Coprophage (Coprophagic Animals)

A coprophage is an animal that particularly consumes feces or dung. The term coprophage stems from Ancient Greek words kópros, meaning dung, and -phágos, meaning eater.¹ Also known as coprophagous or coprophagic animals, they include those that consume feces regularly, such as dung beetles, as well as those that opportunistically eat feces, such as rats.

Coprophagy is different from scavenging, which means eating carrion, and from geophagy, which means eating soil or clay. It is also more specific than detritivory, which refers to eating dead leaves, wood, or other organic debris. Because feces are a type of organic waste, coprophages fit within the broader detritivore category.

Feces as Food

Although fecal matter is the end product of digestion, it is not necessarily an expelled waste. It can still contain essential nutrients, helpful gut microbes, and organic matter that another animal may be able to extract more efficiently than the animal that produced it. As a result, for coprophages, feces can serve as a surprisingly rich food source.²

Strategies and Examples

All coprophagic animals do not use fecal matter in the same way. Some animals depend heavily on fecal material for nutrient recovery or gut microbe sharing, while others eat feces only occasionally when other resources are scarce.

• Cecotroph-eating: Rabbits, guinea pigs, and hamsters re-ingest soft fecal material called cecotrophs that they produce from the fermented contents of their gut.
• Dung-eating: Dung beetles and dung fly larvae feed on dung left by other animals.
• Fecal microbe-sharing: Some animals use fecal material to pass helpful gut microbes.
  • To Young: Koala joeys and baby elephants feed on maternal fecal matter to seed digestive gut microbes.
  • Among Nestmates: Termites share fecal matter and hindgut fluid among their nestmates to spread microbes that help digest wood.
• Opportunistic coprophagy: Pigs and some primates may occasionally feed on fecal matter when it is abundantly available.

However, not all animals are regular coprophages. For example, red foxes may eat dog feces while foraging,³ Svalbard reindeer may use goose droppings when other resources are not available,⁴ and plateau pikas may eat yak dung during harsh winters.⁵ In a domestic setting, some dogs may eat their own feces or feces from other species, though such a behavior might have underlying medical reasons.

Since coprophagic animals break down feces rapidly, they rapidly release nutrients, such as nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus, back into the soil, thereby improving its fertility.⁶