By 8th-Grade Blogger Morgan Richardson

Morgan’s not just click-baiting you here. Think of elephants traversing the open savannah . . . pooping.

In those droppings are seeds and nutrients. The elephants are literally dropping the seeds of growth in that habitat. Well, Morgan looks to the effects of animal urine, on sea and on land.

“Animals have the power to destroy our earth, or preserve its beauty.”

–Morgan Richardson

Most people couldn’t imagine the wonders urine does for our world. 

Elephants have huge bladders that can hold 18 liters of urine (livescience.com). Weirdly, it’s not the elephants that pee the most. Blue whales and fin whales pee 260 gallons a day (nationalgeographic.com). Whales are one of the world’s greatest animals that do wonders for our planet using their urine. Whale pee is healing our oceans. The nutrients inside whale urine help shallow waters become healthy. Whales transport nitrogen and phosphorus from their pee; it helps areas that lack those chemicals become healthier by creating phytoplankton growth. Without whale pee, many marine species wouldn’t exist.   

While some animals protect our planet with their pee, others don’t. Cows produce the most polluting pee of all. Their farts, burps, and urine all contain methane. Methane is 25 times more damaging to the planet than CO2 (epa.gov). 1.5 billion cows pollute our earth with nitrous oxide emissions and water pollution (m.farms.com). Though it may feel like there is no solution to this problem of too much methane, others find a way. A herd of cattle in Germany was potty trained to lessen greenhouse gasses. They were only allowed to urinate in one designated area (bbc.com). This experiment lessened ammonia emissions and the unlikely event of water contamination, while also enabling easier collection and treatment of the urine for potential use as fertilizer. If we keep trying to save our planet from these toxic gases we may create a healthier planet Earth. 

Urine has a huge impact on our world. It acts as a natural fertilizer to plants and the ocean, but can also leave us with pollution which can damage nature globally. Animals play a key role in saving the planet, and destroying it.