Coprophagy: An unusual source of essential carotenoids J. J. NEGRO*, J. M. GRANDE*, J. L. TELLA*, J. GARRIDO†, D. HORNERO†, J. A. DONÁZAR*, J. A. SANCHEZ-ZAPATA‡, J. R. BENÍTEZ§ & M. BARCELL§ * Department of Applied Biology, Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Pabellón del Perú, Avda María Luisa, s/n 41013 Seville, Spain † Food Biotechnology Department, Instituto de la Grasa, CSIC, Avda Padre García Tejero 4, 41012 Seville, Spain ‡ Area de Ecología, Departamento de Biología Aplicada, Universidad Miguel Hernández, 03312 Alicante, Spain § Zoo de Jerez, Taxdirt s/n 11404 Jerez de la Frontera, Spain e-mail: negro@ebd.csic.es The rare Egyptian vulture (Neophron percnopterus) stands out among the Old World vultures (Family Accipitridae) because of its brightly ornamented head, which is coloured yellow by carotenoid pigments, and its practice of feeding on faeces. Here we show that Egyptian vultures obtain these pigments from the excrement of ungulates. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration that faeces can be used as a source of carotenoids by a vertebrate. Nature 416, 807 - 808 (2002) Ann's NOTE: Worth a laugh really! Remember we are NOT Doctors and have NO medical training. This site is like an Encylopedia - there are many pages, many links on many topics. Support our work with any size DONATION - see left side of any page - for how to donate. You can help raise awareness of CAM.