What is Urine?

Looking for urine facts? Before the facts, let’s quickly understand ‘what is urine?’

Urine is a waste product that the kidneys produce while cleaning the blood. Urine is made of water and waste products dissolved in water.

Waste products are nothing other than substances that our body doesn’t need. If these waste products stay in our body, they can be harmful to our organs.

Okay, now that you know what is urine, it is time we through the urine facts. Trust us, they are quite insane, and they can make you laugh out loud.

We warned you!

Let’s begin…

Insane Urine Facts: 1-5

1. Would you believe if we say that birds don’t urinate at all? Yes, that is true! Birds are by design lightweight, and carrying water will make them heavy. So, what they do is convert the nitrogen into uric acid and poop it out along with solid waste.

Take a good look at bird poop. The white pasty material is uric acid and the remaining brown and green matter is the feces. So, you can actually say that birds to pee but in form of poop.

2. Urinary bladders are completely absent in snakes. What does that mean? They need to pee as soon as urine is created! They just can’t hold it.

3. Oceans and seas are all made of urine. We don’t say this. This is what Native Americans say because they believe that gods became angry and they urinated in attempt to drown this whole world.

4. Ancient Romans were quite gross when it came to teeth whitening. They used to rinse their mouths with their own urine because they thought that would gift them pearly whites!

5. If that is not enough, take this – urine is a remedy for toothache. Well, again, we are not the ones saying this. It was Pierre Fauchard – a French Physician of 18th century who said this and recommended this. He is considered as Father of Modern Dentistry.

Insane Urine Facts: 6-10

6. Flapdragons! If you have studied the history of Dutch and English during 16th century, you might have heard of this word. That’s what those people used to drink to toast someone’s health. What really were Flapdragons? Nothing special. It was just urine.

7. There is a voodoo curse out there to give you kidney disease. How does it work? The person cursing you will take your urine, put it in a bottle along with herbs, nails and needles and wedge the bottle into a narrow tree hole. Voila! You will have kidney disease.

8. Insects aren’t avid lovers of cow pee. So, African farmers have found an interesting way to keeping those nasty creatures away from cotton plants by spraying the plants with cow pee.

9. This may sound really gross to you but scientists are actually working on genetically modifying mice so that they can grow human drugs in their urinary bladder and then pee the drugs out.

10. In Kolkata (Calcutta), India some zookeepers were caught red-handed drugging rhinoceroses so that they would pee more. Why like that? Those zookeepers would then sell the rhino urine as an ingredient of medicine.

Insane Urine Facts: 11-15

11. There was a time when the Eskimos also used urine for cleaning their teeth after they ate. However, they were a little more innovative. Had used some grass and soaked the grass in urine. They used the soaked grass to brush their teeth.

12. During Civil War, urine was a precious commodity as it was used for making gunpowder. It was so precious that Southern ladies were asked by Southern Army via newspaper ads to save their urine. The army would then send barrels and wagons to collect the same.

13. Urine was once called Lant. Lant was nothing but urine used as cleaning agent before the Industrial Revolution began. The reason why urine was used was that it was rich in ammonia.

14. During World War I, a disastrous mistake was made involving urine and gas masks. Chlorine gas was used during WWI as a killing agent. So, gas masks came in place.

These gas masks made use of urine, because the great minds thought that ammonia will neutralize chlorine present in the chlorine gas. Turned out that ammonia in urine mixed with chlorine creating even more toxic fumes.

15. There is a device called P-Mate. What’s its use and what really is it? It is a device that allows women to pee while standing. They just place the device directly under urethra and pee right into the device. No need to sit down!

Insane Urine Facts: 16-20

16. There is something called Urine Therapy. It is really. There are many advocates of this. For instance, Gandhi, John Lennon, Jim Morrison, Boy George are some renowned figures who supported Urine Therapy and even practiced it.

17. According to therapists of this stream of therapy, the morning urine should be caught mid-stream and then sipped slowly instead of guzzling fast. Avoiding salty foods is necessary for proper results and yes, plenty of clean water should go in as well.

18. Heard of the term Beeturia? It is a condition where you will pee red or pink urine because of consuming beets. Beets contain what is known as betanin, which causes red or pink urine in some.

