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Possibly—but not because dung alone can save a species. The Poo Zoo is a collaborative project involving the University of Oxford, Chester Zoo and Revive & Restore. Its researchers are testing whether animal scat can provide viable cells that are grown and preserved for future conservation research. Collecting dung is relatively non-invasive; isolating clean, living cells from it is the difficult laboratory work, and any reproductive or genetic-rescue benefit remains a future possibility rather than an achieved outcome.
What the Poo Zoo project is actually trying to do
Animal conservation already uses biological samples to study health, hormones, disease and genetics. The Poo Zoo asks whether the same material that leaves an animal’s body as waste can also become a source of living cells for a biobank.
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The partnership brings together Oxford researchers, Chester Zoo’s animal-care and science teams, and the conservation organisation Revive & Restore. The project is not a programme that stores ordinary feces and later turns it directly into an animal. Instead, it is developing a chain of laboratory methods: collect fresh scat, find cells shed by the animal, remove the material that interferes with laboratory work, confirm that the cells are genuinely viable, and culture and preserve them.
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How scientists try to get living cells from dung
1. Fresh samples are collected from zoo animals
Chester Zoo describes collecting fresh dung from animals including elephants, giraffes, okapis and lions. The physical collection can involve a dustpan and brush, but that simple step should not be mistaken for a complete method. Timing, cleanliness, the animal’s identity and the condition of the sample all affect what happens next.
Samples then go to a laboratory at Oxford. Researchers need to work with material that has not degraded too far and that can be linked confidently to the correct animal. The public-facing description does not present this as a home experiment or a service into which people can mail pet waste.
2. Contaminants are removed
Animal cells are only a small part of scat. Bacteria, food particles, plant material and digestive products can overwhelm a culture or make it difficult to tell whether a cell came from the target animal. Processing is designed to separate the animal-derived material from those contaminants and create conditions in which the desired cells can be examined.
This is the project’s central technical hurdle. A cell that looks intact under a microscope is not automatically healthy, able to divide or suitable for long-term preservation. Researchers must test viability and establish that a growing culture is truly derived from the sampled species.
3. Viable cells are cultured and preserved
If usable cells are recovered, scientists work to keep them alive in culture and preserve them as a biological resource. A successful culture could give researchers access to an individual’s genetic material without taking a tissue biopsy from that animal.
Later phases described by Revive & Restore involve reprogramming scat-derived cells into pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent cells can, in principle, be directed toward multiple cell types, but reaching that stage is a separate technical achievement from merely isolating cells. The available project accounts do not report that Poo Zoo has produced eggs, sperm, embryos or offspring.
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Why scat could broaden conservation biobanks
Conventional cell banking often depends on a biopsy, a veterinary procedure, a tissue sample collected during another intervention, or material obtained after an animal dies. Those routes can be valuable, but they may be difficult to arrange for rare, dangerous, remote or highly sensitive animals. They can also limit the number of individuals sampled.
Revive & Restore’s rationale is that scat collection could let teams reach more individuals and more species with less disturbance. Chester Zoo researcher Rhiannon Bolton described the potential this way: “This would allow us to collect cells from a far broader range of animals, and even different species, in a way that doesn’t harm them.” The statement describes the intended advantage, not a quantified result already demonstrated across wild populations.
| Consideration | Scat-based sampling | Biopsy or post-mortem tissue |
|---|---|---|
| Impact on a living animal | Project sources frame collection as less invasive because it can use material already excreted. | A biopsy requires an intervention; post-mortem tissue requires the animal to have died. |
| Potential number and diversity of samples | Could make repeated or broader sampling possible, depending on whether viable cells can be recovered. | Limited by access to animals, veterinary procedures and available tissues. |
| Cell viability | Uncertain until processing and testing; scat is biologically complex and cells can degrade. | Tissue generally starts with a more concentrated source of cells, but quality still depends on collection and storage. |
| Laboratory processing | Requires separation from food material and bacteria, followed by validation and culture. | Still requires specialist preparation and preservation, but does not begin with the same mixture of contaminants. |
The sources do not provide a numerical, head-to-head measurement of how many more animals can be sampled with scat or how often scat yields a successful cell line. The comparison is therefore about the method’s potential and trade-offs, not a proven superiority in every setting.
What progress has been reported
Revive & Restore’s 2025 annual report
Revive & Restore reported that, one year into the work, the team had extracted cells from more than 10 species. Its description included one avian species and several endangered mammals. The report identified the next phase as reprogramming scat-derived cells into pluripotent stem cells.
“Extracted cells” is a progress measure, not a claim that every sample produced a permanent cell line or that those cells have already been used in breeding. The report is the source for the count and the project stage, so they should be read as an attributed status update.
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A 2026 interview with Poo Zoo researchers reported successful cell isolation from nine vulnerable or endangered species at the time of that interview. It also described time trials examining how long cells remain viable and said the project was funded through the end of March 2027.
