Editing Placentophagy (section)

=== Cleanliness and protection against predation ===
Another aspect of placentophagy that was initially considered a beneficial reason for its occurrence was that the consumption of the afterbirth ensured cleanliness of the nest and eliminated any sign of new and vulnerable offspring.<ref name=":02" /> It was suggested that nesting animals, who would then rear their young within the nest, benefited by having an aseptic area. Further, predators would be attracted to the site of parturition by the scent of blood and of fetal tissue, so ingesting the afterbirth would eliminate the ability for predators to easily locate newborns. This would in turn provide protection for the defenseless young.<ref name=":02" /> These hypothesized benefits were later rejected because the act of consuming the placenta would be more time-consuming than merely abandoning the site of parturition or removing the afterbirth from the nesting area, each of which would provide the same benefit as placentophagy was presumed to provide.<ref name=":02" />