19. A cloth soaked in urine and put on head will cool you in case of dehydration, but avoid drinking it because it will increase dehydration as it contains salt. Who says this? It is the Field Manual of U.S. Army that gives this caution.

20. Extract gold out of urine – that was the motto of alchemists from Germany. What they ended up getting out of urine was Phosphorus. Gold was nowhere to be seen.

Insane Urine Facts: 21-25

21. 5% of your urine is actually made of solid material while the remaining 95% is water. Here is the breakup of urine components:

• 95% water
• 0.05% ammonia
• 0.18% sulphate
• 0.12% phosphate
• 0.6% chloride
• 0.01% magnesium
• 0.015% calcium
• 0.6% potassium
• 0.1% sodium
• 0.1% creatinine
• 0.3% uric acid
• 2% urea

22. On an average you will pee out 1 liter to 1.5 liters of urine a day.

23. If you are producing very small amounts of urine (abnormally small), you have a condition which goes by the name Oliguria.

24. Do you know the average number of times you urinate in a day? That’s 7 (SEVEN). Some may urinate a little more or a little less depending on what they eat and drink.

25. If you are an adult then know that the amount of urine your bladder can hold is enough to fill up to 11 shot glasses. That’s anywhere between 300 milliliters to 500 milliliters of urine.

Insane Urine Facts: 26-30

26. Ever wondered how long your pee stream lasts when you pee? That’s 7 seconds on an average. It can be a little more. However, if your pee stream is as short as just 2 seconds despite feeling an urgency to take a leak, visit a doctor. You have a serious problem.

27. Guys, give up the notion that girls pee from their vagina. That’s totally wrong. There is a distinct opening called urethra right above the vagina from where girls pee.

28. If your pee is smelling sweet, you have diabetes. Get yourself diagnosed.

29. Talking of smell, how can you make your pee smell like roses? Drink turpentine (DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME BECAUSE TURPENTINE IS POISONOUS)! Well, in Ancient Rome, some women used to practice this for the exact same purpose as mentioned in this fact – smell like roses!

30. Charaka and Sushruta – heard of these names? They were physicians from ancient India who managed to differentiate between Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes way back in c. 400 BCE – 500 BCE. The word Madhumeha used in Hindi actually means ‘Honey urine’. The term came from those two physicians.

Insane Urine Facts: 31-35

31. While we gave the breakup of pee components by percentage, that wasn’t the most accurate breakup we gave at the beginning. We aren’t giving it here either because you can’t seriously expect us to list approximately 3,000 components found in your pee.

32. Can you know pee when people are around you (nearby)? In such a case you have a condition called Pee Shyness, which is technically called Parauresis.

33. There is a popular belief that if one gets a jellyfish sting, one should pee on the sting area right away to get relief. Well, that’s absolutely wrong.

34. Did you know that the “morning pee” is highly acidic in nature while subsequent pees become more alkaline? That’s because when you sleep at night, the body produces acids, which leaves the body during morning through pee.

35. Women have wider pee stream than men.

Insane Urine Facts: 36-40

36. Do you know when does a baby pee for the first time? Not after the birth. The baby actually pees for the first time when it is in womb. It pees right into the amniotic fluid.

37. Ever been out of a swimming pool with red eyes? Some may say that it is caused by chlorine in the pool water. But that’s not the truth. It is caused by chloramine – a substance created by chemical bonding between chlorine and human pee.

The strong smell of chlorine that you get after coming out of the swimming pool is basically caused by human pee. So, the strong the sting, the dirtier is the pool.

38. Don’t he happy if you see that your urine is crystal clear and transparent. It simply means that you are drinking way too much water than you should.

So, cut back on your water intake. The actual color of your urine should be pale straw, which indicates that you are well-hydrated and healthy.

39. Men, this is for you. If you have a western style toilet at home and you are having a hard on and still having the urgency to leak, the likelihood of messing up while releasing your bladder is very high if you stand and pee.

So, the best way to pee in such a situation without messing up is to sit on the toilet seat, push your member down making sure it is inside the commode, and then pee.

