It may sound gross, but for baby koalas, eating mom’s poop is a crucial rite of passage. Known as “papping,” this odd behavior isn’t just expected—it’s necessary for survival.
Koalas, especially the young, face a tough dietary challenge. Their main food source is eucalyptus leaves, which are toxic and extremely fibrous. While adult koalas have special gut microbes to digest this plant, joeys (baby koalas) are born without them. That’s where Mom’s pap comes in.
Unlike regular koala droppings, pap is a soft, nutrient-rich fecal matter produced in the mother’s cecum (a pouch between the small and large intestines). Around 5 to 6 months old, while still nursing in the pouch, a joey begins to seek out pap instinctively. The joey stimulates the mother’s cloaca (a shared opening for waste and reproduction) to ingest the pap directly, like nature’s most adorable soft-serve dispenser.
This process transfers essential gut bacteria, enabling the joey to detoxify eucalyptus and break down its tough fibers. Within weeks of starting pap, the joey begins nibbling on leaves and gradually transitions to the adult koala diet, although it continues nursing until approximately one year old.
Koalas aren’t alone in this behavior. Animals like rabbits, guinea pigs, capybaras, and naked mole rats also consume soft feces, called cecotropes, to reabsorb nutrients that were missed during initial digestion. Without it, many of these animals can fall seriously ill or even die.
While it may sound unsavory to humans, papping is a brilliant evolutionary adaptation—a poop-powered probiotic smoothie that helps baby koalas grow into healthy, leaf-munching adults. So next time you see a joey snuggled in mom’s pouch, just remember: sometimes survival starts with a mouthful of muck.
