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Coprophagia

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Not to be confused with Coprographia.
A female oriental latrine fly (Chrysomya megacephala) feeds on feces

Coprophagia (/ˌkɒprəˈfeɪdʒiə/ KOP-rə-FAY-jee-ə)[1] or coprophagy (/kəˈprɒfədʒi/ kə-PROF-ə-jee) is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the Ancient Greek κόπρος kópros "feces" and φαγεῖν phageîn "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). Feces may be already deposited or taken directly from the anus.[2]

In humans, coprophagia has been described since the late 19th century in individuals with mental illnesses and in some sexual acts,[3] such as the practices of anilingus and felching where sex partners insert their tongue into each other's anus and ingest biologically significant amounts of feces.[4] Some animal species eat feces as a normal behavior, in particular lagomorphs, 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

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In cuisine

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The feces of the rock ptarmigan is used in Urumiit, which is a delicacy in some Inuit cuisine.[5] Several beverages are made using the feces of animals, including but not limited to Kopi luwak, insect tea, and Black Ivory Coffee.[6] Casu martzu is a cheese that uses the digestive processes of live maggots to help ferment and break down the cheese's fats.[7]

As a cult practice

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Members of a religious cult[which?] in Thailand routinely ate the feces and dead skin of their leader, whom they considered to be a holy man with healing powers.[8]

As a paraphilia

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According to the DSM-5, coprophilia is a paraphilia where the object of sexual interest is feces. This can involve coprophagia.[9] Coprophagia is sometimes depicted in pornography, typically under the term "scat" (from scatology),[10] such as in the shock video 2 Girls 1 Cup.[11] The 120 Days of Sodom, a 1785 novel by Marquis de Sade, prominently features depictions of erotic sadomasochistic coprophagia.[12] The 1975 film of the same name also contains scenes of coprophilia and coprophagia.

As a supposed medical treatment

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Ayurveda and Siddha medicine use animal excreta in various forms, with the most important being the dung and urine of the Zebu.[13][14]

During the mid 16th century, physicians tasted their patients' feces to better judge their state and condition, according to François Rabelais. Rubelais studied medicine, but was also a writer of satirical and grotesque fiction, so the truth of this statement is unclear.[15]

Lewin[who?] reported "... consumption of fresh, warm camel feces has been recommended by Bedouins as a remedy for bacterial dysentery; its efficacy (probably attributable to the antibiotic subtilisin from Bacillus subtilis) was anecdotally confirmed by German soldiers in Africa during World War II".[16] However, this story is likely a myth, and independent research has been unable to verify these claims.[17]

As a symptom

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Coprophagia has also been observed in some people with schizophrenia[18] and pica.[19]

Coprophagia by nonhuman animals

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By invertebrates

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Two Adonis blue butterflies feeding on a lump of feces

Coprophagous insects consume and redigest the feces of large animals. These feces contain substantial amounts of semidigested food, particularly in the case of herbivores, owing to the inefficiency of the large animals' digestive systems. Thousands of species of coprophagous insects are known, especially among the orders Diptera and Coleoptera. Examples of such flies are Scathophaga stercoraria and Sepsis cynipsea, dung flies commonly found in Europe around cattle droppings.

Among beetles, dung beetles 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.[20] Group living and aggregation among common earwigs promotes allo-coprophagy (consuming the feces of other members of one's own species) to promote the growth of helpful gut bacteria and provide a food source when food is scarce.[21]

Through proctodeal feeding, termites eat one another's feces as a means of obtaining their hindgut protists. Termites and protists have a symbiotic 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.[22]

By vertebrates

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Lagomorphs (rabbits, hares, pikas) and some other mammals ferment fiber in their cecums, which is then expelled as cecotropes and eaten from the anus, a process called "cecotrophy". Then their food is processed through the gastrointestinal tract a second time, which allows them to absorb more nutrition. While cecotropes are expelled from the anus, they are not feces and thus eating them is not called coprophagia.

Domesticated and wild mammals are sometimes coprophagic.

