Coprophagy as an innate behavior in the mouse

In order to verify whether or not coprophagy is an innate behavior in the mouse, two kinds of experiments were conducted. First, a fecal suspension was administered to mice to see if the frequency of coprophagy could be reduced. Neither the frequency nor the diurnal pattern of coprophagy was affected by the treatment, which demonstrates that the nutrients in the administered feces do not cause negative feedback on the frequency of coprophagy. In the second experiment, sucklings, were forcedly weaned and reared in isolation to determine if coprophagy would appear spontaneously. The onset and posture of coprophagy in the forcedly-weaned sucklings were essentially identical to those of the controls. From these results, the authors concluded that coprophagy is an innate behavior in the mouse.