The Bird Poop That Changed The World

[@joen0411]

My dad grew vegetables in our backyard and my neighbor raised pigeons. My dad used the pigeon poop for fertilizer, he grew tomatoes bigger than I’ve ever seen at any supermarket.

[@sleepingkirbo2393]

Then did you're dad share tomato to you neighbors

[@joen0411]

Bactiea Phage if I remember correctly they liked my dad’s cabbage more which was fine with me because I hated it :)

[@jacobliu1274]

symbiosis in humans h wait it's called co-operation

[@shellz_pipsky]

How many pigeons were there? And my dad had a lot of pigeons until now we don’t have pigeons no more And did they move or no

[@badlandskid]

joen0411 no shit?

[@jedigecko06]

MinuteEarth: The No. 2 science channel on KZbin.

[@jeankok9036]

No is No.1

[@4ltrz555]

@@jeankok9036 r/whooosh

[@roy4173]

No. 2 is euphemism for poop. There, no more whooshing

[@char1194]

@@4ltrz555 Not a whoosh since he realized what the joke possibly was

[@lapislazuli3748]

@@jeankok9036 sorry but asapsciencr is ranked #1 by youtube

[@vampiricdemoncutie]

some farmers will also switch a years crop to beans because beans put nitrogen back in the soil, where im from, farmers will have 1 or 2 years of corn then 1 or 2 years of soy beans

[@DavidRamirez-lq2co]

In the "barbecho" some times the let the grass to grow and it also give the soil nutrients

[@rfldss89]

@@DavidRamirez-lq2co I'm not sure, but I think it's mostly because grass isn't a very demanding plant, since it doesn't grow huge fruit that's to be harvested. Which gives the nitrogen-fixating bacteria already present in the soil, enough time to do their thing.

[@kevinmartin7760]

The grass might have a lot of clover in it, which enriches the soil just as beans do.

[@Birginio420]

@@rfldss89 nitrogen fixing can't be done by bacteria alone. It's a complex process that requires the bacteria to form nodes, a kind of symbiotic relationship, in the the plant's roots. Not all plants can form this symbiosis tho; beans, clovers and peas are some that can, and that's why people farm corn and then beans. So if you see wild clovers growing near your plants, don't remove them, they're good for them

[@Sergedfabre]

just use the three sisters 1 corn , 2 beans & pea, 3 pumpkin/squash.

[@lxik2677]

Peruvian here, a couple things about guano in our country: 1 The income for selling guano made us rich, and allow us to improve our capital city a lot, but that money was minimal compared to the actual price of guano when sold due to bad deals with the European ships that transported it. 2 Sadly, the people "harvesting" guano were poor Chinese immigrants who were heavily discriminated against. Still, they managed to include their culture in ours. 3 Guano caused a war with Spain, who wanted to keep this millionare resource. We say we won and managed to scare their ships with artillery; they say they only intended to send a message and left after bombarding us. 4 Guano stopped to give us such wealth with the Pacific War. We had to give a lot of guano to Chile, a lot of the income was diverted into rebuilding our country, and coincidentally prices of guano dropped due to artificially industrial made fertilizers, which were much cheaper

[@facturacionvh9379]

Guano is dil Peru

[@usuarionormal6778]

@@facturacionvh9379 *LAUGTHS IN CHILEAN*

[@GamextraMC]

At least I have a Peruvian friend

[@mikecon3570]

HUMILIATES BOLIVIA

[@N12015]

And well, after the 30 years he described, people replaced "Guano" with "Salitre", which is fundamentally mineralized Guano for crops purposes, which exploited lots of poeple into working 100 hours/week or so (Not really slaving, that thing was illegal since Chile became a country and wasn't forced, but paying them with tokens instead of money which is not good either) and forced actual work rights.

[@ossi_2429]

Our fields are no longer fertile! What’re we guano do?

[@marquizzo]

I guano high-five you for that fantastic joke.

