(The argan seed, at about 0.86 inches in length and 0.6 inches in width, is considered large.) So the researchers began wondering: what if the goats aren’t pooping the seeds, but spitting them out?

The women are employed by a business called Marjana, one of around 300 small firms, mostly co-operatives, that now produce argan oil by extracting it from the seeds.

Goats eat a lot of argan tree fruit. But its seeds are big. A study looks at the manner of expulsion: poop or spit. And yes, it does matter when it comes to new tree growth.

But the biologists knew that large seeds (like argan, which measures about 0.86 inches long to 0.59 inches wide) don’t often pass through a goat’s digestive system.

Argan seeds are large, up to 0.8 inches (22 millimeters) in width, so it seemed unlikely they were moving through the entire digestive tract, the researchers wrote. Spitting seeds.

Argan may be familiar from popular beauty products that feature argan oil, made from the tree’s nuts. The nut is surrounded by a pulpy fruit that looks a bit like a giant green olive. For goats, the ...

And the seeds of the fruit are valuable — they can be pressed to yield argan oil, valued in beauty treatments and foodie circles. By some reports, argan oil exports bring in $6.5 million.

While ruminating over their cud, the goats spit out the argan nuts, delivering clean seeds to new ground, wherever the goat has wandered. Gaining some distance from the parent tree gives the ...

Whether it is being drizzled on salads or turned into face creams, Morocco's argan oil is the latest culinary and cosmetic must-have. But with sales soaring around the world, concerns remain about ...

The women are employed by a business called Marjana, one of around 300 small firms, mostly co-operatives, that now produce argan oil by extracting it from the seeds.