The Rainforest in Your Belly Button

Our body is home to about 30-40 trillion bacteria. In fact, it is 30% of the composition of the human organism. Their interaction with each other and with our bodies is the result of millions of years of evolution.

Someone studying the impact of bacteria on human behavior, someone studies their immediate composition in the intestine or in the mouth… and Rob Dunn with the help of 60 volunteers for two years studied the bacteria in the belly button.

The scientist didn't in vain chose this part of humans body. He believes that the navel is exposed to the most rare effect from the outside, and accordingly has the most original bacterial "flora" and "fauna".

Belly button bacteria samples: Bacillus subtilis (left) and Staphylococcus epidermidis. image source

In sixty navels were found 2,368 species of different bacteria (1458 were potentially new to science). Moreover, the types of bacteria varied considerably from person to person.

For example: in one of the navels was found a bacterium that lives in the soil of Japan… although the belly button was never in this country.

medium-clean belly button (left) | dirty belly button (right)

In people, who preferred not to wash the navel, the bacterial landscape had a completely different composition. The dominant species were the bacteria, which normally live in the ice caps and thermal holes...obviously in a hostile environment only the strongest survive :)

The most interesting is that eight types of bacteria were found in 70% of subjects. Each of these types occupies a dominant place in the spread. The ecosystem of the rain forest arranged by the same principle: Their flora is very diverse, but you will always find 1 dominant species of trees.

The results of the studies may seem funny (can't argue). But at the same time they allow to advance in study of the relationship of bacteria to our body.

Take care of your rainforests, this is the home for trillions of living organisms, which is very sensitive to external influences! And of course, your Belly-Button-Landscape depends from you. You have a choice: create a tropical forest or an ice cap.