caecotroph

English

Alternative forms

• caecotrope
• cecotrope

Noun

caecotroph (plural caecotrophs)

1. (biology) In certain mammals, especially rabbits and some rodents, a cake or pellet of food which is produced by means of digestion and expulsion through the anus.
   • 2002, J. Jarvis, P. Sherman, “Heterocephalus glaber Rüppell, 1842: Naked Mole-rat,”, in Mammalian Species, number 706, page 5:

     Vocalizations include food recruitment calls, high-pitched contact and aggressive chirps, a mating call, a toilet-assembly call, and vocalizations specific to pups, such as squawks when pups are stepped on and caecotroph-solicitation chirps.

   • 2003, Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, →ISBN, page 158:

     He finds the caecotrophs revolting, consisting as they do of semi-digested herbage, discharged through the anus and reswallowed two or three times a week.

Related terms

• caecotrophy