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Coprophage


Coprophagia /kɒp.rə.ˈf.i.ə/ or coprophagy /kəˈprɒfə/ is the consumption of feces. The word is derived from the Greek κόπρος copros, "feces" and φαγεῖν phagein, "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.

In humans, coprophagia has been observed in individuals with mental illness. Some animal species eat feces as a normal behavior, in particular in the Lagomorpha (rabbits, hares, and pikas) doing so to allow tough plant materials to be digested more efficiently by passing twice through the digestive tract. Other species may do so only under unusual conditions.

Coprophagia has been observed in people with schizophrenia and pica.

Coprophagous insects consume and redigest the feces of large animals. These feces contain substantial amounts of semi-digested food, particularly in the case of herbivores, owing to the inefficiency of the large animals' digestive systems. Two feces-eating insects are the dung-beetle and certain species of fly.


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