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CoprophagiaCoprophagia is the consumption of feces. It is a practice common to several animals, including, in rare cases, humans (see below).
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Coprophagia is a behavior sometimes observed, with considerable disgust, by dog owners. Hofmeister, Cumming, and Dhein (2001) write that this behavior in animals has not been well-researched, and they are (as of this writing) preparing a study. In a preliminary online paper, they write that there are various theories explaining why animals consume other animals' feces. According to one theory, dogs might do this in order to get attention from their owners. On a different theory, dogs observe their owners picking up feces, and imitate this behavior. Other theories postulate that a dog might eat feces in order to prevent the scent from attracting predators, and that dogs might eat feces simply because they are hungry.
Young elephants eat the feces of their mother to obtain the necessary bacteria for the proper digestion of the vegatation found on the savannah. When they are born, their intestines do not contain these bacteria. Without them, these elephants would be unable to get any nutritional value from plants. Hamsters eat their own droppings (called coprophagia , and this is thought to be important as a source of vitamins B and K.
Coprophagia is a highly hazardous practice in humans, usually associated with coprophilia. Consuming other people's feces carry the risk of contracting a wide variety of diseases, including Hepatitis and AIDS. Note that even consuming ones own feces involves risk, as the bowel bacteria are not safe to ingest. The same advice applies to related sexual practices, such as rimming.
The behaviour is also seen in rabbits, and has a simple explanation: as they don't have the ruminant digestive system found in larger herbivores, they instead extract more nutrition from grass by giving their food a second pass through the gut.
A sudden access of virtue had just cast out the
as Mayor. He wished to secure Roosevelt's help and Roosevelt was
Street Cleaning Department, but this he declined, not because he
necessary scientific qualifications, and Mayor Strong, was lucky
Waring. Accordingly, the Mayor ap pointed Roosevelt President of
control, was a monstrosity which, in almost.html">almost every respect, did
do. Moral values had been so perverted that it took a strong man
Evil. The Police existed, in theory, to protect the lives and
them over to the courts for punishment; to hunt down gamblers,
vice. In reality, the Police under Tammany abetted crime and
special hostility to Virtue--they probably knew too little about
better. They held the cynical view that human nature will always
violent habits; that laws were made to check and punish these
if the Police took no notice of them. So the Police established a
Notorious gambling-hells "ran wide open" after handing the
Hundreds of houses of ill-fame carried on their hideous traffic
received his weekly bribe. Gangs of roughs, toughs, and gunmen
they shared their spoils with the supposed officers of the law.
with the Police and went unscathed. As if the vast sums collected
system of blackmail to be levied on those who were not
downtown you found the sidewalk in front of certain stores almost
clear. This simply meant that the firm which wished to use.
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