Poop Munching Apes: Coprophagy

Most of us are quite familiar with the idea that apes are supposed to be our closest evolutionary relatives. We might marvel at how beautiful nature is when we witness an ape mastering the art of cracking a nutshell open with their fist just like humans do. On that note, we might find it quite shocking to witness apes eating their own “poop”. It is quite strange to see an ape eating their own poop, aren’t they supposed to be a very clever species after all?

Studies revealed that among the ape species, chimps and bonobos that are supposed to be our closest evolutionary relatives are the ones to eat their own feces. This type of behavior is called coprophagy where apes eat their own poop in order to retrieve hard, nutritious seeds from it. Copography is an adaptive behavior that apes have developed in order to survive during times when food is hard to find. The author of one of the studies witnessed an ape extracting seeds using their lips from the feces in their hand! The authors further suggested that coprophagy does not occur because of stress or boredom or simply as a habit. It is more common during times when food is hard to find.

It seems like the animal kingdom that does not always do beautiful things to impress us or grab our attention. Sometimes they do quite interesting things such as eat their own feces just for their own sake in order to survive. Similar studies have shown that, this behavior, called coprophagy is well known among rodents, rabbits and their relatives and less commonly among dogs and our closest relatives, apes.

Loba Alam