Coprophagia

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Coprophagia

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
, from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
??p??? copros ("feces") and fa?e?? phagein ("to eat"). Many animal

Animal

Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the Kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life....
species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring....
practice coprophagia as a matter of course; other species do not normally consume feces but may do so under unusual conditions. Only in rare cases is it practised by human

Human

A human being, also human or man, is a member of a species of bipedalism primates in the family Hominidae . Mitochondrial DNA evidence indicates that modern humans originated in east Africa about 200,000 years ago....
s, usually as a manifestation of psychiatric illness or being used in some sexual paraphilic practices.

ophagous insects consume and redigest

Digestion

Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components, to a form that can be Absorption, for instance, by a blood stream....
the feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
of large animals.

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Encyclopedia

Coprophagia is the consumption of feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
, from the Greek

Greek language

Animal

Species

Human

Coprophagia in animals

Coprophagous insects consume and redigest

Digestion

Digestion is the mechanical and chemical breaking down of food into smaller components, to a form that can be Absorption, for instance, by a blood stream....
the feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
of large animals. These feces contain substantial amounts of semi-digested food

Food

Food is any substance, usually composed of carbohydrates, fats, proteins and water, that can be Eating or Drinking by an animal or human for nutrition or pleasure....
(herbivore

Herbivore

Herbivory is a form of predation in which an organism, known as an herbivore, heterotrophs principally autotrophs such as plants, algae and photosynthesizing bacteria....
s' digestive systems

Gastrointestinal tract

The digestive tract is the system of Organ s within multicellular animals that takes in food, digestion it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste....
are especially inefficient). The most famous feces-eating insect is the dung-beetle and the most ubiquitous

Omnipresence

"Omnipresence" is the property of being present everywhere. According to eastern theism, God is present everywhere. Divine omnipresence is thus one of the divine attributes, although in western theism it has attracted less philosophical attention than such attributes as omnipotence, omniscience, or being eternal....
is the fly

Fly

True flies are insects of the Order Diptera , possessing a single pair of insect wing on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax....
.

Capybara

Capybara

Capybara , also known as capibara, chig?ire in Venezuela, chig?iro, and carpincho in Spanish language, and capivara in Portuguese language, is the largest living rodent in the world....
, rabbit

Rabbit

Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world. There are seven different genus in the family taxonomy as rabbits, including the European rabbit , Cottontail rabbit , and the Amami rabbit ....
s, hamsters and other related species do not have a complex ruminant

Ruminant

Physiologically, a ruminant is a mammal of the order Artiodactyla that digests plant-based food by initially softening it within the animal's first stomach, known as the rumen, then regurgitating the semi-digested mass, now known as cud, and chewing it again....
digestive system. Instead they extract more nutrition

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with good nutrition....
from grass

Grass

Grass is the common word that generally describes monocotyledonous green plants. The family Poaceae are the "true grasses" and include most plants grown as grains, for pasture, and for lawns ....
by giving their food a second pass through the gut

Gastrointestinal tract

The digestive tract is the system of Organ s within multicellular animals that takes in food, digestion it to extract energy and nutrients, and expels the remaining waste....
. Soft fecal pellets of partially digested food are excreted

Excretion

Excretion is the process of eliminating waste products of metabolism and other non-useful materials. It is an essential process in all forms of life....
and generally consumed immediately. They also produce normal droppings

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
, which are not eaten.

Young elephant

Elephant

Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....
s, pandas

Giant Panda

The Giant Panda is a mammal classified in the bear family , native to central-western and southwestern China. The Giant Panda was previously thought to be a member of the Procyonidae family....
, koala

Koala

The Koala is a wikt:thickset arboreal marsupial herbivory native to Australia, and the only Extant taxon representative of the family Phascolarctidae....
s, and hippo

Hippopotamus

The hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly herbivore African mammal, one of only two Extant taxon species in the scientific classification Hippopotamidae ....
s eat the feces

Feces

Feces, faeces, or f?ces is a waste product from an animal's gastrointestinal tract expelled through the anus during defecation....
of their mother

Mother

A mother is a biological and/or Maternal bond female parent of an offspring. Because of the complexity and differences of the social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother in a universally accepted definition....
to obtain the bacteria

Bacteria

The Bacteria are a large group of unicellular microorganisms. Typically a few micrometres in length, bacteria have a wide range of shapes, ranging from spheres to rods and spirals....
required to properly digest vegetation

