Ever Wonder What Grows In Your Belly Button?

Belly button samples reveal wonderland of fluffy fauna
18:13 14 November 2012
Picture of the Day
Joanna Carver, reporter

(Image: Belly Button Biodiversity)

If you were told you had an ecosystem living in your belly button, it might come as a bit of shock. Well, you probably do. These are just a few of the samples that Belly Button Biodiversity (BBB), a group of scientists from North Carolina University in Raleigh and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, have taken from themselves as well as students, science bloggers and others.

BBB want to strike down the "bad bacteria" stereotype and teach the world that many bacteria are harmless, helpful and a lot of times just hanging around, mooching off your body. The navel is an ideal place for bacteria to thrive because it's isolated and most people don't bother to wash it. But what BBB wondered was, do the bacteria change from person to person?

BBB grew the bacteria from hundreds of swab samples and found that most people's belly button ecosystems are pretty unique. They found a total of 2368 types of bacteria, with 2188 present on fewer than 10 per cent of the samples.

Several of BBB's samples are posted online. The top left is a bacillus that produces antibiotic compounds that can kill other bacteria as well as foot fungi. The bottom right is a type of clostridial bacterium, whose diverse family includes botulism and gangrene bacteria, though many of them are harmless.