Notebooks made out of elephant dung Photo: Jimu News report

Visitors to Wild Elephant Valley in Xishuangbanna, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, have discovered an unusual line of souvenirs: notebooks, postcards, fridge magnets and gardening products made from elephant dung. Videos of the items recently drew attention online, with a sign outside the souvenir shop joking that "poop is for sale here," Jimu News reported. 

According to the scenic area's official account, the products include elephant-dung paper notebooks, postcards, fridge magnets and a plant-growing substrate. One visitor said she had bought one of the notebooks and later gave it away as a gift. Despite its unusual raw material, she said, it had no unpleasant smell.

Two staff members at Wild Elephant Valley also told the outlet that the products are odor-free, with some introduced only this year. One employee said the elephant-dung paper notebooks had sold particularly well, while gardening enthusiasts sometimes bought the dung-based growing material for flowers.

The scenic area said the idea makes use of what elephants naturally leave behind. An adult elephant eats about 200 kilograms of food a day, mainly tender branches, leaves and stems, but digests only part of it, leaving its dung rich in plant fibers that can be used for papermaking, according to the report. 

Before being turned into paper, the dung is washed, sterilized, disinfected, dried and cooked at high temperature, according to the scenic area. The process removes the odor and can leave a faint plant-like scent. For gardening products, the dung is fermented at high temperature to kill weed seeds and harmful microbes while retaining nutrients.

Global Times