Scientist Films Whale Shark Poo for the First Time

West Australia is home to many of the world’s largest fish, the whale shark, but leave it to a scientist to be excited about whale shark poo:

Catching an elusive whale shark as big as a bus taking a toilet break may not excite the average nature lover.

But for one researcher it was a rare opportunity to collect a poo sample from the world’s biggest fish.

Dr Mark Meekan said they had struck ‘scientific gold’, which will shed new light on the whale shark’s feeding habits.

Footage of the incident was caught on camera for the first time and appears as part of Whale Shark, a Natural World film tracing Dr Meekan’s year-long quest to find out more about the rare animal.

He said: ‘It does seem rather weird, someone being so excited about seeing whale shark poo. And I’m pretty certain that this is the first time it has been filmed.

‘But it is pretty rare – they are usually doing their business down in much deeper water.’ [Daily Mail]

As much as some of you all would probably want to see it, no video of the whale shark poo is available publicly at this time.