If you can’t push your member down, then waiting until you lose erection will be a better choice. In case of urgency, figure out something!

40. Urine has some really good medicinal use as well. There used to be a medicine called urokinase that was made by a drug company using urine. Purpose? Urokinase was used for dissolving blood clots that were responsible for heart attacks.

Insane Urine Facts: 41-45

41. In ancient China standing was the way preferred to take a leak by both genders. Yes, even women used to stand and pee.

42. Noblemen of ancient China really didn’t like their urine to flow anywhere near their bodies and so, they would find hollow canes and create the waterfall right inside the cane. The pee would then flow away from their bodies.

43. Women standing and peeing was not just limited to the Chinese. Some 200 years ago, women in Europe used to do the same. Back then, those women used to wear long dresses without any underpants.

44. Muslims – men and women – in Muslim countries will squat or sit to urinate because according to them its dogs that stand and urinate.

45. You think urine is useless? How about “Read Between the Lines”. That phrase came from ancient Romans, whose spies used urine to write right between the lines of their official documents. The hidden messages revealed themselves when the documents were heated.

Insane Urine Facts: 46-50

46. As of today, men stand and women squat to pee. It was the other way round in ancient Ireland and ancient Egypt.

47. Pioneers in America came up with a unique way to treat earaches. Here’s the method: warm up the urine, pour it into the ear that is aching and use a cloth piece to plug the ear!

48. Piss – the term used for urine originated before 14th century. The term is called onomatopoetic term.

49. Give a tablespoon to mice and ask them to fill it by urinating. 24 hours or hard work by 12 mice working together will achieve the impossible.

50. While mice have to work really hard to achieve what is being said it point 9, for a Clydesdale (a type of horse), it is a child’s play. That horse pees north of 4.5 gallons every day.

Insane Urine Facts: 51-55

51. You think a Clydesdale pees too much? Think again! Ask an elephant and it will reply in kind by giving 13 gallons (or more) of pee in a day. Well, in case of female elephants, it is difficult to get a measure because they will usually pee and poop at the same time unlike the male elephants.

52. Whales have really big bladders. For instance Fin Whale can nicely tuck in 5.5 gallons of urine in its bladder!

53. Heard of Mojave Desert? In case you haven’t, you have just now! There are tortoises in that desert. Those creatures are known for storing amount of urine that weigh up to a third of their whole body weight.

In desert conditions water may become scant. When that happens, these tortoises use up the water in urine by filtering and sending it back into their body while leaving behind the waste material that they later excrete.

54. It is a very wrong notion that camels store water in their humps. Actually they store fat in that location. What they do to deal with water crisis is that they prevent most of the water in their body from converting into pee.

55. Because camels allow very little water to get converted into pee, their urine is very salty. Just how salty? Tasted sea water? Twice the salinity and that’s how saline is camels’ pee.

Insane Urine Facts: 56-60

56. Here is another interesting camel pee facts – when the camels urinate, they will simply let the liquid flow down their legs. Purpose? That’s a way they deploy to ensure they stay cool.

57. Ever wondered how cave rats manage to find their path in deep and dark caves? They just make sure that they urinate along the way and make a trail. They then sniff their way back through the darkness.

58. Billy goat has a unique way of attracting a mate. It will just urinate all over its beard, chest and belly. Now, the mate will be attracted to the smell!

59. Porcupines are even weirder. How? A male porcupine will simply start urinating in every possible direction to find a mate. You see – the magical smell attracts a mate and as soon as the males finds his match, he will go and piss all over her!

60. Did you ever think that urine may have some relationship with UV rays? Think now! Degu – a small South American rodent will pee on its passageways. Degu urine has this extraordinary ability to reflect UV rays that the Degu can actually see and find its way!

Insane Urine Facts: 61-65

61. This may reduce your love for lobsters a bit. A male lobster has its urinary bladder located right in its head! When two males face each other in a duel, one of their weapons is squirting urine on the opponent’s face!

62. Urine has a great use when it comes to camouflage. For instance, if you take a good look at Siberian chipmunks in the wild, you will notice them covering themselves in snake pee. The reason? They just want to camouflage their own scent.

