Animal latrine

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Animal latrines (latrine areas, [1] animal toilets, defecation sites) are places where wildlife animals habitually defecate and urinate. Many kinds of animals are highly specific in this respect and have stereotyped routines, including approach and departure. [2] Many of them have communal, i.e., shared, latrines.

Contents

A regularly used toilet area or dunghill, created by many mammals, such as moles or hyraxes, is also called a midden. [3] [4]

Animals with dedicated defecation sites

Animals with communal latrines include raccoons, Eurasian badgers, [5] elephants, [6] deer, [7] antelopes, [8] horses, [1] and (prehistorically) dicynodonts (a 240-million-year-old site was called the "world's oldest public toilet"). [6]

Some lizards, such as yakka skinks ( Egernia rugosa ) [9] and thorny devils [10] use dedicated defecation sites.

European rabbits may deposit their pellets both randomly over the range and at communal latrine sites. [11]

Function and impact

Territoriality

Middens and other types of defecation sites may serve as territorial markers. [8] [3] Elaborate "dungpile rituals" are reported for adult stallions, [1] and deer bucks, [7] which are thought to serve for confrontation avoidance. In contrast, female and young animals exhibit no such behavior. [1]

Sanitation

Dedicated defecation sites are thought to be the result of sanitation-driven behavior. For example, the spider mite Stigmaeopsis miscanthi constructs woven nests, and nest members defecate at only one site inside the nest. [12] Dedicated latrine areas observed by free-roaming horses mean that grazing area is kept parasite-free. Even stabled horses seem to have vestiges of such behavior. [1]

Herbivoral livestock is at risk of parasite/pathogen exposure from feces during grazing, therefore there is an interest in research of livestock behavior in the presence of feces both of their own species, and others, including wildlife, including the dependence on defecation patterns. [13]

Ecological impact

Latrines of herbivores, such as antelopes, play an important role in ecology by providing enrichment of certain areas in nutrients. It is described that duiker and steenbok antelopes tended to defecate in exposed sites, generally on very sandy soil, while klipspringer preferred rocky outcrops, thus enriching the nutrient-deficient areas, as well as depositing plant seed there. [8]

Raccoon latrines

A common nuisance of raccoons is raccoon latrines (raccoon toilets), which may contain eggs of the roundworm Baylisascaris procyonis . Nuisance raccoon latrines may be found in attics, on flat roofs, on logs, in yards and sandboxes, etc. [14] [15] [16]

Use in research

In addition to immediate research of animal behavior and biology, animal toilets and coprolites are an instrument of research for not directly related purposes in biology, ecology, paleontology climate research, and other areas. They provide various information: plant habitats, historical information about prehistoric life and climate, etc. [6] [17]

Animal latrine associates

Some fungi are animal latrine associates. For example, Hebeloma radicosum is an ammonia fungus which associates with latrines of moles, wood mice, [4] and shrews. [18]

There is a curious association of Cucumis humifructus ("aardvark cucumber" or "aardvark pumpkin") with latrines of aardvarks. C. humifructus produces its fruit underground, the aardvark burrows for them, and then deposits its seeds in dunghills near its habitat. The distribution of C. humifructus tends to match that of aardvark latrines. [19]

Some insects (e.g., termites and dung beetles) [8] feed on animal excrement and hence are natural associates of dung sites.

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nest</span> Place of refuge for animals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanitation</span> Public health conditions related to clean water and proper excreta and sewage disposal

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A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics, and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation.

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The Bhimbetka rock shelters are an archaeological site in central India that spans the Paleolithic and Mesolithic periods, as well as the historic period. It exhibits the earliest traces of human life in India and evidence of the Stone Age starting at the site in Acheulian times. It is located in the Raisen District in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, about 45 kilometres (28 mi) south-east of Bhopal. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site that consists of seven hills and over 750 rock shelters distributed over 10 km (6.2 mi). At least some of the shelters were inhabited more than 100,000 years ago.

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A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user comfort. Pit latrines can be built to function without water or they can have a water seal. When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. These pathogens are major causes of infectious diarrhea and intestinal worm infections. Infectious diarrhea resulted in about 700,000 deaths in children under five years old in 2011 and 250 million lost school days. Pit latrines are a low-cost method of separating feces from people.

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