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The two figures should not be merged into one headline number. “More than 10 species” in the 2025 annual report and “nine vulnerable or endangered species” in the 2026 interview may cover different categories or different reporting dates. Keeping the attribution preserves what each source actually says.
What those cells might enable in the future
Genetic-rescue research
A living cell culture can preserve an individual’s genome in a form that may be studied or, if later technologies allow, used in reproductive work. A larger bank of cells could help researchers investigate genetic diversity, compare individuals, or plan interventions for populations with limited genetic variation.
That is the logic behind discussing genetic rescue: cells could retain options for a population after collecting the original animal’s tissue is no longer possible. It remains a potential downstream use. The project sources do not document a Poo Zoo cell culture being used to restore genetic diversity in a wild population.
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Reprogrammed cells might eventually support studies related to eggs, sperm or embryos. However, pluripotent stem-cell work does not automatically produce any of those things. Each step requires its own protocols, safety checks and evidence that the resulting cells function as intended in the species concerned.
Species biology is another barrier. A method that works for one mammal may not transfer directly to an elephant, okapi, lion or bird. Conservation breeding also involves behaviour, pregnancy, rearing, social structure and habitat; a cell bank cannot solve those problems by itself.
What the project has not shown
- It has not shown that animal poo alone prevents extinction or reverses a species’ decline.
- The cited project accounts do not report Poo Zoo-produced offspring, a completed breeding programme or a prevented extinction.
- They do not establish a statistical estimate of the project’s conservation impact.
- They do not show that every collected sample yields a viable, long-term cell culture.
- They do not make ordinary dung collection and microscopy suitable for a home, school or pet-owner experiment.
These limits are not failures of the idea; they mark the distance between an experimental biobanking method and a demonstrated conservation intervention.
How this differs from using feces to monitor animal health
Chester Zoo has a long-running endocrinology programme that uses fecal samples to monitor animals’ health and reproductive hormones. Dr Sue Walker, the zoo’s Head of Science, draws a clear line between that established use and the new project: “Our long-running endocrinology programme uses faecal samples to monitor the health of the animals here at Chester Zoo. But the ‘poo zoo’ project is different – it’s about using those samples to safeguard the future of species, not just their present.”
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11In practical terms, hormone monitoring asks what a sample reveals about an animal’s current condition. Poo Zoo asks whether the sample can be processed into a living cellular resource that remains useful after collection. Both begin with dung, but they require different laboratory goals, validation steps and measures of success.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why collection is easy but the science is not
Compared with restraining an animal for a biopsy, waiting for it to defecate can reduce handling and avoid a procedure. Yet scat is exposed to the environment and changes rapidly. The animal’s diet, gut microbes, time since defecation, temperature and storage conditions can all affect the cells recovered.
Researchers must also rule out misleading results. A culture may be overrun by microbes, contain too few target cells, or grow cells whose origin is uncertain. Validation is needed before a line can be treated as a dependable entry in a conservation bank. That is why the project’s workflow moves from collection to laboratory processing, viability testing, culture and preservation rather than stopping at the dustpan.
What this means for pet owners and the public
Your dog’s or cat’s stool is not a substitute for the controlled samples used in this work. The Poo Zoo is an institutional research project using zoo animals, specialist laboratories and trained staff. The project descriptions do not announce a public drop-off scheme, a consumer kit or a method that can be replicated safely at home.
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People who want to follow the work should look for updates from the collaborating institutions. Practical support for conservation still includes protecting habitat, reducing pressure on wild populations, supporting responsible zoo breeding and following veterinary advice for companion animals. Collecting a pet’s poo remains a hygiene task, not a personal contribution to a research-grade cell bank.
The practical verdict
Animal poo may become a valuable doorway into conservation genetics because it can be collected without taking tissue from a living animal. The Poo Zoo has reported cell extraction across multiple species and is investigating reprogramming those cells, but the method is still under development. The strongest evidence today supports a cautious conclusion: scat could broaden the biological material available for future conservation research, while the dramatic outcomes readers may imagine—genetic rescue, assisted reproduction and new animals—remain contingent on technical advances that these sources have not yet demonstrated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can the public send pet poo to the Poo Zoo?
No public submission route is described in the project accounts. The work uses identified zoo-animal samples and specialist laboratory processing, so ordinary pet waste should not be treated as a research sample.
Does isolating cells mean the scientists can make an animal?
No. Cell isolation is an early step. Establishing a stable culture, reprogramming cells and developing species-specific reproductive methods are separate challenges, and no Poo Zoo-produced offspring are reported in the cited sources.
Why do the reports give different species counts?
Revive & Restore’s 2025 annual report says cells had been extracted from more than 10 species, while a 2026 interview reports isolation from nine vulnerable or endangered species. The categories or reporting dates may differ, so the figures should remain attributed rather than combined.
How long can scat-derived cells stay alive?
The 2026 interview says the team was conducting time trials of cell viability, but the cited account does not provide a single published duration that applies to all species or samples.
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