63. There is something called fake raccoon pee. That’s real! Ask the hunters because they get this liquid and spray it on to themselves and their dogs in order to hide their own scent from the unsuspecting prey.

64. There is one time when neither do bears pee and nor do they poop. Can you tell when? That’s when they hibernate.

65. Ever heard the term ‘Chamber lye’? That’s a soap that was once made by American pilgrims. It had two major components – ash, and… yes, urine! They used to collect urine in barrels and then add ashes to the liquid to make the soap.

Insane Urine Facts: 6-10

66. Steam bath of urine! That sounds pretty awful but the Inuit had a working system for this. They would enter tents where hot rocks were placed. They would then pee on the rocks to create steam and take a refreshing steam bath. Now, that’s refreshing!

67. Want a fresh glow but don’t have money for creams and lotions? Worry not ladies! Go old school – the French or English way. Women in England and France would – a few centuries ago – pee right on their hands to get a lovely glow.

68. (Continued from #67) If their bladders seemed to be empty, they would go for puppy piss. Allegedly, the pee would soften their hands and give them a brilliant glow. We wonder what they did to their faces!

69. (Continued from #67 and #68) In case you didn’t know, urine of mammals (dogs and humans included) contain urea, which is the primary reason for glowing skin. How do we know? Ask the cream and lotion manufacturers. They use artificially produced urea in those skin lightening creams and lotions to give that amazing glow.

70. Chinook Olives – now that was a delicacy among the people of Chinook Indian tribe. The delicacy had a very gross preparation method. You can try it some day. Just soak some acorns in your urine and store the damn thing for 5 months. Now, eat!

Insane Urine Facts: 71-75

71. Don’t want to taste the tribal food? No problem. You can always try the baking methods used before yeast discovery. The bakers from Europe had a very unique way making the bread rise when baked. They just added urine!

72. The lovely little butterflies that sip flower nectar have a very gross and dark secret that you might not like. But we will tell it anyway. They will just sip clean any urine that collects on leaves and flower (urine can be anyone’s – a dog’s, cat’s, a human’s or just any animal). Why like that? That’s because butterflies also need vitamins and urine is their best source!

73. Scarcity of salt can take you to dark places! Reindeer is the best example. In the conditions they live, salt is scarce. So, they get most of the salt they need from urine. They drink urine!

74. (Continued from #73) In Siberia, sled masters devised an easy way to gather all their Reindeer to quickly hook them up with a sled. The sled masters would simply pee and place it in a spot and those animals gathered around the heavenly drink!

75. Hunting Reindeer is child’s play for Inuit people. They use a similar trick like Siberian sled masters. Inuit people will first create a trap (a pit actually). Place a thin sheet of ice over the pit and cover it. They will then pee in a line all the way up to the trap. You can now guess what happens.

Insane Urine Facts: 76-80

76. There is the term called euphoria and then there is another term called “pee-phoria”. When you pee and your bladder pressure decreases, do you feel slight stimulation? That’s caused by nerve ending stimulation in your urinary system. That stimulation is called pee-phoria. Other terms for pee-phoria are piss bliss, ecstasy pee and pleasure pee.

77. You think pee-phoria is surprising? Take this – Urolagnia. There are some people who will simply get sexually aroused by thought or sight of urine. This condition is also known as urophilia, Water Sports, Golden Shower or undinism.

78. Women can pee only vertically. Men on the other hand can pee both vertically and horizontally. This isn’t really good for men because aiming becomes a tad more difficult with multi-directional peeing ability. Problem occurs when pee velocity control is less. There are two times when this happens – at the beginning of urination and at its end.

79. Did you know that your kidneys keep making urine even when you are sleeping? They never rest and they are the ones that remove salt, waste material and other material from blood and make the urine.

80. One of your two kidneys can actually grow by 50% if the other one is removed. This growth takes place within 2 months and the grown kidney can carry out the whole job of filtering blood and producing healthy urine all by itself.

Insane Urine Facts: 81-85

81. Did you know that when a woman urinates, some urine is left in the urethra. That urine is also released but not by any bodily functions. It is the enigmatic gravity that does the job.

