Coprophagia () or coprophagy () is the consumption of
feces
Feces ( or faeces), known colloquially and in slang as poo and poop, are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the large intestine. Feces contain a relati ...
. The word is derived from the grc, κόπρος , "feces" and , "to eat". Coprophagy refers to many kinds of feces-eating, including eating feces of other species (heterospecifics), of other individuals (allocoprophagy), or one's own (autocoprophagy) – those once deposited or taken directly from the
anus
The anus (Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is an opening at the opposite end of an animal's digestive tract from the mouth. Its function is to control the expulsion of feces, the residual semi-solid waste that remains after food digestion, which, d ...
.
In humans, coprophagia has been described since the late 19th century in individuals with mental illnesses and in some sexual acts, such as the practices of
rimming and
felching
Semen, also known as seminal fluid, is an organic bodily fluid created to contain spermatozoa. It is secreted by the gonads (sexual glands) and other sexual organs of male or hermaphroditic animals and can fertilize the female ovum. Semen is ...
where sex partners insert their tongue into each other's anus and ingest biologically significant amounts of feces.
Some animal species eat feces as a normal behavior, in particular
lagomorphs
The lagomorphs are the members of the taxonomic order Lagomorpha, of which there are two living families: the Leporidae ( hares and rabbits) and the Ochotonidae (pikas). The name of the order is derived from the Ancient Greek ''lagos'' (λα ...
, which do so to allow tough plant materials to be digested more thoroughly by passing twice through the digestive tract. Other species may eat feces
under certain conditions.
Coprophagia by humans
In cuisine
The feces of the
rock ptarmigan
The rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta'') is a medium-sized game bird in the grouse family. It is known simply as the ptarmigan in the UK. It is the official bird for the Canadian territory of Nunavut, where it is known as the ''aqiggiq'' (ᐊᕿ ...
is used in
Urumiit
Urumiit or uruniit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐅᕈᓅᑦ, ''uruniit''; Greenlandic: ''urumiit'') is a term used by native Inuit in Greenland and the Canadian High Arctic to refer to the feces of the rock ptarmigan (''Lagopus muta'') and the willow ...
, which is a delicacy in some
Inuit cuisine. Several beverages are made using the feces of animals, including but not limited to
Kopi luwak
Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''). The cherries are fermented as they pass throug ...
,
panda tea Panda tea (Chinese: 熊猫茶), or panda dung tea, produced in the Ya’an mountainous region of Sichuan, China, is a type of tea fertilized by the dung of pandas.
When it officially went on the market in April 2012, it was reputedly the world' ...
,
insect tea Insect tea refers to teas (in the broad sense, not always tea proper) made from leaves bitten by, and the droppings of, insects fed on specific plants. Most insect teas originate from the Southeast Asian region. They are often used in local tradit ...
, and
Black Ivory Coffee
Black Ivory Coffee is a brand of coffee produced by the Black Ivory Coffee Company Ltd in northern Thailand from Arabica coffee beans consumed by elephants and collected from their waste. The taste of Black Ivory coffee is influenced by elephants ...
.
Casu martzu
(; literally 'rotten/putrid cheese'), sometimes spelled , and also called , and in Sardinian, is a traditional Sardinian sheep milk cheese that contains live insect larvae (maggots).
A variation of this cheese exists also in Corsica (Franc ...
is a cheese that uses the digestive processes of live maggots to help ferment and break down the cheese's fats.
As a supposed medical treatment
Ayurveda
Ayurveda () is an alternative medicine system with historical roots in the Indian subcontinent. The theory and practice of Ayurveda is pseudoscientific. Ayurveda is heavily practiced in India and Nepal, where around 80% of the population repo ...
and
Siddha medicine
Siddha medicine is a form of traditional medicine originating in southern India. It is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India.
In rural India, have learned methods traditionally through master-disciple relationships to become loca ...
use various animal excreta in various forms. The dung and urine of the
Zebu is especially important in the list.
