this post was submitted on 20 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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top 31 comments
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[–] [email protected] 40 points 5 days ago (2 children)

It's probably a gut microbe thing that aids in processing food more efficiently, right? Koalas eat their own shit as well - I think their mothers even feed them shit, iirc. I think it's not uncommon among herbivores.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 5 days ago (3 children)

They have two kinds of poop: the little cocoa pebble ones, and soft wet ones that look like grape clusters, called cecotropes. The cecotropes are partly digested, and they eat them to extract more nutrients the second go round.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Ah, fascinating! We had a bunny growing up and I always remember her eating the little pebbly poop, but I'm probably just remembering wrong.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago

Some can't get enough and want it all

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (2 children)

So it's like chewing cud, except it's multiple passes of the same stomach instead of different stomachs.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

They don't have the mass to have multiple stomachs like a proper cow

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I always knew shit eating grins were misunderstood. They were just happy about being efficient.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

You could say they were coprophappygia?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 5 days ago

Yes and no. Chewing cud only involves the first stomach for cows, since they just need to regurgitate it. It doesn't pass to the later stomachs until the grass is sufficiently broken down

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

A fact well known to everyone who read Watership Down as a child.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Yup. Guinea pigs also need to eat their own poop for normal digestion.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 5 days ago

The koala thing is slightly different, at birth they can't digest eucalyptus leaves. The necessary gut bacteria is passed down from mother to child through coprophagy.

Bunnies and guinea pigs just eat their poop to ensure complete digestion.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 18 points 5 days ago

You may not like the format, that's fine, but I would like to point out it was used correctly in this meme.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 5 days ago

No shit, they eat grass and only have one stomach. They have to eat their cecotropes to actually digest the grass

[–] [email protected] 15 points 5 days ago (2 children)

In case anyone else was wondering too.

Even though it’s a fact that rabbits can eat their own poop, that really shouldn’t be a sign that you should follow suit (even if it was for your survival). Eating rabbit droppings has no nutritional value for humans.

https://rabbitinsider.com/can-you-eat-rabbit-poop/

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Thanks, I've been eating rabbit poop for years, glad to hear I can stop

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago

It doesn't say we have to stop, coward.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

One time we were babysitting my little cousin. We had a rabbit roaming in the kitchen, and cousin was eating breakfast. Next thing, I hear him saying "that's not a raisin!"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Poor kid. Hope he learned not to eat stuff off the ground.

Who am I kidding, he probably learned that raisins can't be trusted.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Well, duh. The rabbit isn't eating another animals poop, but their own. Sooo...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago

Now that's a blast from the pissed!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

My beagles make up for it (…yuck)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

My chihuahuas also love rabbit poop

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I look forward to never having to read about these kinds of studies again once all of the funding disappears.

I hope I don't need the /s

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

This is the kind of thing a rabbit that eats its own faeces would say

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Umm, what if we were to hypothetically convince the manosphere that this is the most manly thing that can be possibly achieved

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Nesquik cereal looks too real ~fuck~ ~Nestle~

[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Fun fact: at birth koalas can't actually digest eucalyptus leaves on their own. They eat their mum's faeces to gain the necessary gut bacteria.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

They are more similar to us than many anticipate