[@KW-kp7go]

@@marquizzo AND YOU MADE A JOCK

[@IsakC]

ossi_ you FINished that joke well

[@SilverGamingFI]

You finnised that joke well, ossi

[@Dataism]

Pretty punny

[@MinuteEarth]

A few footnotes: 1. The guano isn't totally gone, because Peru has conserved some of the birds that make it. And people still harvest it, but the amounts are really small because there are way fewer birds and we now have to wait for them to poop. 2. The fertilizers we add to our fields have led to some other good things (like, being able to feed as many people as live on earth today), and some pretty big problems of their own (like water pollution and climate change). 3. Because of fertilizers, we no longer have to move our farms into natural areas, but we’re still making lots of NEW farms in those areas (like in the Amazon). 4. From Alex: I'm uncomfortable to see a specific instance of my ancestors benefitting from the exploitation of resources & humans in other parts of the world, though I’m glad to have learned about it. If you want to learn more about the political & historical context for this story, check out these articles: www.atlasobscura.com/articles/when-the-western-world-ran-on-guano and 99percentinvisible.org/episode/guano-mania/

[@nneizmen]

MinuteEarth why wouldn’t you talk about pollution in the video. How many people do you think read the comments 🤷‍♀️

[@abramthiessen8749]

Like eutrophication of nearby water which can kill basically all multicellular life in that body of water.

[@SmilingJack100]

Q&A: "Man you guys sure a lot of vidoes about poop" @MinuteEarth: "Hold my beer"

[@dryzalizer]

Plus the fertilizer-reducing solution of planting crops that fix nitrogen into the soil and working those crops into a rotation with the others would have been an important thing to mention.

[@64standardtrickyness]

why do you not put your all videos playlist kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4O4YoqYqbRqp7M on your page?

[@ventu2295]

Oh boy here we go with another poop video!

[@lanternofthegreen]

They are the best!

[@shim2dawg]

Did you get the record for the most poop related videos on KZbin yet?

[@RiggingDoctor]

My great grandmother used to let her chickens run over the fields all winter long. They pooped all winter long and her crops grew wonderfully the next year.

[@asy0ulikeit]

2:09: and that, my friends, is how the people saying, “first” evolved.

[@davidbuschhorn6539]

Everyone who's ever owned chickens knows how powerful their poop is. Let it age and it's *_great_* for crops. Put it on without aging and you get burned-up plants :-)

[@cktorm]

Yes, but guano was different because much birds in Peru poop in the islands. You couldn't even the the island below the guano so it was super easy to mine/extract.

[@ericjpedersen]

Great video! I hope you follow up on this with a video on what adding all this phosphorus has done to our lakes. We're not only fertilizing our crops, but also a bunch of nasty algae species in lakes downstream.

[@nbaarchives5424]

I live in Sandy Spring bro thats wild

[@unsubidontusethis1023]

Simms i live in salty springs

[@VlidOnTheLead]

Welcome to episode two of a series called why the fuck do people lies for likes.

[@SheshadriMondal]

@@VlidOnTheLead give this person on Nobel prize for truth

[@PenPen-xy3xd]

Wiki cancer you answered your own question, likes

[@רימוןכרמל]

Great video! You always have the cutest animation when it comes to earth studies. You should make make a follow up video explaining nutrient washing to the Mississippi and algar blooms. That would be great! Keep up with the awesome work!

[@InspectHistory]

This video make me remember about Frizt Haber & "Bat Guano" from Chile 🤓 How food security at that time, actually depends on "poop" Wkwkwkw

[@AnotherGlitch]

Ace Ventura 2

[@hafizhwk5092]

Are you from Indonesia? I can see your wkwkwk.

[@InspectHistory]

@@hafizhwk5092 Yes 🤓

[@muhammadriedhoramadhansyaf5086]

@@InspectHistory Hello my fellow Indonesian

[@catman8965]

I always remember back in the 1970's my grandmother said for the best strawberries use chicken manure.

[@wolfie_emperor5548]

Haven’t watched this in two years still good as new!

[@BlackBobby69]

Your old video "Why Farming Is Broken" touched a bit on this, as did this video. I find it fascinating how agriculture is now a net negative in terms of energy. We're putting more energy into farming than we're getting out as crop yields. The Haber-Bosch process might be worth its own video. Having a cutesy fan blow Nitrogen into a machine where fertilizer drops out doesn't really compare to the reality of a chemical process that sucks up 2% of world-wide energy production each year.

[@ruthcunningham8477]

this channel is good fun and good entertainment i binge watch it on a rainy day! i love dis channel!

[@shakirr6863]

"Guano" i remember Ace Ventura.

[@AnotherGlitch]

EXACTLY

[@YoushaAhmad]

Harvesting the guano also disturbed nesting birds which is another reason why it isn't as common today, at least not in a large scale.

[@facturacionvh9379]

Yeah but also due to a high demand compared to "those years".

[@vishva8kumara]

Clover and many other plants when grown as a cover crop enriches the soil with much available and slow releasing nitrogen packets. There are some tall trees that attract lots of bats. Also, leftover vegetables and fruits can be piled up away from home if one has a long back-yard - to attract bats that drop poop rich in phosphorous.