Vegetation

refers to the flora system of a specific region....
found on the savanna

Savanna

A savanna, or savannah, is a tropical, subtropical or temperate woodland ecosystem characterized by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the Canopy does not close....
and in the jungle

Jungle

Jungle usually refers to a dense forest in a hot climate, such as a tropical rainforest. The word Jungle originates from the Sanskrit word Jangala which means a desert or uncultivated land....
. When they are born, their intestine

Intestine

In anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the Gastrointestinal tract extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine....
s do not contain these bacteria (they are completely sterile). Without them, they would be unable to get any nutritional value from plant

Plant

Plants are Life organisms belonging to the Kingdom Plantae. They include familiar organisms such as trees, herbs, bushes, grasses, vines, ferns, mosses, and green algae....
s.

Gorillas eat their own feces and the feces of other gorillas.

Hamsters eat their own droppings, which are thought to be a source of vitamin

Vitamin

A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. A compound is called a vitamin when it cannot be biosynthesis in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet....
s B

B vitamins

The B vitamins are eight water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in Cell metabolism. Historically, the B vitamins were once thought to be a single vitamin, referred to as vitamin B ....
and K

Vitamin K

Vitamin K denotes a group of lipophilic, hydrophobic vitamins that are needed for the posttranslational modification of certain proteins, mostly required for blood coagulation....
, produced by bacteria in the gut. Ape

Ape

An ape is any member of the Hominoidea superfamily of primates. In less scientific language, it has various meanings, although it often excludes humans....
s have been observed eating horse

Horse

The horse is a hoofed mammal, a subspecies of one of seven extant species of the family Equidae. The horse has evolution of the horse over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, odd-toed ungulate animal of today....
feces for the salt

Salt

A salt, in chemistry, is defined as the product formed from the neutralisation reaction of acids and base . Salts are ionic compounds composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically electric charge ....
content. Monkey

Monkey

A monkey is a nonhuman primate mammal with the exception usually of the lemurs and tarsiers. More specifically, the term monkey refers to a subset of monkeys: any of the smaller longer-tailed catarrhine or platyrrhine primates as contrasted with the apes....
s have been observed eating elephant feces. Coprophagia also has been observed in the naked mole rat

Naked Mole Rat

The naked Blesmol , also known as the sand puppy, or desert mole rat is a burrowing rodent native to parts of East Africa and the only species currently classified in genus Heterocephalus....
.

Coprophagia in dogs

Coprophagia is a behavior often observed in dogs. Hofmeister, Cumming, and Dhein (2001) wrote that this behavior in dogs has not been well-researched, and they are currently preparing a study. In a , they write that there are various hypotheses for this behavior in canine

Canidae

Canidae is the family of the dogs; a member of this family is called a canid. They include wolf, foxes, coyotes, and jackals. The Canidae family is divided into the "true dogs" of the tribe Canini and the "foxes" of the tribe Vulpini....
s, although none have been proven:

To obtain attention from their caretakers.
From anxiety
Anxiety

Anxiety is a psychological and physiological state characterized by cognitive, somatic, emotional, and behavioral components. These components combine to create an unpleasant feeling that is typically associated with uneasiness, fear, or worry....
, stress
Stress

Stress may refer to:...
, or upon being punished
Punishment

Punishment is the practice of imposing something suffering on a person or animal, usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong behavior....
for bad behaviors.
They had been punished for having defecated
Defecation

Defecation is the final act of digestion by which organisms eliminate solid, semisolid or liquid waste material from the digestive tract via the anus....
in the past, and attempt to clean up out of fear of being punished again.
Because dogs are, by nature, scavenger
Scavenger

Scavenging, or necrophagy, is a carnivorous feeding behaviour in which a predator consumes corpses or carrion that were not killed to be eaten by the predator or others of its species....
s, and this is within the range of scavenger behavior.
To prevent the scent from attracting predators.
Because the texture and temperature
Temperature

In physics, temperature is a physical property of a Physical system that underlies the common notions of hot and cold; something that feels hotter generally has the greater temperature....
of fresh feces approximates that of regurgitated
Regurgitation

Regurgitation or Regurgitate can refer to:* Regurgitation * Vomiting* Regurgitation * Regurgitate , a goregrind band...
food, which is how mothers in the wild provide solid food to their pups.
Because of the protein
Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
content of the feces (particularly cat
Cat

