Coprophagy in the Japanese hare <i>(Lepus brachyurus):</i> reingestion of all the hard and soft faeces during the daytime stay in the form

Hirakawa, Hirofumi

doi:10.1111/j.1469-7998.1994.tb01585.x

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 25 publications

(32 reference statements)

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“…However, even if this is the case, the second caecotrophy phase might occur around the midnight in some rabbits (Jilge 1982). Further, nighttime hard faeces are reingested in the Japanese hare if food is given less than requirement and hence depleted during the night (Hirakawa 1994) and the same might Brought to you by | University of Arizona Authenticated Download Date | 6/3/15 6:00 AM happen in the domestic rabbit. This indicates the importance of confirming the rhythm of feeding and reingestion under experimental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…However, Ebino et al (1993) first reported the regular reingestion of hard faeces in Leporids for the domestic rabbit. Later, Hirakawa (1994) reported that the Japanese hare Lepus brachyums reingests all hard and soft faeces during the daytime stay in the form : hard faeces are excreted and reingested within an hour after the hare enters a form early in the morning, and soft faeces are then excreted and reingested until the early afternoon, followed by hard faeces reingestion until the evening when the hare leaves the form. The faeces produced during the night, when the hare forages, are hard faeces, which are discarded without being reingested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Hard faeces reingestion and the passage and recycling of large food particles in the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus)

Hirakawa¹,

Okada²

1995

Mammalia

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Upon finding the regular reingestion of hard faeces, we studied the passage and recycling of large particles in the diet of the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus) in relation to the timing of ingestion. Small, thin pieces of synthetic rubber, simulating large food particles, were mixed with commercial food pellets and subjected to voluntary intake during a short period of time at night, and their subsequent excretion in the faeces was recorded. Irrespective of time at intake, the markers were almost completely excreted by the end of the second night: when ingested early in the evening, most were excreted within that night, and as ingested later on, they were increasingly excreted on the second night. All hard and soft faeces excreted during the daytime resting period were reingested, and the markers, contained in both types of the daytime faeces, were thereby recycled. The results show that large particles in the diet are given another chance for digestion, through remastication and reingestion, when they are excreted during the daytime following ingestion. This suggests that hard-faeces reingestion does not result in multiple recycling of poorly digestible large particles and leading to inefficiency in digestion.Resume. -A l'occasion de recherches sur la reingestion des crottes dures, nous avons etudie le passage et le recyclage des grosses particules dans le regime alimentaire du lievre du Japon, Lepus brachyurus, en relation avec le moment de l'ingestion. De petits morceaux de caoutchouc synthetique, simulant de grosses particules alimentaires, ont ete melanges avec des granules de nourriture du commerce, soumis a une prise volontaire pendant une courte periode de la nuit, et on a enregistre l'heure de leur excretion dans les feces. Quelle que soit l'heure de leur absorption, les marqueurs etaient presque completement excretes a la fin de la seconde nuit: quand ils avaient ete ingeres tot dans la soiree, la plupart etaient excretes dans la nuit meme, et quand ils avaient ete ingeres plus tard, ils etaient excretes en plus grand nombre au cours de la seconde nuit. Toutes les crottes, dures ou molles, excretees pendant la periode de repos diurne, etaient reingerees et les marqueurs, contenus dans ces deux types de crottes, etaient de ce fait recycles. Les resultats montrent que les grosses particules contenues dans le bol alimentaire ont ainsi une seconde chance d'etre digerees, par l'intermediaire de la remastication et de la reingestion, quand elles sont excretees pendant la journee suivant leur ingestion. Ceci suggere que la reingestion des crottes dures n'a pas pour resultat un recyclage multiple des grosses particules difficiles ä digerer, induisant a une inefficacite de la digestion. Mammalia, t. 59,;/° 2, 1995 : 237-247.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Hard faeces reingestion and the passage and recycling of large food particles in the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus)

Hirakawa¹,

Okada²

1995

Mammalia

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“…Some daily rhythms are found across a broad array of vertebrate taxa. For example, feeding, coprophagy, locomotor activity, and thermoregulatory mechanisms often show regular daily peaks ( Salmo salar (Atlantic salmon), Kadri et al, 1991; Lepus brachyurus (Japanese hares), Hirakawa, 1994). In some cases, these daily peaks differ among age‐sex classes ( Misgurnus anguillicaudatus (loach fishes), Naruse and Oishi, 1996) and show seasonal periodicity, referred to as circannual rhythms ( Agrionemys horsfieldi (turtles), Wuntke and Siegmund, 1992; Cricetus cricetus (European hamsters), Wollnik and Schmidt, 1995; Cynops pyrrhogaster (Japanese newts), Nagai and Oishi, 1998; Tiliqua rugosa (Australian sleepy lizards), Firth and Belan, 1998).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Circadian rhythms in diet and habitat use in red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) and white‐fronted brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus albifrons)

Vasey

2003

American J Phys Anthropol

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Daily variation in niche use among vertebrates is attributed to a variety of factors, including thermoregulatory, reproductive, and nutritional requirements. Lemuriform primates exhibit many behavioral and physiological adaptations related to thermoregulation and sharp, seasonal reproduction, yet they have rarely been subjects of a quantitative analysis of circadian (or daily) rhythms in niche use. In this study, I document daily rhythms in diet and microhabitat use over an annual cycle in two sympatric, frugivorous lemurs, Varecia rubra and Eulemur fulvus albifrons. Data on diet, forest site, and forest height were recorded at 5-min time points on focal animals and divided into three time blocks for analysis (06:00-10:00 hr, 10:00-14:00 hr, and 14:00-18:00 hr). I employed multivariate tests of independence to examine daily rhythms in diet and microhabitat use according to sex, season, and reproductive stage. Throughout the day, V. rubra is frugivorous and dwells in the upper canopy, with notable departures (especially for females) during the hot seasons, gestation, and lactation. E. f. albifrons has heterogeneous daily rhythms of food choice and microhabitat use, particularly across seasons, and both sexes are equally variable. These daily rhythms in diet and microhabitat use appear related to thermoregulatory and nutritional requirements, seasonal food availability and circadian rhythms of plant (and possibly insect) palatability, predator avoidance tactics, and in the case of Varecia, to reproduction. Daily rhythms of food choice in V. rubra support two previously suggested hypotheses explaining why primates consume more nonfruit items late in the day, whereas those of E. f. albifrons are too variable to lend support to these hypotheses.

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“…The consumption of the evacuate from the blind gut enriched with bacterial mass occurs in hares in the "resting period" [4,9,10]. This explains a considerable increase in the activity of nitrogen fixa tion in different regions of GIT of the hare in the "resting period" and confirms that precisely caecotro phs affect this process.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 94%

Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the hare gastrointestinal tract

et al. 2014

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Coprophagy in the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus): reingestion of all the hard and soft faeces during the daytime stay in the form

Cited by 14 publications

References 25 publications

Hard faeces reingestion and the passage and recycling of large food particles in the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus)

Hard faeces reingestion and the passage and recycling of large food particles in the Japanese hare (Lepus brachyurus)

Circadian rhythms in diet and habitat use in red ruffed lemurs (Varecia rubra) and white‐fronted brown lemurs (Eulemur fulvus albifrons)

Nitrogen-fixing microorganisms in the hare gastrointestinal tract

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