Animal latrines (latrine areas,[1]animal toilets,defecation sites) are places wherewildlife animals habituallydefecate andurinate. Many kinds of animals are highly specific in this respect and have stereotyped routines, including approach and departure.[2] Many of them have communal,i.e., shared, latrines.
A regularly used toilet area ordunghill, created by manymammals, such asmoles orhyraxes, is also called amidden.[3][4]
Animals with communal latrines includeraccoons,Eurasian badgers,[5]elephants,[6]deer,[7]antelopes,[8]horses,[1] and (prehistorically)dicynodonts (a 240-million-year-old site was called the "world's oldest public toilet").[6]
Somelizards, such as yakkaskinks (Egernia rugosa)[9] andthorny devils[10] use dedicated defecation sites.
European rabbits may deposit their pellets both randomly over the range and at communal latrine sites.[11]
Middens and other types of defecation sites may serve asterritorial markers.[8][3] Elaborate "dungpile rituals" are reported for adultstallions,[1] anddeer bucks,[7] which are thought to serve for confrontation avoidance. In contrast, female and young animals exhibit no such behavior.[1]
Dedicated defecation sites are thought to be the result of sanitation-driven behavior. For example, thespider miteStigmaeopsis miscanthi constructs woven nests, and nest members defecate at only one site inside the nest.[12] Dedicated latrine areas observed by free-roaming horses mean that grazing area is kept parasite-free. Even stabled horses seem to have vestiges of such behavior.[1]
Herbivorallivestock is at risk of parasite/pathogen exposure from feces during grazing, therefore there is an interest in research of livestock behavior in the presence of feces both of their own species, and others, including wildlife, including the dependence on defecation patterns.[13]
Latrines of herbivores, such as antelopes, play an important role in ecology by providing enrichment of certain areas in nutrients. It is described thatduiker andsteenbok antelopes tended to defecate in exposed sites, generally on very sandy soil, whileklipspringer preferred rocky outcrops, thus enriching the nutrient-deficient areas, as well as depositing plant seed there.[8]
A common nuisance ofraccoons israccoon latrines (raccoon toilets), which may contain eggs of the roundwormBaylisascaris procyonis. Nuisance raccoon latrines may be found in attics, on flat roofs, on logs, in yards and sandboxes, etc.[14][15][16]
In addition to immediate research of animal behavior and biology, animal toilets andcoprolites are an instrument of research for not directly related purposes inbiology,ecology,paleontologyclimate research, and other areas. They provide various information: plant habitats, historical information about prehistoric life and climate, etc.[6][17]
Somefungi are animal latrine associates. For example,Hebeloma radicosum is anammonia fungus which associates with latrines of moles,wood mice,[4] andshrews.[18]
There is a curious association ofCucumis humifructus ("aardvark cucumber" or "aardvark pumpkin") with latrines ofaardvarks.C. humifructusproduces its fruit underground, the aardvark burrows for them, and then deposits its seeds in dunghills near its habitat. The distribution ofC. humifructus tends to match that of aardvark latrines.[19]
Some insects (e.g.,termites anddung beetles)[8] feed on animalexcrement and hence are natural associates of dung sites.