What is coprophagia?
Coprophagy refers to the consumption of feces, a behavior observed in various animals throughout the animal kingdom. While this may seem bizarre or unhealthy to humans, for many animals it is a natural and necessary part of their digestive process. As reported in Live Science, according to Bryan Amaral, senior curator of animal care sciences at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, it is “a relatively normal phenomenon observed in many different animal species.”
Animals that practice coprophagia
Coprophagy is practiced by many different animals, including:
- Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares and pikas)
- Rodents (mice, rats, hamsters, naked mole rats, chinchillas and guinea pigs)
- Dogs
- Mountain beaver
- Baby elephants
- Hippo calves
- Non-human primates (including gorillas, orangutans and rhesus monkeys)
The role of coprophagy in lagomorphs
For animals like rabbits, coprophagy is an essential dietary habit. According to Cynthia Alvarado, a clinical veterinarian at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, eating excrement is a natural part of a rabbit’s diet. Rabbits are large intestinal fermenters, meaning their food is digested primarily in the large intestine, where bacteria ferment tough plant matter.
However, nutrient absorption occurs earlier in the digestive process, namely in the stomach and small intestine. To get around this digestive limitation, rabbits produce special feces called caecotrophs. These are nutrient-rich products of the cecum, the first part of the large intestine, that are normally excreted at night, hence the term “night droppings”. Caecotrophs are dark, soft and tar-like, unlike normal, hard rabbit droppings.
According to an article published in Live Science, most rabbit owners never see cecal droppings because rabbits ingest them directly through the anus. Re-eating this feces allows rabbits to absorb the nutrients on the second pass through their digestive system. If a rabbit stops eating its normal food or refuses to eat its cecal droppings, it could be a sign of illness that requires immediate veterinary attention.
Bacterial benefits for baby animals
For many young animals, eating feces is crucial when transitioning from milk to solid food. This is especially true for species such as elephants and hippos. Young animals often eat the feces of their mother or other herd members to build a healthy bacterial community in their gut, which is essential for proper digestion.
Even ancient creatures such as mammoths have exhibited this behavior. An autopsy of a 42,000-year-old baby mammoth named Lyuba revealed that it had eaten feces from adult mammoths. This behavior likely served to infect its digestive system with the necessary microbes to break down the plant material it would eat as an adult.
Nutrient requirements of hungry herbivores
It can be difficult for herbivores to find nutrient-rich food, especially in the wild. Coprophagy allows these animals to get the maximum benefit from their food by passing it through their digestive tract twice. This process helps them absorb important nutrients and minerals that might have been lost during the first digestion.
According to Alvarado, “some animals rely on coprophagy to access certain nutrients produced by microbes in the digestive tract.” For these animals, coprophagy is a survival strategy that ensures they get all the nutrients they need.
Why do dogs eat poop?
While herbivores and omnivores have clear reasons for their coprophagia, the reasons for the behavior in dogs are less well understood. Dogs, who are carnivores, sometimes eat feces due to nutrient deficiencies, boredom, or even as an instinctive behavior learned from their mothers. Mother dogs often eat their puppies’ feces to keep their environment clean, a behavior that puppies may imitate as they grow.