[@Gothead420]

Next step for us should be a closed circle of those nutrients, especially by treating our waste water. Sustainability or extinction.

[@TheFivetimesdead]

our planet is kinda a close system in the end and waste water is getting treated one way or another, just a cycle is much longer)) But yeah, our main issue is waste recycling.

[@ObjectsInMotion]

The air isn't gonna run out of nitrogen any time soon bud, the bigger issue is fossil fuels.

[@Gothead420]

@@ObjectsInMotion Nitrogen is more of a problem for ecosystems in comparison to phosphorus, which we should retrieve during waste water treatment. So, you are right, kinda.

[@MottyGlix]

In current wastewater treatment, we try to recover the phosphorus by running the wastewater through alternating anoxic (oxygen-poor) and oxic (oxygen-rich) zones, which makes the bacteria in that water first eject their phosphorus, then take it back up more than they ejected. Ultimately, we settle out the bacteria and other solids, try to get them to decompose (and give up their carbon and hydrogen as gas), and then use the remaining sludge for fertilizer. Or at least New York City does.

[@SylvEdu]

Can we finally turn this channel into MinutePoop? Way more accurate.

[@Luredreier]

Great video. That said at the end you mention that we no longer need to move to fertile soil. Well, let's just say that those phosphorus rich rocks you mentioned are starting to run out.

[@MrSamulai]

Just rename the channel into MinutePoop already.

[@NirHL]

I study chemical oceanography and we've actually just talked about this a few days ago in class. Thank you for explaining it so clearly!

[@springrollwang4441]

That's good shit.

[@hayona1011]

l am 😠😠😠😠😠😠 with you Sprin

[@hahabiged6270]

NU SWEARING

[@maulwurf9414]

SpringRoll Wang *NO SWEARING ON MY CHRISTIAN MINECRAFT SERVER* !!!

[@ant51006]

new video: **gets uploaded** everyone subscribed: 2:09

[@aquasouf1]

Just to not forget that it is a little bit more complicated than that and that adding nitrogen and phosphorus should not be said as "saving" the soil. It could be used as "exhausting the capacity from the soil to ensure crops a few more times". Although this video could be true from a primary view, it is now important to add this chapter to the story. Love the drawings anyway and will subscribe the channel! Cheers.

[@ethanw2450]

Great video! Consider doing one on over-use of fertilizers and it’s impact on aquatic ecosystems

[@SimonTangers]

I thought something was wrong with my internet connection when the video ended without an advertisement linking the video to a sponsor of the topic

[@noahreiniers8186]

You can also grow weeds that put nutrients into the soil or let your chickens walk on your field when it is empty.

[@Lexyvil]

Another reason to prevent animals from being extinct.

[@TheScienceBiome]

Thanks Minute earth, for taking me on an informative and poopy journey.

[@Brainstorm69]

Who would have thought bird pooped made the demographic growth in the US possible? Guano FTW!

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

Demographic growth in the northeast US, the Mississippi basin has more than enough rich soil

[@Brainstorm69]

@@Azknowledgethirsty Hey Alejandro. Great point! Not for the entire US just the northeast. Thanks for the clarifying comment mate :)

[@Azknowledgethirsty]

@@Brainstorm69 that's what we're for in this channel right? To learn new info. You're welcomed!

[@cktorm]

Most guano exported from Peru was shipped to Europe, not America.

[@giothefew4300]

Me

[@aa-to6ws]

Fun Fact: Guano is also a word referred to bat's poop, which instead of being helpful for us, it is toxic. There are many big caves in México were you can't go inside due to the high amounts of bats, and of course, their waste.

[@GregoryTheGr8ster]

This story is truly inspirational.

[@mad_max21]

Is it still if guano were mined by slaves and migrants who got tricked into mining guano, practically making them slaves too?

[@adrianolson8940]

As soon as I saw this, I screamed and clicked on it because I love your videos💗💖💕💞💓❤

[@nomoreofme3136]

My dad has a garden is our front yard. He has cantaloupes, strawberries, peas ect

[@clawcakes]

all of minuteearth's videos but every time it's about poop it gets faster

[@peachygirl5861]

One of my ancestors had 12 children (props to the mom for not dying during birth)

[@mandycarranza6622]

I used to farm chickens and when we grew food we used that fertilize the ground

[@MrARock001]

The invention of synthetic fertilizers is one of the most unsung epics of the modern world, having allowed hundreds of millions of people to avoid famine.