Centuries ago (mid 16th century) physicians tasted their patients' feces, to better judge their state and condition, according to François Rabelais, who studied medicine but was also a writer of satirical and grotesque fiction. Further information is needed to confirm the accuracy and context of statement.
Lewin reported, "... consumption of fresh, warm
camel
A camel (from: la, camelus and grc-gre, κάμηλος (''kamēlos'') from Hebrew or Phoenician: גָמָל ''gāmāl''.) is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. C ...
feces has been recommended by
Bedouin
The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu (; , singular ) are nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia. The Bedouin originated in the Syrian Desert and A ...
s as a remedy for bacterial
dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic
subtilisin
Subtilisin is a protease (a protein-digesting enzyme) initially obtained from ''Bacillus subtilis''.
Subtilisins belong to subtilases, a group of serine proteases that – like all serine proteases – initiate the nucleophilic attack on the p ...
from ''
Bacillus subtilis'') was anecdotally confirmed by German soldiers in Africa during World War II". However, this story is likely a myth, independent research was not able to verify any of these claims.
As a cult practice
Members of a religious cult in Thailand routinely ate the feces and dead skin of their leader, whom they considered to be a holy man with healing powers.
As a paraphilia
Coprophilia is a
paraphilia (
DSM-5
The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiatric ...
), where the object of sexual interest is feces, and may be associated with coprophagia. Coprophagia is sometimes depicted in
pornography
Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults, , usually under the term "scat" (from
scatology
In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces.
Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and diseases su ...
).
A notorious example of this is the pornographic
shock video ''
2 Girls 1 Cup
''2 Girls 1 Cup'' is the unofficial nickname of the trailer for ''Hungry Bitches'', a 2007 Brazilian scat fetish pornographic film produced by MFX Media. The trailer features two women defecating into a cup, taking turns in what appears to be ...
''.
''
The 120 Days of Sodom
''The 120 Days of Sodom, or the School of Libertinage'' (french: Les 120 Journées de Sodome ou l'école du libertinage, links=no) is an unfinished novel by the French writer and nobleman Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade, written in ...
'', a 1785 novel by
Marquis de Sade
Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade (; 2 June 1740 – 2 December 1814), was a French nobleman, revolutionary politician, philosopher and writer famous for his literary depictions of a libertine sexuality as well as numerous accusat ...
, is full of detailed descriptions of erotic sadomasochistic coprophagia.
Coprophagia has also been observed in some people with
schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...
and
pica.
Coprophagia by nonhuman animals
By invertebrates
Coprophagous insects consume and
redigest the feces of large animals. These feces contain substantial amounts of semidigested
food
Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...
, particularly in the case of
herbivore
A herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example foliage or marine algae, for the main component of its diet. As a result of their plant diet, herbivorous animals typically have mouthpart ...
s, owing to the inefficiency of the large animals'
digestive systems
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans ...
. Thousands of species of coprophagous insects are known, especially among the orders
Diptera
Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...
and
Coleoptera
Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...
. Examples of such flies are ''
Scathophaga stercoraria
''Scathophaga stercoraria'', commonly known as the yellow dung fly or the golden dung fly, is one of the most familiar and abundant flies in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere. As its common name suggests, it is often found on the feces of la ...
'' and ''
Sepsis cynipsea
''Sepsis cynipsea'' is a European species of fly and member of the family Sepsidae. It is a coprophagous fly that feeds on dung.Rohner, P. T., Bächli, G. , Pollini Paltrinieri, L. , Duelli, P. , Obrist, M. K., Jochmann, R. and Blanckenhorn, W. ...
'', dung flies commonly found in Europe around cattle droppings. Among beetles,
dung beetle
Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night.
Many dung beetles, known as ''rollers'', roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding cha ...
s are a diverse lineage, many of which feed on the microorganism-rich liquid component of mammals' dung, and lay their eggs in balls composed mainly of the remaining fibrous material.
