【摘要】 食粪行为广泛存在于草食性中小型哺乳动物中,是特指动物取食由盲肠内容物所形成的粪便的行为。这些动物具有特殊的结肠分离机制,能够产生两种不同的粪便。食粪行为延长了食物在消化道中的平均滞留时间;提高了对高纤维食物的消化率;弥补了食物中氨基酸和维生素的缺乏,满足了动物对这些营养物质的需求;是动物消化过程中的一个特殊组成部分。食粪行为的节律性是动物对取食和食粪的风险权衡的结果。食粪行为的发展是与动物草食性的特点紧密相关的,是动物对身体较小、食物质量低和天敌威胁等不利因素适应的结果。本文对这些方面的研究进展进行了综述。更多还原

【Abstract】 Coprophagy is widespread among small-and medium-sized mammalian herbivores. These animals have a colonic separation mechanism, by which they can form two kinds of feces. Coprophagy provides another avenue for some species to recover nutrients, vitamins, microbial proteins and short chain fatty acids which produced in the hindgut. The digestibility of high fibre food is improved by caecotrophy. The daily rhythm of reingestion is the result of trade-off between the risk of feeding and coprophagy. The ingestion of soft feces is more strongly related to diet than to taxonomic association. This paper reviewed the coprophagy and its evolutionary and nutritional significance in herbivorous small mammals.更多还原