Chimpanzees Self-Medicate with Plants

[RainDog]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45484594/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.TttG4kqXNW5

MSNBC says they self-medicate with food, but that word assumes that chimpanzees would only eat something if it were for one purpose, which this study says is not the case. iow, the origins of medicine likely go back beyond our current incarnation in this world as homo sapiens. Maybe they chose to use the word "food" rather than plants because it fits a view related to food and humans and to say "plants" might imply some relation to an anti-tumor, anti-nausea plant that is currently illegal for medical consumption according to the federal govt - or maybe not. in any case...

"We conclude that self-medication may have appeared in our ancestors in association with high social tolerance and lack of herbivorous gut specialization," lead author Shelly Masi and her colleagues write.

Analysis of the mostly non-nutritional and sometimes slightly toxic foods consumed determined that most had medicinal properties. Based on the study, the chimpanzee medicine chest appears to include the following: Antiaris toxicaria leaves (anti-tumor), Cordia abyssinica pith (anti-malarial and anti-bacterial), Ficus capensis (anti-bacterial), Ficus natalensis bark (anti-diarrheal), Ficus urceolaris leaves (de-worming agent), and many more.

The primates seemed to strategically go for the medicinal parts of these plants, and would consume them even when other more nutritious and palatable foods were available.

Michael Huffman also found that chimpanzees and humans shared a common cure for worms.

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:3Ocm-A6hJj0J:studentresearch.wcp.muohio.edu/MedicinalPlants/SelfmedicationPrimates-97.pdf+michael+huffman+koyoto+plants+worms&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESi3Tzj1l5bdUPyIEHox2Tb7xtL78EzqtFC1B6fp6hYZFnDuEo8k2QP3jXSAljK2nT6E6Tnk6BULA7Y26zXF8OcXQFQ5WTimS1UBnlSBv2A6un08E0rzO3fHjsaCQTnH5r4WnMSM&sig=AHIEtbRKeqw6FXlKBgaVaGBxQHfIe8pOGw

In addition,

Stacy Lindshield, an Iowa State University researcher, also identified a medicated body scratcher invented by wild spider monkeys.

"Spider monkeys have been observed rubbing crushed and chewed leaves on their bodies," Lindshield told Discovery News, explaining that "some primates select plants or invertebrates with chemical properties." In addition to medicinal purposes, she said the resulting smelly ointment might also facilitate olfactory communication.

Julio Mercader, a University of Calgary archaeologist, told Discovery News that he believes such medicinal and otherwise useful plant “tools” merit study via a new interdisciplinary field of primate archaeology.

http://dnapes.blogspot.com/2011/12/chimpanzees-self-medicate-with-food.html

Medicine is very old.

[stellanoir]

1. Chimps may sooner be luckier than americans

and wiser than the FDA if this happens. . .

With 50 million people uninsured, I'd guess many of them stay well by taking supplements as preventative medicine. People will suffer if this foolish legislation goes through.

http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/supplements-set-to-become-illegal-in-2012-under-fda/

I may just have to seek refuge with the chimps very soon. At least until big pharma starts to try and control their medical needs.

[Downwinder]

2. It would be interesting to see if they are smarter than we are

and recognize the medicinal properties of weed.

[RainDog]

3. well, more than 70% of us already recognize the medicinal properties of weed

interesting that chimps consume an anti-tumor plant.

living in a social group with lots of interaction made it possible for chimp communities to develop this culture of medicine that has been passed along from generation to generation.

the world is a wonderful and amazing place.

[eShirl]

4. I would be surprised if self-medication were limited to primates, even.

There are anecdotes of reindeer and amanita muscaria...

[RainDog]

5. wonder if that's the origin of rudolph's red nose...

or flying reindeer in general. :)

[toddwv]

6. Dogs eat grass when they feel sick.

It makes them vomit when they gulp it down.

[SpiralHawk]

7. "...lack of herbivorous gut specialization..."

Exactly.

[RainDog]

8. I'm glad we don't chew cud and all that

but that's just me.

[Voice for Peace]

9. charcoal for indigestion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obp6BUIMQM0

I saw another version of monkeys doing this -- where the monkeys had more or less separated into two groups -- onelived deeper in the forest, and the other closer to the edge, where there was access to the village's charcoal.

Apparently the monkeys deeper in, who weren't eating the charcoal, were generally more quarrelsome than the group who had moved to the forest edge and solved their digestion problems.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. Do dogs also self-medicate?

although it might not be as sophisticated as what apes do. When I was a kid many years ago, I had a very smart dog, a weimaraner. Occasionally, I would see it sniff around certain grasses in the fields near our house and set itself upon them and devour grass like it was a ham. My dad told me that the dog was constipated and liked to clear its system with a certain beneficial type of weed from time to time. It seemed to do this periodically as a kind of cure.

[RainDog]

11. well, cats certainly figured out cat nip makes them feel aaaalllll bettah

so I'm sure there are all kinds of plant and animal interactions.

who knows what sorts of plants make birds happy as shit so they'll spread those seeds. :)