[@Т1000-м1и]

First grade teacher explains why not just the direction which are not a description for me in unfolded in

[@theriseofthefreg2687]

I was waiting quite a while for this.

[@PompomYourkey]

well im glad we have NPK fertilizers now these days

[@Zorander.]

Awesome, I learned something new today about soil and plant's needs.

[@guliya0000]

gotta admit this really is magical

[@unicornnumber1987]

The first word I thought after watching this was: Awesome!

[@andrewknorpp9415]

beautiful state flag 2:17

[@wyllaila]

Even though this flag(🇹🇹) wasn't in the video, it's beautiful too! All flags are beautiful!

[@duck1ente]

@@wyllaila No one cares. And if all flags are beautiful, how will you explain the county flags of Liberia??!!

[@wyllaila]

@@duck1ente What?

[@wyllaila]

@@duck1ente Some of my family is Liberian... so I don't understand what your talking about

[@itstoolate3186]

Google “Liberian County Flag”

[@rickytorres9089]

Pet poops can also be used as natural fertilizers. From dogs to cats to your guinea pigs to even your tanks (fresh water obviously). Most of these are straight forwarded (just compost it with the correct balance of poop to carbon) but for cats you has to first use a biodegradable litter mix if you aren't already. Then you can compost their deposits and their boxes once a change is an order.

[@laurabobandfriends]

So... how did they harvest this guano?

[@wolfiedabrony1802]

If you've seen a nature documentary about bats you would notice on the floor below the bats there is a bunch of white substance that looks like sand that right there is guano the bats relieve themselves constantly upside down and It just drops to the ground and it becomes plentiful from what I hear you only need a shovel a mask and plenty of elbow grease

[@eudofia]

The birds pooped and it got mixed with soil. It dries up, and the birds keep pooping and another layer is formed. Over time it grows into a big pile of dried poop mixed with soil. All you have to do is shovel and bag it.

[@tinythingy4]

a lot of people from china were more or less enslaved to pick the guano from a couple of islands off the coast of peru (i have visited once). It just lays on top of the rocks so harvesting it is pretty straightforward, you just mine or shovel it. but if you dont wear protection (which of course the slaves didnt get much of) it is very bad for the skin, the smell is really sickening and can damage the airways if you are exposed a lot, and it is dangerous to climb the rocks which can be steep and theres a lot of waves and angry birds. Many people either died or killed themselves because it was so bad. from what i remember the particular islands i visited are now forbidden to go onto because they are a sanctuary for the birds and sea lions.

[@hairnoorsaba1241]

You guys are so amazing

[@RotMyAngel]

I can just imagine this: Person: aw yes. I have gotten the bird shit.

[@tibby386]

Hi! I've been supporting on Patreon since March of 2017, but I wanted to know if there are other platforms I can support on instead? Thank you!

[@MinuteEarth]

Thanks for supporting us! Patreon is our #1 way (unless you have lots of extra $$ sitting around and want to sponsor a video ;), but people can also support us as "Channel Members" through KZbin by clicking "JOIN" below the video.

[@tibby386]

@@MinuteEarth Thanks! I have Joined the channel!

[@PatrickReuploaded]

my ancestors came from Ireland during the great potato famine

[@lektraburux]

Fum fact: Chile, Bolivia and Perú went to war over these sediments of guano. The Pacific War all but oblitearted Bolivia, as Chile conquered all of her coastline and render her landlock.

[@cktorm]

No, we went to war because of Salitre. But that is just an oversimplification of facts. It's like saying the american revolution was due to tea. The bolivian president tried to increase taxes from chilean 'salitreras' in bolivian soil. Bolivia and Peru had a secret pact, so Peru got in the fight, then Bolivia got out of the war and Chile took advantage of peruvian political inestability to overcome and remain in Peru for 3 years.

[@lektraburux]

@@cktorm ok, thanks for the correction. It was a wrong and irresponsable oversimplification by my part.

[@renatoe9648]

now most of the islands off Peruvian coast are protected and guano is collected from a few each year respecting nesting seasons and quotas and if pass by you can see hole islands covered in birds to the point they turn black. There's not as many birds than in the beginning, but they are more affected by climate, el Niño and fisheries

[@blueice8111]

That was very informative clip. Thank you.

[@briggsrocks5938]

i think i learned more from this yt channel that all my school combind

[@danielthecake8617]

Note that guano refers to bird, bat, and seal poop.

[@JcXtreme72]

Shows my ignorance. I thought guano was only used to refer to bat poop. Look at that. I learned something!

