Animal faeces has been used to answer questions related to wildlife population genetics, to assess animal responses to environmental stressors, for dietary analysis and to assess the movement of nutrients within the environment. Animals living in arid, nutrient poor environments like Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape, seasonally undergo periods of nutritional stress when they are unable to meet their nutrient requirements through foraging alone. As a result, animals intentionally try to regulate these nutritional imbalances through geophagy (eating soil), osteophagy (eating/sucking on bones) or coprophagy (eating faeces). On a recent trip to Tswalu Kalahari Reserve in the Northern Cape, the first record of a wild leopard tortoise (Stigmochelys pardalis) actively searching for and eating hyena faeces was documented. 

This special issue article is the result of collaboration between Dr Andrew Abraham, Aarhus University and Dr Andrea Webster, Postdoc at the Mammal Research Institute and honours students Mattheus Louw and Laurene van Dijk.

Read the full article Tortoises get nutrients from salt licks and hyena faeces to find out more or watch the video Tortoises at salt licks and hyena latrines