this post was submitted on 21 Apr 2025
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Science Memes

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271
Feces is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. (slrpnk.net)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

Not a bunny, but this guy eats them too.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 weeks 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!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks 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!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

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