It might not sound appetising to us, but for many animals, eating poop is just about as good as it gets – in fact, it's an essential part of life. Whether they're re-digesting their own droppings to extract more nutrients, or snacking on another creature's faecal matter for an added microbial boost, poop-eating has a vital biological purpose.
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Some animals engage in the practice of coprophagy – eating one's own faeces or the faeces of others – while others are only interested in their own. This is called cecotrophy, and is a specialised form of coprophagy in which an animal will ingest its own faeces.
8 animals that eat their own poop
Capybaras
In the morning, you’ll often find a capybara enjoying a delicious breakfast of leftovers – but not in the form you might expect. They re-ingest their faeces so they’re able to digest the grasses they eat properly. This practice takes place in the morning, when the faeces is high in protein thanks to the microbes digesting the previous day’s meals.
Rabbits and hares
Grass is surprisingly a very difficult material to digest – particularly for mammals, whose digestive enzymes struggle to break it down. Rabbits and hares eat their droppings as soon as they’ve pass them, which gives their bodies a second chance to metabolise their food. The soft, green pellets contain undigested nutrients, such as important minerals and proteins, so the hares eat them so they can digest them again.
Find out more about why hares eat their own droppings here.
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Woodlice
Many woodlouse species will engage in cecotrophy (faecal consumption), to help them extract the necessary nutrients from their waste. They feed on decaying plant and animal matter, and much of the material that is broken down still contains valuable nutrients.
This activity not only supports their own health – it also contributes to the decomposition of organic matter in their surroundings.
Mice
Many rodents are known to eat their own poop, including mice, hamsters, guinea pigs and chinchillas. They produce soft, nutrient-rich pellets in their large intestine, and are then able to maximise the nutrient absorption through cecotrophy.
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Mountain beavers
Mountain beavers produce two types of faeces: soft droppings and harder, less nutritious pellets. They will re-ingest the soft, nutrient-rich droppings to gain additional vitamins B and K, as well as amino acids.
Animals that eat other animals' poop
Ring-tailed lemurs
While ring-tailed lemurs don’t tend to engage in cecotrophy, they are fans of coprophagy – the consumption of other animals’ faeces. A 2007 study found that wild ring-tailed lemurs in human-disturbed locations adjacent to the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve in Madagascar were consuming dried faecal matter from three different species: cattle and dogs.
Scientists believed this to be a behavioural adaptation that provides animals access to energy and nutrients, and may be an important nutritional source for older (or dentally-impaired) ring-tailed lemurs during the dry season.
Dung beetle
Dung beetles are probably the most obvious entry on this list, as the clue’s in the name: dung beetles use the faeces of other animals to create nests and feed themselves. They use the dung of herbivores and omnivores as a food source, and also as a place to lay their eggs during reproduction.
Elephants
When baby elephants are born, they lack the necessary gut bacteria to break down plant matter, something they need to develop over their early months. They consume the dung of their mothers or other members of the herd to acquire these essential bacteria. Although this practice is predominantly seen in baby elephants, it can often provide benefits for adults too, acting as a useful source of additional nutrients.