The cat , also known as the Domestication cat or house cat to distinguish it from other Felinae and Felidae, is a small predationy carnivore species of crepuscular mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and its ability to hunt vermin, snakes, scorpions, and other unwanted household pests....
feces), or over-feeding, leading to large concentrations of undigested matter in the feces.
Due to assorted health problems, including:

Pancreatitis
Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is the inflammation of the pancreas. See also acute pancreatitis and chronic pancreatitis for more details....
Intestinal
Intestine

In anatomy, the intestine is the segment of the Gastrointestinal tract extending from the stomach to the anus and, in humans and other mammals, consists of two segments, the small intestine and the large intestine....
infections
Food allergies
Food allergy

A food allergy is an adverse Immune system to a food protein. Food allergy is distinct from other adverse responses to food, such as food intolerance, pharmacologic reactions, and toxin-mediated reactions....
, leading to mal-absorption

Because they are hungry
Hunger

Hunger is a feeling experienced when one has a desire to eat. The often unpleasant feeling originates in the hypothalamus and is released through receptors in the liver....
, such as when eating routines are changed, food is withheld, or nutrient
Nutrient

A nutrient is a chemical that an organism needs to live and grow or a substance used in an organism's metabolism which must be taken in from its environment....
s are not properly absorbed.
Carnivore
Carnivore

A carnivore , meaning 'meat eater' , is any animal with a diet consisting mainly of meat, whether it comes from animals living or dead .In a more general sense, an animal may be considered a carnivore if it prefers feeding on animal matter over plant matter....
s may sometimes eat or roll in the feces of their prey to ingest
Ingestion

Ingestion is the consumption of a substance by an organism. In animals, it normally is accomplished by taking in the substance through the mouth into the gastrointestinal tract, such as through eating or drinking....
and exude scents which mask their own.

Another hypothesis is that dogs want to investigate the diet of their opponents and get more acquainted with their smell.

Some veterinarian

Veterinarian

A veterinarian or a veterinary surgeon , often shortened to vet, is a physician for animals and a practitioner of veterinary medicine....
s recommend adding meat tenderizer

Meat tenderizer

A meat tenderizer can refer to a tool or a chemical used for tenderizing meat.The tool is also known as a meat mallet, and is a product used for tenderizing slabs of meat in preparation for cooking the meat....
to dog food, as this makes the feces taste excessively bad to dogs. Several companies produce food additive

Food additive

Food additives are substances added to food to preserve flavour or improve its taste and appearance.Some additives have been used for centuries; for example, preserving food by pickling , edible salting, as with bacon, preserving sweets or using sulfur dioxide as in some wines....
s that can also be added to the animal's food to make feces taste bad. Often, these food additives will contain Capsicum Oleoresin which gives off a repugnant odor making the fecal matter undesirable to the dog.

Coprophagia in humans

Sexual aspects

Coprophagia is extremely uncommon in humans. It is generally thought to be the result of the paraphilia

Paraphilia

Paraphilia refers to powerful and persistent sexual interest other than in copulatory or precopulatory behavior with phenotype normal, consenting adult human partners....
known as coprophilia

Coprophilia

Coprophilia , also called scat, is the paraphilia involving sexual arousal from feces. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association , it is classified under 302.9 Paraphilia Not Otherwise Specified and has no diagnostic criteria other than a general statement about paraphilias that says "the diagnosi...
. Similar risk of classification can apply to related sexual behaviors, such as analingus or inserting an object into the mouth that recently has been in the anus (see ass to mouth

Ass to mouth

Ass-to-mouth is a colloquial term for the removal of the penis from the passive partner's anus followed by the immediate insertion of the penis into the passive partner's or another partner's mouth....
). Coprophagia is also sometimes depicted in pornography

Pornography

Pornography or porn is the explicit depiction of sexual subject matter with the sole intention of sexually exciting the viewer. It is to a certain extent similar to erotica, which is the use of sexually arousing imagery....
, usually under the terms "scat", "Hot Karl", "shitplay", "buntus cainte" or even "kaviar".

Medical aspects

From the medical literature, coprophagia has been observed in a small number of patients with dementia

Dementia

Dementia is the progressive decline in cognition due to damage or disease in the body beyond what might be expected from normal aging. Although dementia is far more common in the geriatric population, it may occur in any stage of adulthood....
and/or schizophrenia

Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia , from the Ancient Greek Root schizein and phren, phren- is a psychiatry diagnosis that describes a mental disorder characterized by abnormalities in the perception or expression of reality....
and depression.

