Get the Scoop on Saturday

• Posted at 3:48 pm on May 20, 2010 by Jungle Jeanne
• In Animals & Exhibits Comments: 0

Cleveland Metroparks Zoo celebrates the unofficial beginning of summer on Saturday, May 22, 2010, with the opening of special exhibits "The Scoop on Poop" and FLUTTER! A lucky bunch of students had a sneak preview of The Scoop on Poop, and we think we can say without a doubt: they "dung" it!

The Scoop on Poop is a traveling exhibition based on the popular book by science writer Dr. Wayne Lynch. It leads visitors on an investigation of what poop is and how both animals, people, and even power companies, use it. Visitors can listen in on an bear's digestive system, learn the language of poop in countries around the world, examine fecal samples in a veterinarian's lab, compete in dung beetle races, track wild animals by clues left in scat, see how long it takes an elephant to poop their body weight, improve their #2 IQ in stool school, and meet a dinosaur dung detective. The exhibit was created by Clyde Peeling's Reptiland in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. It is the largest exhibition ever mounted about the science of scat.

We sneaked around with a camera while the kids were exploring the Zoo's newest scat sensation. Here's what we found out:

Kids love the huge cockroaches:

Many are fascinated by a modern solution to septic tanks, the Cromaglass Wastewater System, complete with a flush button:

Some chose to perform a diagnostic study of dung:

We enjoyed the colorful displays like this one showing what zoos do with the poo:

Everyone wanted to know what poop is called around the world:

And the most "poop"ular interactive of all was by far the Dung Beetle Derby:

The Scoop on Poop opens Saturday and can be explored in the Zoo's Exhibit Hall and Administration Building Auditorium.