this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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top 34 comments
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[–] DarkCloud@lemmy.world 34 points 1 month ago

It's called the double digestion diet, and it can halve your food bills!

[–] SGforce@lemmy.ca 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Apparently gorillas too. Someone should tell Joe Roegan.

[–] ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Scat fetish among the right to explode in 3...

[–] Sendpicsofsandwiches@sh.itjust.works 17 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] JasonDJ@lemmy.zip 31 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I think OP is implying we should eat shit.

[–] ClipperDefiance@lemmy.world 43 points 1 month ago (3 children)

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.

[–] SippyCup@feddit.nl 13 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Humans may be unique among mammals for not eating our own shit, the shit of others, or just any random shit we find.

[–] NABDad@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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?

[–] call_me_xale@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Bunny ~~owner~~ servant 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.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago

One would assume by feel during excretion...

[–] dharmacurious@slrpnk.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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 6 points 1 month ago

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.

[–] bacon_saber@fedia.io 6 points 1 month ago

Rabbits definitely should

[–] leaky_shower_thought@feddit.nl 16 points 1 month ago (1 children)

marvel universe creative writers: "write this down!"

[–] 0x0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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 3 points 1 month ago

"Man Bun", even the name is promising~!

can he be jacked and fluffy at the same time?

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 11 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Cecotropes because they have an inefficient digestive system. It's basically the rodent equivalent of a cow chewing cud.

[–] ryedaft@sh.itjust.works 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

It's very efficient. Stuff just needs to go through twice. Saves a lot of space.

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

Not a bunny, but this guy eats them too.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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!

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Having to eat your food twice doesn't sound very efficient to me.

[–] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world 4 points 1 month ago (1 children)

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!

[–] Geodad@lemm.ee 2 points 1 month ago

Well, that's a perspective that I hadn't considered. Thanks!

[–] Wilco@lemm.ee 8 points 1 month ago

Please make sure that weirdo RFK Jr hears about this "new" diet.

[–] The_Che_Banana@beehaw.org 6 points 1 month ago

don't believe him, he's just talking shit

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 3 points 1 month ago

It's chocolate because of Easter, shut up

[–] fossilesque@mander.xyz 2 points 1 month ago

That took me 5 seconds then I lost it.

[–] h3mlocke@lemm.ee 1 points 1 month ago

This meme makes me wanna start doing jenkem again...