Termite
Termites are small insects that live in colonies and have distinct castes (eusocial) and feed on wood or other dead plant matter. Termites comprise the infraorder Isoptera, or alternatively the epifamily Termitoidae, within the order Blattode ...
s eat one another's feces as a means of obtaining their
hindgut
The hindgut (or epigaster) is the posterior ( caudal) part of the alimentary canal. In mammals, it includes the distal one third of the transverse colon and the splenic flexure, the descending colon, sigmoid colon and up to the ano-rectal juncti ...
protist
A protist () is any eukaryotic organism (that is, an organism whose cells contain a cell nucleus) that is not an animal, plant, or fungus. While it is likely that protists share a common ancestor (the last eukaryotic common ancestor), the exc ...
s. Termites and protists have a
symbiotic
Symbiosis (from Greek , , "living together", from , , "together", and , bíōsis, "living") is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different biological organisms, be it mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasit ...
relationship (e.g. with the protozoan that allows the termites to digest the cellulose in their diet). For example, in one group of termites, a three-way symbiotic relationship exists; termites of the family Rhinotermitidae, cellulolytic protists of the genus ''Pseudotrichonympha'' in the guts of these termites, and intracellular bacterial symbionts of the protists.
By vertebrates
Domesticated and wild mammals are sometimes coprophagic, and in some species, this forms an essential part of their method of digesting tough plant material.
Some dogs may lack critical digestive enzymes when they are only eating processed dried foods, so they gain these from consuming fecal matter. They only consume fecal matter that is less than two days old which supports this theory.
Species within the
Lagomorpha (
rabbit
Rabbits, also known as bunnies or bunny rabbits, are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also contains the hares) of the order Lagomorpha (which also contains the pikas). ''Oryctolagus cuniculus'' includes the European rabbit speci ...
s,
hare
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The ge ...
s, and
pikas) produce two types of fecal pellets: hard ones, and soft ones called
cecotrope
Cecotropes, also called caecotrophs, caecal pellets, or night fecs, are the product of the cecum, a part of the digestive system in mammals of the order Lagomorpha, which includes two families: Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pika ...
s. Animals in these species reingest their cecotropes, to extract further nutrients. Cecotropes derive from chewed plant material that collects in the
cecum, a chamber between the large and small intestine, containing large quantities of symbiotic bacteria that help with the digestion of cellulose and also produce certain B vitamins. After
excretion
Excretion is a process in which metabolic waste
is eliminated from an organism. In vertebrates this is primarily carried out by the lungs, kidneys, and skin. This is in contrast with secretion, where the substance may have specific tasks after lea ...
of the soft
cecotrope
Cecotropes, also called caecotrophs, caecal pellets, or night fecs, are the product of the cecum, a part of the digestive system in mammals of the order Lagomorpha, which includes two families: Leporidae (hares and rabbits), and Ochotonidae (pika ...
, it is again eaten whole by the animal and redigested in a special part of the stomach. The pellets remain intact for up to six hours in the stomach; the bacteria within continue to digest the plant carbohydrates. This double-digestion process enables these animals to extract nutrients that they may have missed during the first passage through the gut, as well as the nutrients formed by the microbial activity.
This process serves the same purpose within these animals as
rumination (cud-chewing) does in cattle and sheep.
Cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...
in the United States are often fed
chicken litter
In agriculture, poultry litter or broiler litter is a mixture of poultry excreta, spilled feed, feathers, and material used as bedding in poultry operations. This term is also used to refer to unused bedding materials. Poultry litter is used in ...
. Concerns have arisen that the practice of feeding chicken litter to cattle could lead to
bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad-cow disease) because of the crushed
bone meal in chicken feed. The U.S.
Food and Drug Administration
The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
regulates this practice by attempting to prevent the introduction of any part of cattle brain or spinal cord into
livestock
Livestock are the domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide labor and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The term is sometimes used to refer solely to animals ...
feed. Other countries, such as Canada, have banned chicken litter for use as a livestock feed.
