New Delhi: Every animal on this planet, including human beings, have the freedom to eat whatever they want, according to their own satisfaction and need. However, there are strange eating habits, which, well, makes us question the taste palate. There is a term, ‘coprophagia’ which means the consumption of feces. The term denotes several types of feces-eating, including consuming the poop of some other animals and their own. Yes, this a prevalent habit in the animal kingdom.
The practice of coprophagia in humans
Since the late 19th century, coprophagia in humans has been described as a practice in people who are afflicted with mental illness and also a part of some sexual acts. While it is normal for some animal to eat feces, other species may eat feces under certain conditions.
In Urumiit, a delicacy in some Inuit cuisine, feces of the rock ptarmigan is used. The feces of animals are used to prepare several beverages including insect tea, Black Ivory Coffee, and Kopi luwak. The cheese, Casu martzu uses the digestive processes of live maggots to help ferment and break down its fats.
Why do animals indulge in coprophagia?
There are many animals which indulge in coprophagia. Some animals like rabbits, hares, and pikas ferment fiber in their cecums, expelling as cecotropes. The cecotropes are not feces and hence their consumption cannot be defined as coprophagia.
Some dogs, due to eating only processed dried foods, may lack critical digestive enzymes and they get those from eating fecal matter. They only consume fecal matter which is below two days old. In the United States, cattle are often fed chicken litter. Chickens also consume their own poop.
The babies and young of giant pandas, elephants, hippos and koalas consume their mothers’ feces or other animals in the herd, to get the bacteria needed to properly digest vegetation. Without doing this, they would not get any nutritional value from plants. Piglets which get maternal feces early in life show better performance. Pigs, hamsters, guinea pigs, hedgehogs, and chinchillas, eat their own poop to get vitamins B and K. Sometimes, eat their own droppings also mean self-anointment. Gorillas have also consumed their feces, though rarely.
Coprophagia, the consumption of feces, is a common practice in the animal kingdom, serving various purposes including nutrient absorption and gut microbiome development. While some animals, like rabbits, consume cecotropes, others like pandas and piglets ingest feces to obtain essential bacteria for digestion. knowledge Knowledge News, Photos and Videos on General Knowledge
