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Animal latrine

Animal latrines ( latrine areas , [ 1 ] animal toilets , defecation sites ) are places where wildlife animals habitually defecate and urinate . Many kinds of animals are highly ...

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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.

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 miteStigmaeopsis 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, paleontologyclimate 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]

Existe una curiosa asociación entre Cucumis humifructus ("pepino de oso hormiguero" o "calabaza de oso hormiguero") y las letrinas de estos animales . C. humifructus produce su fruto bajo tierra , el oso hormiguero excava para encontrarlo y luego deposita sus semillas en montículos de estiércol cerca de su hábitat. La distribución de C. humifructus tiende a coincidir con la de las letrinas de oso hormiguero. [ 19 ]

Algunos insectos (por ejemplo, termitas y escarabajos peloteros ) [ 8 ] se alimentan de excremento animal y, por lo tanto, son asociados naturales de los sitios de estiércol.

Referencias

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 McGreevy, Paul, ed. (2012). Comportamiento equino: Guía para veterinarios y científicos equinos (2.ª  ed.). Elsevier. pág.  211. ISBN 978-0702043376.
  2. ↑ "Mamología", ISBN 0763762997pág . 562
  3. 1 2 Chase, BM; Meadows, ME; Scott, L.; Thomas, DSG; Marais, E.; Sealy, J.; Reimer, PJ (2009). "Un registro del rápido cambio climático del Holoceno preservado en los depósitos de damán del suroeste de África". Geology . 37 (8): 703– 706. Bibcode : 2009Geo....37..703C . doi : 10.1130/G30053A.1 .
  4. 1 2 Sagara N, Senn-Irlet B, Marstad P (2006). "Establecimiento del caso de crecimiento de Hebeloma radicosum en la letrina del ratón de bosque". Mycoscience . 47 (5): 263– 8. doi : 10.1007/s10267-006-0303-y . S2CID 85310185 . 
  5. ↑ "Sobre el consumo de fruta del tejón euroasiático (Meles meles) (Mammalia: Mustelidae) durante la temporada de otoño en las montañas de Sredna Gora (Bulgaria)" . Consultado el 3 de enero de 2014 .
  6. 1 2 3 "Desentierran un inodoro prehistórico gigante" , James Morgan, reportero científico, BBC News , 28 de noviembre de 2013
  7. 1 2 George B. Schaller, "El ciervo y el tigre", pág. 164
  8. 1 2 3 4 "El papel de los pequeños antílopes en el funcionamiento del ecosistema en las colinas de Matobo, Zimbabue" Archivado el 30 de diciembre de 2013 en Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ Lee Curtis (2012). Animales amenazados de Queensland . Csiro Publishing. pág. 224. ISBN  9780643104570. Consultado el 3 de enero de 2014 .
  10. ^ Dewey, Tanya. "ADW: Moloch horridus: INFORMACIÓN" . Animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu . Consultado el 3 de enero de 2014 .
  11. ^ Sneddon IA Uso de letrinas por parte del conejo europeo (Oryctolagus-Cuniculus). J Mamífero 1991;72:769–775 doi : 10.2307/1381841
  12. ↑ Yukie Sato, Yutaka Saito, "Saneamiento del nido en ácaros araña sociales: diferencias interespecíficas en el comportamiento de defecación" , doi : 10.1111/j.1439-0310.2005.01184.x
  13. ↑ "Comportamiento de pastoreo del ganado y riesgo de enfermedades inter e intraespecíficas a través de la vía fecal-oral"
  14. ↑ "Inspección de daños causados ​​por mapaches" . Archivado del original el 30/12/2013 . Consultado el 30/12/2013 .
  15. ↑ "Animales molestos alrededor del hogar" . Archivado del original el 23/10/2013 . Consultado el 30/12/2013 .
  16. ↑ "Letrinas de mapaches: identificación y limpieza" , una página web de los Centros para el Control y la Prevención de Enfermedades.
  17. ↑ "Un retrete para animales de 50.000 años de antigüedad ofrece pistas sobre la historia del cambio climático" , International Business Times , 19 de febrero de 2013
  18. ↑ Sagara N, Ooyama J, Koyama M (2008). "Nuevo animal causal para el crecimiento de Hebeloma radicosum (Agaricales): musaraña, Sorex sp (Mammalia, Insectivora)". Mycoscience . 49 (3): 207– 10. doi : 10.1007/s10267-008-0407-7 . S2CID 83999856 . 
  19. ↑ Jeremy Hollmann (1997). "Información necesaria sobre el pepino de cerdo hormiguero ( Cucumis humofructus )" . BGCNews . 2 (8). Archivado del original el 11 de febrero de 2015. Recuperado el 1 de junio de 2014 .