Why do some animals eat feces?

Some animals eat feces, if, as disgusting as it may seem to you, it is not an abnormal behavior and does not necessarily denote any problem depending on the species in question, so you may see both domestic and wild animals come to their consumption.

Why do some animals eat feces?

The voluntary ingestion of feces It is known as coprophagy , a word that you might not know, but that you have surely seen your pet or heard that a friend put into practice.

Many animals They eat feces, the coprophogues par excellence are insects like the dung beetle or dung beetle, but many other spices put it into practice and the reasons are very diverse.

Panda puppies, for example, ingest their mother's poop to develop microbes that alone would not produce; So do elephants and koalas pups.Lemurs, meanwhile, due to their diet based on difficult digestion leaves eat their feces to better absorb their nutrients .

Why do some animals eat feces?

During investigations that other animals eat feces, observed this behavior in gorillas and monkeys, that occasionally ingest their feces, those of others of their kind or even of other animals in search of some nutrient that is missing from your body.

Some birds with a very short digestive tract usually eat their fresh feces to make the most of nutrients from food.Also rodents, especially hamsters and guinea pig, in search of vitamins B and K eat their own poop Rabbits, on the other hand, defecate two types of feces, hard pellets and some in the form of a bunch of grapes that are what returns Do not eat to make sure you provide the necessary nutrients.

Dogs and cats too

Man's best friend also enters into this type of behavior, while in cats it is less common.

Coprophagy occurs in cats usually during the first month of their young, it is common to observe the cat cleaning their kittens and the area where they are, the reasons are two mainly, the first is stimulate the evacuation of kittens and the second is for survival , eliminating odors prevents predators from being attracted to their offspring, however, after weaning this behavior It disappears, It is something extremely unusual for an adult cat to eat its feces or that of other animals, unless it presents serious problems of poor nutrition .

Why do some animals eat feces?

In dogs, coprophagy is somewhat more frequent than in cats and the reasons are much broader.

Like cats, to clean and protect their young bitches usually ingest the feces of their puppies.
A natural survival behavior is coprophagy towards other animals, such as horses, cows and even cats, since with them they find ingesting a high nutritional value.Recall that dogs are carroneros by nature.
Some digestive problems can also be a cause.When the dog does not digest its nutrients well it ingests its feces to receive those nutrients.This may avoid improving your diet and not only based on dry foods.
The confinement, stress or boredom are also reasons that can lead to eating your own poop or other dogs.

Regardless of the reasons, which can be many, if you notice that it is cond ucta comes in your pet and becomes a habit you should go to the veterinarian to detect if there is a problem and treat it.

Did you know why animals eat feces? Does your pet do it? You already know that depending on the moment and the species it is a normal behavior.

Did you like this article? Then you should not miss:

-5 strange customs of dogs explained by science

-18 fascinating curiosities of cats

Image: Ricky Brigante, skeeze, nina056, Pezibear

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