ClipperDefiance@lemmy.world
on 21 Apr 13:18
nextcollapse
That’s basically what rabbits do. From Wikipedia:
Easily digestible food is processed in the gastrointestinal tract and expelled as regular feces. To get nutrients out of hard to digest fiber, rabbits ferment fiber in the cecum (part of the gastrointestinal tract) and then expel the contents as cecotropes, which are reingested (cecotrophy or refection). The cecotropes are then absorbed in the small intestine to use the nutrients. Soft cecotropes are usually consumed during periods of rest in underground burrows.
I’ve always wondered if the people who keep pet rabbits and teach them to use litter boxes are hurting the bunnies by preventing them from doing this. Or will the rabbits just eat clay-covered cecotropes?
Rabbits produce two kinds of feces: normal “waste” feces and edible “cecotropes” or “cecal pellets”. They generally eat the cecotropes immediately after excreting them, and only drop the waste into their litterboxes.
ryedaft@sh.itjust.works
on 21 Apr 21:14
nextcollapse
Do they deposit the cecal pellets in the litterboxes, or do they just do them any where they please and immediately munch on em?
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
on 22 Apr 11:45
collapse
They deposit them directly into their mouth. They know when they’re about to produce one and they reach down there with their mouth and consume it directly.
If you think about where wild rabbits spend most of their time (underground in burrows surrounded by dirt) this makes total sense. By not allowing cecotropes to touch the ground, they avoid contamination with soil-borne pathogens.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
on 22 Apr 11:52
collapse
Think about it this way: they’ve evolved a clever behavioural hack that doubles the length of their entire digestive tract without any increase in weight. This is extremely efficient!
Having to eat your food twice doesn’t sound very efficient to me.
chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
on 22 Apr 12:23
collapse
It’s extremely efficient given the low calorie density, high fibre diet and extremely limited grazing time (dawn and dusk) of crepuscular rabbits.
Think about ruminants for comparison. They spend all day every day grazing on the same kinds of foods as rabbits. Rabbits have a much more rapid metabolism (faster resting heart rate and ridiculous athletic ability) than, say cattle, yet they manage to extract more energy in less time eating. Rabbits are a marvel of efficiency!
Man Bun™ was created when a regular rabbit ate a radioactive turd. Now he can anthropomorphize at will, leap tall buildings in a single sproing, be super jacked, and destroy his enemies with Mach-5 poops.
leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl
on 21 Apr 16:14
collapse
threaded - newest
…what
I think OP is implying we should eat shit.
That’s basically what rabbits do. From Wikipedia:
Humans may be unique among mammals for not eating our own shit, the shit of others, or just any random shit we find.
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8155486/
npr.org/…/frozen-poop-pills-fight-life-threatenin…
That’s not my experience during my college years.
My man hasn’t heard of ‘yellow soup’
Guinea pigs too.
You’ll be holding the piggie, and she’ll curl up and grab a fresh turd right from the source and chomp that up.
I’ve always wondered if the people who keep pet rabbits and teach them to use litter boxes are hurting the bunnies by preventing them from doing this. Or will the rabbits just eat clay-covered cecotropes?
Bunny owner here, I can answer this!
Rabbits produce two kinds of feces: normal “waste” feces and edible “cecotropes” or “cecal pellets”. They generally eat the cecotropes immediately after excreting them, and only drop the waste into their litterboxes.
How do they know‽
One would assume by feel during excretion…
Do they deposit the cecal pellets in the litterboxes, or do they just do them any where they please and immediately munch on em?
They deposit them directly into their mouth. They know when they’re about to produce one and they reach down there with their mouth and consume it directly.
If you think about where wild rabbits spend most of their time (underground in burrows surrounded by dirt) this makes total sense. By not allowing cecotropes to touch the ground, they avoid contamination with soil-borne pathogens.
Rabbits definitely should
lemmy.ml/post/28907664
don’t believe him, he’s just talking shit
It’s called the double digestion diet, and it can halve your food bills!
Apparently gorillas too. Someone should tell Joe Roegan.
Scat fetish among the right to explode in 3…
Cecotropes because they have an inefficient digestive system. It’s basically the rodent equivalent of a cow chewing cud.
It’s very efficient. Stuff just needs to go through twice. Saves a lot of space.
<img alt="" src="https://lemm.ee/pictrs/image/01a8591d-56f4-4df1-b3e3-f5f1e7624d4e.jpeg">
Not a bunny, but this guy eats them too.
Think about it this way: they’ve evolved a clever behavioural hack that doubles the length of their entire digestive tract without any increase in weight. This is extremely efficient!
Having to eat your food twice doesn’t sound very efficient to me.
It’s extremely efficient given the low calorie density, high fibre diet and extremely limited grazing time (dawn and dusk) of crepuscular rabbits.
Think about ruminants for comparison. They spend all day every day grazing on the same kinds of foods as rabbits. Rabbits have a much more rapid metabolism (faster resting heart rate and ridiculous athletic ability) than, say cattle, yet they manage to extract more energy in less time eating. Rabbits are a marvel of efficiency!
Well, that’s a perspective that I hadn’t considered. Thanks!
marvel universe creative writers: “write this down!”
Man Bun™ was created when a regular rabbit ate a radioactive turd. Now he can anthropomorphize at will, leap tall buildings in a single sproing, be super jacked, and destroy his enemies with Mach-5 poops.
“Man Bun”, even the name is promising~!
can he be jacked and fluffy at the same time?
Please make sure that weirdo RFK Jr hears about this “new” diet.
That took me 5 seconds then I lost it.
It’s chocolate because of Easter, shut up
This meme makes me wanna start doing jenkem again…