82. Even men have some leftover urine in urethra after peeing. Gravity plays NO role in emptying that. For men, muscles called bulbospongiosus muscles contract and expand several times to squeeze out the remaining piss.

83. Urethra in men is from where the urine and the seminal fluid flow out. But, did you know that urine and seminal fluid will never flow out of the urethra simultaneously?

84. Urination is not the scientific term of peeing. The scientific term is Micturition. However, there are some commonly used words for urination, which are – peeing, weeing, voiding, emiction and pissing.

85. Urine gets its color from a pigment present in bile. Bile pigments are also responsible for the color of our poop.

Insane Urine Facts: 86-90

86. You know what will happen if bile pigments are absent in piss and in poop? Piss will become crystal clear and colorless like water while poop will assume an ashy white color.

87. The color that our urine gets is because of a specific bile pigment known as urobilin. This pigment has a reddish-yellow-brown color.

88. Kidneys are awesome. Did you know that in your entire lifetime, your kidneys will be cleaning as much as a million gallons of water. That’s enough water to fill a decent-sized lake.

89. Fresh urine will either have very little smell or no smell. On the contrary, stored urine or the stale one will have a strong odor. That odor comes from breaking down of urea into the poisonous ammonia. The forces behind such breakdown are bacteria.

90. Asparagus aroma is the world’s most popular fragrance of pee. Though we say it as ‘asparagus aroma’, it is not really something you will like. It has a foul and eggy odor. This odor comes when asparagus is digested and compounds containing sulfur are released.

Insane Urine Facts: 91-95

91. Did you know that the asparagus aroma of pee can be detected by 50% of total population of world? Remaining 50% cannot detect the smell simply because they lack the genes required to detect that typical smell.

92. People’s urine have different smells and dogs are so blessed with their olfactory senses that they can detect cancer in people simply by sniffing their urine.

93. In the past when diabetes detecting techniques weren’t present, there were two popular methods available to the physicians:

• Pouring the urine of the patient on to sand and waiting to see if bugs were attracted (that will happen simply because diabetic patients will have sweet-smelling pee as urine will have high sugar content).
• Dipping a finger into patient’s urine and simply tasting it!

94. Medical science has some epic examples of insane believes. For instance, physicians in ancient Greece thought that insanity could be treated with donkey pee.

95. Urine color can tell a lot. For instance, if your pee has a dark yellow color, it simply means that you need to hydrate your body as you are suffering from dehydration.

Insane Urine Facts: 96-100

96. What about red urine? It doesn’t necessarily mean something alarming but it can actually be alarming. The red color can be caused by blood in urine (hematuria).

It can mean kidney cyst, bladder or kidney stones, enlarged prostate, UTIs or Urinary Tract Infections, tumors (non-cancerous and/or cancerous) or even long-distance running. Visiting a doctor will be wise.

97. You may also have pink urine. It can be caused by food like rhubarb, blackberries, beets etc. These food can also make the urine appear red.

This color can be caused even by drugs like Rifampin (used for tuberculosis treatment) or phenazopyridine (used for treating discomforts in urinary tract).

98. Your urine can be green or blue as well. This may or may not be a matter of concern. Green color may come because of pseudomonas bacteria that cause UTIs.

Blue can be caused by a genetic disorder (familial benign hypercalcemia) where children have blue urine. This disease is also known as blue diaper syndrome.

Both blue and green colors can be cause by certain medications such as propofol, indomethacin, amitriptyline etc. Even food dyes or dyes used for certain bladder and kidney function tests can cause blue urine.

99. Dark brown urine can be caused by aloe, rhubarb or fava beans. It can also be a result of extreme exercise leading to muscle injury. It can be kidney disorder or UTIs as well.

Even medications like nitrofurantonin, metronidazole, senna or cascara containing laxatives or methocarbamol can lead to dark brown urine.

100. Finally, you may also have murky or cloudy urine. This is of some serious concern because it is usually caused by kidney stones and even Urinary Tract Infections. Visiting a doctor is highly advised.

