Penguin poop creates a buttload of laughing gas, researchers find

Enlarge / Royaume Uni, Iles de la Georgie du Sud, Plaine de Salysbury, Manchot royal (Aptenodytes patagonicus) United Kingdom, South Georgia Islands, Salysbury plains, King Penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus). (Photo by Sylvain CORDIER/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) (credit: Getty | Sylvain CORDIER )

We could all use a good laugh about now-and a whiff of penguin poop is certainly one way to get it.

Gobs of guano from king penguins in the sub-Antarctic give rise to comical clouds of nitrous oxide-aka laughing gas-according to a recent study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.

And-as if the wobbling, forever formally attired birds weren't already amusing enough-the force of their farcical feces is enough to knock someone down with a tail feather, the researchers say.

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