What's a butt?
A foray into science journalism discussions, anatomy, and toad tuchus
Last week I had the pleasure to report a new study documenting a very cool effort at freshwater crocodile conservation. Freshwater crocodiles in Australia die if they eat live invasive (and very poisonous) cane toads, which are spreading across the continent. If, however, the crocs are previously exposed to dead cane toads laced with a nausea-inducing compound, they learn quickly that toads are not to be touched! A win for conservation. I covered the ongoing study in my book (obligatory: buy my book! It’s good! There are butts!) and I’m so pleased to see the final study out in the world.
But it raised one very, very important question during the fact-checking process: What really counts as a BUTT?
The issue at hand is that, to teach the crocodiles that they should not eat cane toads, the scientists removed the head, front limbs, and internal organs of dead toads. Cane toads, you see, keep their poison in the timelessly fashionable shoulder pads they wear. These are enlarged parotid glands. So the scientists had to remove anything that would kill the crocodiles, rendering the toad bodies harmless. They laced the remainder with lithium chloride, a chemical that produced vomiting in anything with a gag reflex, and misery in anything without.*
But what is the remainder? What IS the back half of a toad? In my online coverage, I called it a butt. The story got selected to go into print, and so the fact checkers got busy.**
And they called out one thing in particular. Technically, I probably shouldn’t call the back half of a toad a butt. A toad tuchus. A ribbit rump. A Kermit keister.***
There are two reasons.
The sections of toad used here include legs and spinal cord, as well as the rear region. It’s more than a butt.
There is some debate as to whether or not a toad HAS a butt. Can cane toads have a Bufo booty? A Rhinella rear end? A frog fanny?****
This debate is actually one that I had several times with my colleagues when I worked at Science News Magazine, and it was an honest-to-God joy every single time. Seriously, get yourself some coworkers who will gently trap the jumping spider you found on the fire escape in a jar so we can all look at it and coo over it, who will spend hours filling your work Slack with fish puns, who cry with joy at new pictures of a black hole, and who will engage in earnest and yet giggling debate over what constitutes a butt. Wonderful and brilliant humans, all of them. (You should subscribe to SN! It supports my work and theirs!)
In our discussions on this topic I’ve found there are butt lumpers (my lumps, my lovely lady lumps) and splitters.
The splitters would say that a butt is short for buttocks. And buttocks refer explicitly to the rounded prominence of the gluteal region. The gluteus very maximus. If you need an image for this, look in the mirror and turn around. That.
In the splitter definition, only mammals can have a derriere or dump truck because only mammals have the enlarged gluteal prominence. In fact, some would say most mammals don’t have one, because the glutes are not big enough! Butts, they might argue, are limited only to primates that walk upright, with the enlarged gorgeous glutes that that entails. Does this mean that other upright-walking animals have them? T. rex tuchus? Kangaroo caboose?
Lumpers, on the other hand, (I am one) would say a butt is a rear end of something. If you want to get LESS lumpy, I would say that anything with rear limbs and bilateral symmetry has the potential to have a butt. A sea cucumber? No butt. Starfish? No butt. A grasshopper? Maybe a butt? A toad? Has a butt.
If you want to get MORE lumpy, you could say the butt refers to anything with a rear. A pistol has a butt. A spear has a butt. (Why are all the items I can think of with butts weaponry? This says something about the human mind.)
I maintain that the world is better with more butts in it. Toads deserve twerkers. Bufo deserve buns. Rhinella deserve rears. (Cane toads have been through something like 20 scientific names, including genuses Bufo and Rhinella and it’s honestly super hard to keep up. I’m begging taxonomists: Just pick one and stick with it.)
It should be noted that a toad probably does not have an Amphibian Ass. This is because ass can refer either to the African Equus members or to the buttocks, but commonly is short for “asshole,” which specifically means the anus. While there are lots of animals that have them (us, face mites, potentially comb jellies), toads have an all purpose hole called the cloaca that does everything: Pee, poo, and porn. It is not, and can never be, an ass. Sorry, toads.
In this case, the editor agreed with me! The print version of Science News will contain the word butt. But (butt) the debate continues!
References:
G. Ward-Fear et al. Taste aversion training can educate free-ranging crocodiles against toxic invaders. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published online August 14, 2024. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2507.
