摘要
INTRODUCTION.Dung middens(also dung hills,dung latrines,stud piles,or fecal piles)are spatially fixed points where animals regularly deposit urine and feces.Most of the animals that are known to construct dung middens are odd-and even-toed ungulates(Walther et al.1983).They range in size from the Kirk’s dik-dik,Madoqua kirkii(Ono et al.1988),to the white rhinoceros,Ceratotherium simum(Marneweck et al.2018).Yet,this behavior has also been observed in carnivores(Darden et al.2008;Rodgers et al.2015),as well as primates(Eppley et al.2016).In antelopes,middens are constructed mostly by males(in dik-dik and klipspringer,Oreotragus oreotragus,both sexes deposit in the midden,Macdonald 1984).A communal form of social depositing was found in several species;for example,in the European badger,Meles meles,and the whitefooted sportive lemur,Lepilemur leucopus(Charpentier et al.2008).