Insane Urine Facts: 101-105

101. In Cameroon, if you drink piss, you will have to spend some jail time. That’s a crime you know! Weird Law!

102. There are some cultures in this world where the dye used for tattooing is made of a mixture of coal dust and urine.

103. In Britain, the busses make use of sheep urine. This urine has a special chemical that converts the fuel exhaust into steam and nitrogen, which are harmless to the atmosphere. By doing this, the smog is reduced significantly.

104. Baby bears! Aren’t they cute? Did you know that post-birth, they won’t come out of their dens until the spring comes? During this time, the mama bear feeds her kids (nursing) and then licks the bottom of the cub to make it urinate. The mama bear then drinks that urine to ensure that the den remains clean.

105. Vampire bats are terrible blood suckers but did you know that they don’t drink any more than 2 tablespoon of blood. That much blood makes up 50% of their body weight. Now, once they start drinking blood, they will start urinating simultaneously only 2 minutes after they start sucking out blood. This is necessary because that way, the bats can keep blood’s nutritious part, get rid of unnecessary watery part and stay slim enough to take off!

OMG Urine Facts: 106-110

106. “Constellation Urion”! Heard of that name? Well, here is what you need to know. In space, astronauts of both genders pee into Mr. Thirsty (nickname for a funnel). The funnel has a tube attachment which vacuums in the urine gently and stores it in a tank.

When the tank becomes full, the urine is shot out in space where the extreme cold immediately freezes it into ice crystal clouds that look like stars. Constellation Urion is the name given to such icy urine clouds by Wally Schirra – an astronaut.

107. A system is being built in ISS (International Space Station) which can convert urine into water so that it can be reused. Now, NASA has some weird plans. It plans on using rat urine for recycling as well (apart from human urine) because 72 rats pee as much as 1 astronaut.

108. Had you been in Scotland during the medieval times, you could make some easy bucks. All you had to do was to carry a large bucket and a large cloth piece into a public place. People who had to pee could pee in the bucket while you kept the cloth draped around them. In return, you get paid!

109. Ancient Roman governments made some considerable money by installing pay-and-use bathrooms. Not just that. The urine in those bathrooms would be later collected and sold to people using urine for bleaching cloth. That money too was government’s money!

110. Ancient Romans extensively used urine for bleaching linen and wool. They used pee to even tan leather.

Insane Urine Facts: 111-115

111. Elizabethan England wasn’t really any good than the Romans. They also used stale urine for the purpose of dyeing fabric.

112. Penicillin was too precious during the 1930s. So, the urine of people who consumed penicillin was taken and penicillin was extracted from it. It was a method of conserving penicillin.

113. You can actually leak urine when you exercise, sneeze or laugh. This is a medical condition known as Stress Urinary Incontinence.

114. You can create power from urine! There is a company called E3 Technologies which has mastered this art. They create hydrogen out of the urine and get rid of the ammonia ensuring that the toxic material doesn’t escape into air.

115. Men, before the reach the age of 50, have higher pee stream speed compared to women. Women win the race after the age of 50 is achieved.

Insane Urine Facts: 116-120

116. When people age, they tend to pee more. In case of men, testosterone level drops causing more frequent urination. In women, it is the drop in estrogen level that causes the problem.

117. During pregnancy, women tend to urinate more. This is because the fetus and uterus can push against the bladder or actually sit on it and make it smaller. A smaller bladder means more frequent urination.

118. Also, pregnant women are high on progesterone. This hormone is known for irritating the urinary tract, thereby increasing the feeling that they need to pee more frequently.

119. Women must pee after having sex. This is because of the fact that during sex, the natural bacteria present vagina gets pushed in. This increases the risk of infections. So, peeing is essential as it helps to flush out those bacteria.

120. During orgasm, bladder neck in both male and female closes. This means, for males, semen just cannot flow into the bladder. For women, there is no way you need to pee. It is merely the pleasure feeling. If however, you are squirting, it is majorly pee – says a new research.

Sources:

• Goodman, Susan E. Gee Whiz: It’s All about Pee. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2006.
• Silverstein, Alivn, Virginia Silverstein, and Robert Silverstein. The Excretory System. New York, NY: Twenty-First Century Books, 1994.
• Richman, Josh and Anish Sheth, M.D. What’s My Pee Telling Me? San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Book, 2009.
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