Consuming other people's feces

Human feces

Human Feces , also known as stools, is the waste product of the human digestive system and varies significantly in appearance, depending on the state of the whole digestive system, influenced by diet and health....
carries the risk of contracting diseases spread through fecal matter, such as Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A

Hepatitis A, , is an Acute infectious disease of the liver caused by Hepatitis A virus, which is most commonly transmitted by the fecal-oral route via contaminated food or drinking water....
, Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E

Hepatitis E is a viral hepatitis caused by infection with a virus called hepatitis E virus . Infection with this virus was first documented in 1955 during an outbreak in New Delhi, India....
, pneumonia

Pneumonia

Pneumonia is an Inflammation illness of the lung. Frequently, it is described as lung parenchyma/alveolus inflammation and abnormal alveolar filling with fluid ....
, and influenza

Influenza

Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease that affects birds and mammals caused by RNA viruses of the biological family Orthomyxoviridae ....
. Coprophagia also carries a risk of contracting intestinal parasites. Vaccination

Vaccination

Vaccination is the administration of antigenic material to produce immunity to a disease. Vaccines can prevent or ameliorate the effects of infection by a pathogen....
s are generally recommended for those who engage in this practice.

Lewin (2001) reports that "... consumption of fresh, warm camel

Camel

Camels are even-toed ungulates within the genus Camelus. The dromedary, one-humped or Arabian camel has a single hump and is well known for its healthy low fat milk, and the Bactrian camel has two humps....
feces has been recommended by Bedouin

Bedouin

The Bedouin, , are predominantly Muslim, desert-dwelling Arab nomadic pastoralist, or previously nomadic group, found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert , Sinai Peninsula, and Negev to the Arabian Desert....
s as a remedy for bacterial dysentery

Dysentery

Dysentery is a disorder of the digestive system that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and/or blood in the feces. If untreated, Dysentery can be fatal....
; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic

Antibiotic

In common usage, an antibiotic is a substance or compound that kills or inhibits the growth of bacteria. Antibiotics belong to the group of antimicrobial compounds used to treat infections caused by microorganisms, including fungus and protozoa....
subtilisin

Subtilisin

Subtilisin is a protease initially obtained from Bacillus subtilis.Subtilisins belong to the group of serine proteases which initiate the nucleophilic attack on the peptide bond through a serine residue at the active site....
from Bacillus subtilis
Bacillus subtilis

Bacillus subtilis, known as the hay bacillus or grass bacillus, is a Gram-positive, catalase-positive bacterium commonly found in soil....
) was confirmed by German soldiers

Afrika Korps

The German Afrikakorps was the original German blocking force in Libya and Tunisia during the North African Campaign of World War II. The force was kept as a distinct formation and became the main German contribution to Panzer Army Africa which evolved into the German-Italian Panzer Army and Army Group Africa....
in Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km? including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area....
during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a Participants in World War II, including all of the great powers, organised into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War II and the Axis powers....
."

Cultural aspects

Punk musician and performance artist GG Allin
GG Allin

Kevin Michael "GG" Allin was an United States punk rock singer-songwriter who performed and recorded with many groups during his career.Allin is best remembered for his notorious live performances that typically featured wildly transgressive art acts such as Allin defecating and urinating onstage, rolling in feces and often coprophagia, co...
often engaged in coprophagia during his performances.
Divine was well known for his consumption of dog feces at the conclusion of Pink Flamingos
Pink Flamingos

Pink Flamingos is a 1972 in film Cinema of the United States transgressive art comedy film directed by John Waters . When the film was initially released in 1972, it caused a huge degree of controversy and thus became one of the most notorious cult films ever made....
.
Adolescent prisoners of war are fed feces at a dinner banquet in one scene of the film Salò, another scene also has a man defecating and forcing a girl to eat his feces.
Coprophagia came into recent spotlight after viral video 2 Girls 1 Cup
2 Girls 1 Cup

2 Girls 1 Cup is a copy of the Trailer for Hungry Bitches, a coprophagia-pornography film produced by MFX-Media. The trailer features two women defecation into a cup, taking turns coprophagia, and vomiting it into each other's mouths....
spread on the internet in 2007.

External links

- Theresa A. Fuess, Ph.D, College of Vet Medicine
- Erik Hofmeister; Melinda Cumming, DVM PhD; Cheryl Dhein, DVM, MS, DACVIM; Douglas Island Veterinary Service; detailed preliminary results of study of behavior and prevention in dogs
- Video of Coprophagia by a Gorilla
Dr David Ryde MB BS FRCP