[@Chaos89P]

I think guano refers to the ... waste of all winged animals. Don't quote me on that.

[@KhumaMitsu]

Didn't you guys already do a video on Guano Islands?

[@GandalfTheTsaagan]

Also important to keep in mind that agricultural management based on science is important (@SarahTaber_bww on twitter knows a buttload about this)

[@Cleeon]

Ok, this video give the next idea to optimize the profit from the land

[@charstringetje]

This reminds me of that Hello Internet episode about vexillological disaster in the US.

[@massimookissed1023]

You mean like Wisconsin ? (If you have to write the name on the flag, then it has failed as a flag.)

[@alvinlajara2337]

MinuteEarth is awesome!

[@TheFivetimesdead]

Nice video. Although should have also mentioned role of the guano in the niter and gunpowder

[@Audreysaurus808]

Yay more videos Funny I have my science test today. GREAT VIDEO!

[@hawkeyestegosaurus5680]

I learn something new and disgusting all the time, thanks Minute Earth!

[@Prospector32]

One problem with one of our new fertilizer sources. Potash, the main source for potassium, is running out worldwide and unfortunately, we have no source of cheap easy to find potassium. Poop might have to make a comeback, but from another source. Seeing as the ocean receives most of nutrients we eat once they get flushed, these tropical bird islands are one of the few places where we can find concentrated potassium that is pulled directly from the ocean and recycled on the land. Maybe we ought to start protecting these islands more so we can have a source when the mines run dry.

[@squipy184]

Wow, but like three other popular channels already made videos on this.

[@videogyar2]

So why is the area of utilizable soil decreasing?

[@Voicelet]

I like how that girl uses fan to propel air into grinder.

[@hannahwalters3602]

Interesting. Have a blessed day

[@topsekrit9836]

Because of the poop related videos (Sorry MinuteEarth) MinuteEarth is now *MinutePoop*

[@DeconvertedMan]

rotating the area you plant in also helps. But yeah just put those things in the ground.

[@yvega5008]

Where I live, guano is everywhere.

[@CharlesTheClumsy]

Half As Interesting did a video about this.

[@rensodanieldelcastillovega4394]

Do you have the link?

[@JDeWittDIY]

@@rensodanieldelcastillovega4394 kzbin.info/www/bejne/jaHHkneJrch1iZo

[@RailwayPenguin]

That video was only half as interesting

[@AlienValkyrie]

You forgot to mention that because it was so useful, there was the rule that any island with bird poop on it could be claimed for the US.

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

That outro sounds a lot like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme :)

[@Abster1911]

Is it true we are running out of phosphorous? How will we manufacture fertilizers without it?

[@facturacionvh9379]

It's a serious issue. High demand is causing it so become scarce and the supply won't be enough.

[@cy-b]

A word about the ecological disaster that phosphate mining, as a non-renewable resource, leads to, would have been most welcome. And also, why this is directly linked to the urgent need of conserving resources, and why wasting food is absolutely unacceptable in today's world.

[@Sarahbryson321]

Harvest -> bird -> Peru-> poop->spray on fields -> restart

[@markfriese5970]

0:14 when you just GOTTA make that chocolate pie.

[@la912]

The Sahara desert used to be such a fertile land, just before the practice of agriculture came in

[@murkish8268]

wait, so i can use matches for framing?

[@moncefalahlah6325]

the thumbnail is great

[@Т1000-м1и]

Korean war veteran Maurice edu content

[@alvaromartinreyescordova4664]

it definitively change my country, we even called a part of our history as "Guano era" when we got richer and reached political stability thanks to these birds.

[@harrytsang1501]

Bird poop passed the Maryland point where it is so bad that made it actually good

[@rasmusn.e.m1064]

"Iguanodon" has gained a new connotation today....

[@fearfulfox1873]

Does this mean that we could theoretically we could replenish some nitrogen and phosphorus if we ourselves peed on farmland (provided we don't have to much salt in our pee)?

[@annihilatorx182]

Where can I find guano?

[@tusharpapnai2907]

Awesome video

[@colt0110]

MinuteEarth ur the best I just wanna know the name of the process for capturing air to make nitrogen fertilizer.

[@massimookissed1023]

Fixing. It's now done using the (Fritz) Haber process to make ammonia from air & hydrogen.

[@ultrio325]

This video is about poop. Hope you make more further.

[@IndianBoy77]

Positive nitrogen balance 👍

[@Justme-nvm]

People on KZbin: first... first Europeans: *Hold my bird poop*