Latrine use by the short-beaked echidna, Tachyglossus aculeatus

Abstract

In mammals the basic functions of defaecation and urination have an inherent secondary function of chemical communication (Eisenberg 1981), and mammals have evolved a variety of behaviours based on these means of communication. Many mammals, particularly carnivores such as European badgers (Meles meles) (Stewart et al. 2002), honey badgers (Mellivora capensis) (Begg et al. 2003), and quolls (Dasyurus spp.) (Kruuk and Jarman 1995; Oakwood 2002), but also non-carnivorous species such as the rabbits (Sneddon 1991), leave accumulations of faeces, or latrines, that may serve a number of social functions, such as the marking of territories and the maintenance of dominance hierarchies.