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.[23]

Cattle in the United States are often fed chicken litter. 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 regulates this practice by attempting to prevent the introduction of any part of cattle brain or spinal cord into livestock feed. Chickens also eat their own feces. [24][25] Other countries, such as Canada, have banned chicken litter for use as a livestock feed.[26]

The young of elephants, giant pandas, koalas, and hippos eat the feces of their mothers or other animals in the herd, to obtain the bacteria required to properly digest vegetation found in their ecosystems.[27] When such animals are born, their intestines 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.[28]

Hamsters, guinea pigs, chinchillas, hedgehogs, and pigs eat their own droppings, which are thought to be a source of vitamins B and K, produced by gut bacteria.[29] Sometimes, there is also the aspect of self-anointment while these creatures eat their droppings.[30] On rare occasions gorillas have been observed consuming their feces, possibly out of boredom, a desire for warm food, or to reingest seeds contained in the feces.[31]

Coprophagia by plants

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Some carnivorous plants, such as pitcher plants of the genus Nepenthes, obtain nutrition from the feces of commensal animals. Notable examples include Nepenthes jamban, whose specific name is the Indonesian word for toilet.[32][33] Manure is organic matter, mostly animal feces, that is used as organic fertilizer for plants in agriculture.[34]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Coprophagia". Dictionary.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
  2. ^ Hirakawa H (2001). "Coprophagy in leporids and other mammalian herbivores". Mammal Review. 31 (1): 61–80. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2907.2001.00079.x.
  3. ^ Moore AM (2018). "Coprophagy in nineteenth-century psychiatry". Microbial Ecology in Health and Disease. 29 (1): 1535737. doi:10.1080/16512235.2018.1535737. PMC 6225515. PMID 30425610.
  4. ^ Malbon A (2021-02-12). "What is rimming? How to give a rim job safely". Netdoctor. Archived from the original on 2022-06-21. Retrieved 2022-06-21.
  5. ^ Millman L (2 February 2017). "This Shit Is a Delicacy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2017. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  6. ^ "World's Priciest Coffee Is Hand-Picked From Elephant Dung". Bloomberg.com. 2017-01-27. Archived from the original on 2022-05-13. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  7. ^ "Casu Marzu - nice Italian cheese, which is illegal and has thousands of maggots by design - Technology Org". www.technology.org. 2019-11-23. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  8. ^ Ewe K (26 May 2022). "Disturbing Details Keep Emerging About This Bizarre Poop-Eating Cult". Vice. Archived from the original on 1 July 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022.
  9. ^ "Paraphilic Disorders". Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth ed.). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Psychiatric Publishing. 2013. pp. 685–686.
  10. ^ Holmes RM (2001-11-05). Sex Crimes: Patterns and Behavior. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. p. 244. ISBN 0-7619-2417-5. OCLC 47893709.
  11. ^ "2 Girls, 1 Cup: The Real Poop". The Smoking Gun. November 30, 2007. Archived from the original on January 2, 2010. Retrieved December 7, 2007.
  12. ^ Marquis de Sade DF (1785). Les 120 journées de Sodome, ou L'École du Libertinage [The 120 Days of Sodom, or The School of Libertinage] (PDF) (in French). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2022-08-14. Retrieved 2022-08-14.
  13. ^ Munshi R, Bhalerao S, Rathi P, Kuber VV, Nipanikar SU, Kadbhane KP (2011). "An open-label, prospective clinical study to evaluate the efficacy and safety of TLPL/AY/01/2008 in the management of functional constipation". Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine. 2 (3): 144–152. doi:10.4103/0975-9476.85554. PMC 3193686. PMID 22022157.
  14. ^ Pandey N (2021-01-06). "Cow urine, milk can treat skin diseases, psoriasis — Modi govt's agency in document for exam". ThePrint. Archived from the original on 2023-03-18. Retrieved 2023-03-18.
  15. ^ Rabelais F (2009). The Works of Francis Rabelais. Vol. 2. BiblioBazaar. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-103-35398-9.