G. Smith et al. Human follicular mites: ectoparasites becoming symbionts. Molecular Biology and Evolution. Vol. 39, published online June 21, 2022. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msac125.
Tamm SL. Defecation by the ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi occurs with an ultradian rhythm through a single transient anal pore. Invertebr Biol. 2019; 138: 3–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/ivb.12236
Where have you been?
Is it listening to Rose Eveleth’s excellent podcast series, Tested? It’s about women athletes, and the things they are subjected to, when all they want is to RUN.
Maybe it’s reading Your Local Epidemiologist who’s got a great guide to fall vaccines!
Maybe it’s reading Lisa Song’s excellent piece on plastic “recycling,” and how oil is trying to game that system. Did you know the little recycle arrows do not mean something is actually recyclable? I didn’t.
Maybe it’s reading about astronauts getting stuck in space, which happens a lot more often than you think. By Lisa Grossman.
Did you know you can overdose on Ozempic, Wegovy, etc? You can. And it’s no joke.
Mpox is back. It’s spreading in Africa among children, and we need to get on this now. By Tina Saey.
Where have I been?
Of course, I published this new piece about how freshwater crocodiles can learn to avoid eating poisonous cane toads.
Back in April, I got to attend a controlled burn in Eastern Maryland. In, in fact, a wetland. Because wetlands, it turns out, love a good blaze. It was an amazing experience and it’s now out in Sierra Magazine!
Bonus pic!
Where WILL I be?
I’m going to DragonCon! This is one of my favorite times of year, and here’s the schedule! Come see me!
Title: Recreational Drugs as Therapeutic Drugs
Time: Fri 05:30 pmLocation: 209-211 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
Let’s talk about Ketamine! MDMA! LSD! Let’s go.
Title: Cicada Insanity
Time: Fri 08:30 pmLocation: 209-211 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
Arise! SCREAM!
Title: Baldur's Gate 3, Brain Science, and More
Time: Sat 01:00 pmLocation: 209-211 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
Title: We Need Star Wars' Medical Droids Now!
Time: Sat 02:30 pmLocation: A706 Marriott (Length:1 Hour)
I cannot wait to rant about bacta tanks.
Title: Where to Find Science Resources
Time: Sun 01:00 pmLocation: 209-211 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
Title: Awesome Women in Digital Media
Time: Sun 05:30 pmLocation: Galleria 6 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
I only just realized I was on this and I’m rather sure I don’t count but the other people look awesome.
Title: The Science of Music
Time: Mon 01:00 pmLocation: 209-211 Hilton (Length:1 Hour)
If you are very unlucky I’m bringing pictures of the anatomy of the vocal folds!
Anti-discourse actions
I donated some cash to a friend who needs it, and in honor of a friend I recently, suddenly, lost. Mutual aid is key.
Letter writing keeps on keeping on!
I went to my first Authors Against Book Bans meeting and I LOVE that we can write postcards to support librarians! Definitely gonna do this.
*This was something that ALSO came up in fact check, because crocodiles can and do vomit in spectacular fashion. But because the scientists did not document specifically a crocodile eating a lithium chloride-laced toad and then vomiting, we could not say that the chemical was specifically vomit-inducing, we had to say nausea-inducing instead. (The issue at hand was whether or not we could use the word “emetic” which a lot of people don’t know. “Emetic” technically means vomit-inducing, but….see the top of this paragraph.)
**Yes, at SN, fact checkers check things that go to print. This means SOME things are fact checked before they go online, like features. But for news like this piece, there was no time, I reported and wrote, and we edited and published this thing in less than 72 hours. So fact checking occurs after when the piece goes to print. It’s usually very minor stuff, I personally file every piece in two versions, one clean, and one marked up with links and timestamps (for interviews) for every single fact. This makes sure the fact checkers have an easy job, but it also covers my own butt. A butt which I definitely have.
***Special thanks to Topher Hunter, @anisotoph on Insta and Bluesky, who gleefully joined me in coming up with as many butt euphemisms as possible.
****No matter what they cannot have a frog fanny because they are toads, not frogs.
On a tangential note, a taxonomist these days faces a rough choice – either go to hot, wet Indonesian rainforest to find something that's not yet classified, or reclassify something in the comfort of their office. Who are we to criticize them?
Finally somebody's tackling the real issues! Great title, made me click instantly...