The young of
elephant
Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...
s,
giant pandas,
koala
The koala or, inaccurately, koala bear (''Phascolarctos cinereus''), is an arboreal herbivorous marsupial native to Australia. It is the only extant representative of the family Phascolarctidae and its closest living relatives are the womb ...
s, and
hippos eat the feces of their mothers or other animals in the herd, to obtain the
bacteria
Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one biological cell. They constitute a large domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria were among ...
required to properly digest
vegetation
Vegetation is an assemblage of plant species and the ground cover they provide. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic character ...
found in their ecosystems. When such animals are born, their
intestine
The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The GI tract contains all the major organs of the digestive system, in humans ...
s are sterile and do not contain these bacteria. Without doing this, they would be unable to obtain any nutritional value from plants. Piglets with access to maternal feces early in life exhibited better performance.
Hamsters,
guinea pigs,
chinchillas,
hedgehogs, and
naked mole-rat
The naked mole-rat (''Heterocephalus glaber''), also known as the sand puppy, is a burrowing rodent native to the Horn of Africa and parts of Kenya, notably in Somali regions. It is closely related to the blesmols and is the only species in th ...
s eat their own droppings, which are thought to be a source of
vitamin
A vitamin is an organic molecule (or a set of molecules closely related chemically, i.e. vitamers) that is an Nutrient#Essential nutrients, essential micronutrient that an organism needs in small quantities for the proper functioning of its ...
s
B and
K, produced by gut bacteria.
Sometimes, there is also the aspect of
self-anointment while these creatures eat their droppings. On rare occasions
gorilla
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...
s have been observed consuming their feces, possibly out of boredom, a desire for warm food, or to reingest seeds contained in the feces.
Coprophagia by plants
Some carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants of the genus ''
Nepenthes
''Nepenthes'' () is a genus of carnivorous plants, also known as tropical pitcher plants, or monkey cups, in the monotypic family Nepenthaceae. The genus includes about 170 species, and numerous natural and many cultivated hybrids. They are mos ...
'', obtain nourishment from the feces of
commensal animals.
See also
*
Coprophilous fungi
Coprophilous fungi (''dung-loving'' fungi) are a type of saprobic fungi that grow on animal dung. The hardy spores of coprophilous species are unwittingly consumed by herbivores from vegetation, and are excreted along with the plant matter. The f ...
*
Fecal bacteriotherapy
Fecal microbiota transplant (FMT), also known as a stool transplant, is the process of transferring fecal bacteria and other microbes from a healthy individual into another individual. FMT is an effective treatment for ''Clostridioides diffici ...
*
Fecal–oral route
The fecal–oral route (also called the oral–fecal route or orofecal route) describes a particular route of transmission of a disease wherein pathogens in fecal particles pass from one person to the mouth of another person. Main causes of fecal ...
, a route of disease transmission
*
Gomutra
Cow urine or Gomutra is a liquid by-product of metabolism in cows. Cow urine is used as medicine in some places of India, Myanmar, and Nigeria. While cow urine and Panchagavya, cow dung have benefits as fertilizers, the proponents' claims about ...
* ''
Kopi luwak
Kopi luwak, also known as civet coffee, is a coffee that consists of partially digested coffee cherries, which have been eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet (''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus''). The cherries are fermented as they pass throug ...
''
*
Panchagavya
Panchagavya or panchakavyam is a mixture used in traditional Hindu rituals that is prepared by mixing five ingredients. The three direct constituents are cow dung, urine, and milk; the two derived products are curd and ghee. These are mixed in pr ...
*
Pig toilet
A pig toilet (sometimes called a "pig sty latrine") is a simple type of dry toilet consisting of an outhouse mounted over a pigsty, with a chute or hole connecting the two. The pigs consume the feces of the users of the toilet, as well as other fo ...
*
Scathophagidae
The Scathophagidae are a small family of Muscoidea which are often known as dung flies, although this name is not appropriate except for a few species of the genus ''Scathophaga'' which do indeed pass their larval stages in animal dung. The nam ...
*
Scatophagidae
Scatophagidae, the scats are a small family of ray-finned fishes in the order Perciformes
Perciformes (), also called the Percomorpha or Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish. If considered a single order, they are the ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coprophagia
Eating behaviors
Ethology
Feces
Pica (disorder)