Baby elephant surprisingly takes big bite from mother's dung

While on Safari through the Kruger National Park in South Africa, we managed to locate a small herd of elephants. One particular baby elephant grabbed our attention with his odd behaviour. This particular little elephant strangely looked very fascinated with and interested in a pile of dung lying on the ground. The pile of dung was dropped by his mother less than a minute before. He was sniffing and smelling the dung and then proceeded to put small pieces in his mouth. It even gets better when he decides that he needs a bigger bite of the dung. Unexpectedly the baby elephant goes down on his knees, moves his trunk to the side and takes a big bite of the dung with his mouth.Show more

His reaction to the taste of the dung was very entertaining and humorous to watch. In the end the little one puts a stick in his mouth and chews on it. It seemed like he was trying to get rid of the taste in his mouth, or maybe he just needed a ‘toothpick’ after his strange meal. It may appear disgusting to humans, but the practice of eating dung, known as coprophagia, is common among some animal species but rarely witnessed by humans in the wild. Baby animals including elephant and hippo calves eat excretions from their mothers or fellow herd members when they're transitioning from drinking their mother's milk to eating solid foods. Devouring this excretion matter helps babies establish healthy bacterial communities in their guts, which in turn aids normal digestion.

Taking a big bite of mommy’s dung not only adds necessary bacteria to his digestive system but at the same time the young animal manages to take in much needed extra nutrients. Elephants are hindgut fermenters putting all their food into a single stomach. The most digestible material is quickly absorbed while sixty percent of what was ingested are excreted. The expulsion of so much undigested material means that great amounts of nutrients are present in elephant dung.