"Guano" is a Quechua word that means excrement.
Guano, is the excrement of marine birds that inhabit islands or coast, forming a thick layer of white color. The guano is used as natural fertilizer; it is the best quality fertilizer in the world due to its high nitrogen and phosphorus content and to the lack of rain.
Its use was known and exploited by the pre-Inca cultures in the development of agriculture. The gathering of this guano and its exportation to Europe in the XIX Century resulted in great wealth to Peru.
The main varieties of dung birds in Peru are:
- Guanay (Phalacrocarax Bougainvillei)
- Piquero ( Sula Variegata)
- Pelican (Pelecanus Thagus)