Final answer:
Rabbits produce and consume cecotropes to recycle nutrients from their cecum, an essential part of their unique digestive process called coprophagy.
Step-by-step explanation:
The nutrient-rich fecal pellets that rabbits consume right after defecating are called cecotropes. These cecotropes are produced from matter in the cecum, an enlarged part of the rabbit's digestive system that allows for more time to digest plant material. The cecum is essential for the rabbit's unique digestive process called coprophagy, where the rabbit eats these cecotropes to recycle nutrients that were generated by bacteria in the cecum. Since most of the nutrient absorption happens in the small intestine, this recycling method enables the rabbit to gain additional nutrients that were not absorbed the first time the food passed through its digestive system.