  16. ^ Lewin RA (2001). "More on Merde". Perspectives in Biology and Medicine. 44 (4): 594–607. doi:10.1353/pbm.2001.0067. PMID 11600805. S2CID 201764383.
  17. ^ Koopman N, van Leeuwen P, Brul S, Seppen J (2022-08-10). "History of fecal transplantation; camel feces contains limited amounts of Bacillus subtilis spores and likely has no traditional role in the treatment of dysentery". PLOS ONE. 17 (8): e0272607. Bibcode:2022PLoSO..1772607K. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0272607. PMC 9365175. PMID 35947590.
  18. ^ Harada KI, Yamamoto K, Saito T (May 2006). "Effective treatment of coprophagia in a patient with schizophrenia with the novel atypical antipsychotic drug perospirone". Pharmacopsychiatry. 39 (3): 113. doi:10.1055/s-2006-941487. PMID 16721701. S2CID 260250812.
  19. ^ Rose EA, Porcerelli JH, Neale AV (2000). "Pica: common but commonly missed". The Journal of the American Board of Family Practice. 13 (5): 353–358. PMID 11001006.
  20. ^ Nichols E, Spector S, Louzada J, Larsen T, Amezquita S, Favila ME, et al. (The Scarabaeinae Research Network) (2008). "Ecological functions and ecosystem services provided by Scarabaeine dung beetles". Biological Conservation. 141 (6): 1461–1474. Bibcode:2008BCons.141.1461N. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2008.04.011.
  21. ^ Körner M, Diehl JM, Meunier J (2016-07-08). "Growing up with feces: benefits of allo-coprophagy in families of the European earwig". Behavioral Ecology: arw113. doi:10.1093/beheco/arw113. ISSN 1045-2249.
  22. ^ Noda S, Kitade O, Inoue T, Kawai M, Kanuka M, Hiroshima K, et al. (March 2007). "Cospeciation in the triplex symbiosis of termite gut protists (Pseudotrichonympha spp.), their hosts, and their bacterial endosymbionts". Molecular Ecology. 16 (6): 1257–1266. Bibcode:2007MolEc..16.1257N. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294X.2006.03219.x. PMID 17391411. S2CID 21264858.
  23. ^ Brogan J (4 November 2016). "Everyone Poops. Some Animals Eat It. Why?". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 10 November 2016. Retrieved 10 November 2016.
  24. ^ "Do Chickens Eat Their Own Poop? The Interesting Answer". 24 November 2021. Archived from the original on 2023-04-15. Retrieved 2023-04-15.
  25. ^ Hirsch J (31 October 2009). "Ban on feces in cattle feed urged". L.A. Times. Archived from the original on 14 August 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
  26. ^ "Feeding of Poultry Manure to Cattle Prohibited". Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 2012-02-10. Archived from the original on 2015-05-23. Retrieved 2015-05-22.
  27. ^ "BBC Nature — Dung eater videos, news and facts". bbc.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 March 2012. Retrieved 2011-11-27.
  28. ^ Aviles-Rosa EO, Rakhshandeh A, McGlone JJ (May 2019). "Preliminary Study: Depriving Piglets of Maternal Feces for the First Seven Days Post-Partum Changes Piglet Physiology and Performance before and after Weaning". Animals. 9 (5): 268. doi:10.3390/ani9050268. PMC 6562806. PMID 31126021.
  29. ^ Soave O, Brand CD (October 1991). "Coprophagy in animals: a review". The Cornell Veterinarian. 81 (4): 357–64. PMID 1954740. Archived from the original on 2020-11-06. Retrieved 2019-09-30.
  30. ^ Pareek RC (10 July 2020). "Why do HedgeHogs Eat Poop? We Explain!". Small Pet Site. Archived from the original on 2020-08-15. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
  31. ^ Rothman JM, Pell AN, Nkurunungi JB, Dierenfeld ES (2006). "Nutritional aspects of the diet of wild gorillas." (PDF). In Newton-Fisher NE, Notman H, Paterson JD, Reynolds V (eds.). Primates of Western Uganda. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 153–169. ISBN 978-0-387-33505-6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2012.
  32. ^ Walker M (10 March 2010). "Giant meat-eating plants prefer to eat tree shrew poo". BBC - Earth News. Archived from the original on 13 March 2010. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  33. ^ Pappas S (9 July 2015). "How Hungry Pitcher Plants Get the Poop They Need". Live Science. Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2016.
  34. ^ "Manure | Organic, Composting, Gardening". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 7 January 2024.

Further reading

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