Hey! HEY! Happy Penguin Awareness Day!
Although they’re best known for their fancy tuxedos and donkey-like braying, did you know that African penguins also have a secret superpower? Scientifically known as projectile defecation, these birds have the incredible ability to shoot their poop up to several feet away! It’s particularly helpful during nesting season because leaving the nest is not an option when duty calls. Instead, African penguins turn around and poop out the front door! Messy, but effective—as long as they’re mindful of their neighbors!
Historically, massive deposits of this guano provided the surprisingly perfect substrate for African penguin burrows. Eventually, humans caught wind and started harvesting this nitrogen-rich waste as fertilizer for crops, causing irreparable habitat destruction. Today, conservation organizations are working to protect wild populations and their breeding grounds around South Africa and Namibia – a reminder that we can all do better to mitigate our effects on the natural world.
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Charles Brooks, a resident of Newark, N.J, is credited with inventing the street sweeping trucks in 1896 with revolving brushes.
Street sweeping was a manual job until he invented the self-propelled street sweeper.
—Street sweeping was often a manual labor job in Brooks' time. Keeping in mind that horses and oxen were the main means of transportation — where there is livestock, there is manure. Rather than stray litter as you might see today in the street, there were piles of manure that needed to be frequently removed regularly. In addition, garbage and the contents of chamber pots would end up in the gutter.
The task of street sweeping was not carried out by mechanical equipment, but rather workers who roamed the street sweeping garbage up with a broom into a receptacle. This method clearly required a lot of labor, although it did provide employment.
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