely reponsible for detoxifying and #metabolizing eucalyptus #compounds.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ But wait, back to the poop-eating.⠀⠀ ⠀⠀ It turns out, mother koalas produce a substance called pap (a special kind of poop, but basically, poop) that baby koalas feed on for the first five to six months of life. Pap contains the unique gut bacteria that allow them to digest eucalyptus. If a baby koala is not fed pap, it would not be able to surv...