Ancient turds and fart facts feature in cheeky new Leeds museum exhibit on poo
It’s a popular topic with children and now a museum has launched an exhibit on different types of poo in response to primary school pupils’ questions.
Thackray Museum of Medicine, in Leeds, West Yorks, opened the exhibit, simply named ‘POO!’ on Saturday, July 26.
Local primary school pupils had asked questions such as ‘why is a fart colourless?’ and ‘how do you get constipated?’, which led museum bosses to come up with the idea.
Museum-goers will be able to explore poo through ‘smell, touch and discovery’, according to the museum, with the exhibit answering questions such as why poo smells and why it is brown.
Star exhibits include a real-life 12th century medieval poo, a proctogram chair used when understanding issues with bowel movements, and a ‘poo sphere’ – a crystal sphere featuring animal poo encased in resin – which has been borrowed from the National Poo Museum.
Curator Jack Gann said: “We wanted to create something that speaks to children on their level – funny, surprising and bursting with real science.
“Poo is something everyone understands but rarely talks about.
“Through hands-on activities and items from our 81,000-strong collection, we’ve created something amusing, accessible and full of discovery.
“If it’s about poo, we’ve probably got the answer!”