The Poo Pill That Could Save Your Life — and How Koalas Beat Us to It

By Zoe Pearse

While swallowing a poo pill might sound like something out of a horror film, it’s actually saving lives. Offering dramatic scientific advances, this new therapy could be the key to life for some previously terminal patients.

But while this innovation may be new to us, evolution beat us to it with koalas already demonstrating this secret to survival in the wild.

Koalas and poo

If you happened to be taking a scenic walk through the eucalyptus forests of Australia [1], you may be lucky enough to find a baby koala happily feasting on a small pile of its mother’s poo.  While this might seem bizarre to a casual observer, it is this early ritual which enables the species’ survival.

The diet of a healthy adult koala consists predominantly of the eucalyptus plant, of which they consume 200-500g each day. [2] It may be surprising to note that this plant is toxic to virtually every other living thing, but for an adult koala, this causes little problem as their gut is specially adapted to survive on such a diet. They have a very unique microbiome which allows them to break down tough fibres and neutralise toxins in the leaves into a form that can be absorbed. [3] However, this is a trait which baby koalas, called joeys, do not have at birth.

For a joey freshly weaned off its mother’s milk to survive in an environment of food that is toxic to them, the secret is its mother’s poo.  When it’s time for a feed, the mother produces a special type of faeces called “pap,” which the joey consumes, carrying out a life-saving ritual called papping. [3] Pap contains the rich microbiome and live bacteria which allows digestion of the eucalyptus leaf. [4] When consumed, this is transferred directly into the joey’s gut to aid with its own digestion and enable its survival.

Human microbiome

Just like koalas, human guts also contain their own microbiome, populated with trillions of microscopic organisms. The precise microbiome complex is specific and unique to every individual, continually changing throughout their lifetime. [5]

The microbiome is vital for the inner workings of the human body, aiding digestion, the immune system, the endocrine system (which regulates your metabolism) and the nervous system. It can almost be described as an organ in its own right due to its importance. [5]

So, with such a multitude of uses, it’s understandable that an imbalance of this complex environment may have a detrimental effect on a person. An example of this is a C.difficile infection caused by harmful invading bacteria which disrupts the microbiome of the gut and causes serious, life-threatening infection. [6] Such infection can recur over and over again, despite antibiotic intervention, bringing with it nasty side effects for the patient.

Unresponsive to antibiotics, treatment options have stumped medical professionals for a long time.

That’s where the poo-pill comes in.

From koalas to joeys to UK hospitals

While we all know that yoghurt, Yakult, Kefir and any of the other similarly advertised pro-biotic food we find on our supermarkets’ shelves are good for you, these only introduce a relatively small population of microorganisms into your gut. For a microbiome destroyed to an unsalvageable extent such as that of someone suffering with C.difficile, this simply is not going to make much of a difference.

Inspired by our innovative friend the koala, scientists have recently come up with a more novel solution to treat the severe disease which causes a microbiome imbalance.

A pill containing a freeze-dried donated stool sample of a healthy person introduces an entire diverse community of microorganisms into its recipient’s gut. [7] This faecal transplant is already approved for use against the C.difficile infection, having an 80-95% success rate of preventing recurring infection [8], turning a previously serious medical challenge into a seemingly easy fix.

With so much success, extensive research trials are also currently showing great promise for its additional uses against other ailments like inflammatory bowel disease, irritable bowel syndrome, obesity, liver disease and more.

One medicine

While a poo-pill may not be the most appetising of thoughts, the medical revolution it has potential to cause is unshakable. And to think such an innovation was triggered by simply observing the world around us.

This research being so new suggests there are probably countless other complex medical conundrums which nature as already found a solution to, perfectly demonstrating the essence of ‘one medicine’ – the idea that human, animal and environmental health are interconnected. [9]

We cannot try to dominate nature. We must learn from it and observe the world around us. After all, evolution has a lot more experience at fighting these problems than we do.

So, if you ever were to walk past a joey consuming its mother’s pap, grimacing as it slightly unsettles your stomach, remember it is developing modern medicine and saving lives with innovation.

References

[1] Koala. (n.d.). National Geographic. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/koala

[2] Australian Koala Foundation. (n.d.). The Koalas’ Diet & Digestion – Australian Koala Foundation. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://savethekoala.com/about-koalas/koalas-diet-digestion/

[3] Langley, L. (n.d.-a). Koala moms make their kids eat poo. it’s for their own good.
  National Geographic. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/koala-mom-poop

[4] Ginis, E. (n.d.). Pap not Poop: The gift a mother Koala gives her Joey. Australian Geographic. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://www.australiangeographic.com.au/news/2022/07/pap-not-poop-the-gift-a-mother-koala-gives-her-joey/

[5] Professional, C. C. M. (n.d.). Gut microbiome. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/25201-gut-microbiome

[6] About C. Diff. (n.d.). CDC. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://www.cdc.gov/c-diff/about/index.html#:~:text=Treatment%20and%20recovery%20Treatment%20for%20C.%20diff,they%20think%20it’s%20safe%20to%20do%20so.

[7] Merrick, B. (2025, July). Faecal Microbiota transplant to ERadicate Gastrointestinal Carriage of Antibiotic-Resistant Organisms (FERARO): a feasibility randomised controlled trial. Journal of Infection. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(25)00098-2/fulltext

[8] Professional, C. C. M. (n.d.-a). Fecal transplant. Cleveland Clinic. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/treatments/25202-fecal-transplant

[9] The One Medicine concept: its emergence from history as a systematic approach to re-integrate human and veterinary medicine. (2021, August). Portland Press. Retrieved November 14, 2025, from https://portlandpress.com/emergtoplifesci/article/5/5/643/229485/The-One-Medicine-concept-its-emergence-from