What do wild animals do when they get sick? Unlike domestic pets, wild animals do not have access to the variety of treatments that owners or veterinarians provide. Do wild animals know how to heal themselves?
The growing scientific evidence indicates that animals do have knowledge of natural medicines. In fact, they have access to the world’s largest pharmacy: nature itself. Zoologists and botanists are just beginning to understand how wild animals use medicinal plants to prevent and cure disease.
there’s a name for it
The emerging science of zoopharmacognosy studies how animals use leaves, roots, seeds, and minerals to treat a variety of foods. Indigenous cultures have been aware of animal self-medication for centuries; many home remedies come from noticing what plants animals eat when they are sick. But it is only in the last 30 years that zoopharmacognosy has been scientifically studied. Biologists who saw the animals eat food that was not part of their usual diet realized that the animals were self-medicating with natural remedies.
When a pregnant African elephant was observed for over a year, a discovery was made. The elephant maintained regular dietary habits throughout her long pregnancy, but the routine abruptly changed towards the end of her term. Heavily pregnant, the elephant set off in search of a bush that grew 17 miles from her usual food source. The elephant chewed and ate the leaves and bark of the bush, and gave birth a few days later. The elephant, it seems, had sought out this plant specifically to induce labor from it. The same plant (a member of the borage family) is also brewed by Kenyan women to make a labor-inducing tea.
Chimpanzees take their medicine
Many animals not only know which plant they need, but they also know exactly which part of the plant to use and how to eat it. Chimpanzees in Tanzania have been observed using plants in different ways. The Aspilia bush produces ruffled leaves, which chimpanzees carefully fold and then roll around their mouths before swallowing whole. The spiny leaves ‘clean’ parasitic worms from the chimps’ intestinal lining.
The same chimpanzees also peel the stems and eat the pith of the Vernonia plant (also known as bitter leaf). In biochemical research, Vernonia was found to have antiparasitic and antimicrobial properties. Both Vernonia and Aspilia have long been used in Tanzanian folk medicine for upset stomachs and fevers.
Only sick chimpanzees eat the plants. Chimpanzees often grimace while chewing on Vernonia’s marrow, indicating that they are not doing it for fun; healthy animals would find the bitter taste unpleasant.
Nature’s pharmacy for everyone
Wild animals will not look for a remedy unless they need it. Scientists studying baboons at Awash Falls in Ethiopia noted that although the Balanites aegyptiaca (desert date) tree grew around the falls, only the baboons that lived below the falls ate the tree’s fruit. These baboons were exposed to a parasitic worm found in water snails. Balanites fruit is known to repel snails. The baboons that lived above the falls were not in contact with the water snails and therefore had no need for the medicinal fruit.
Many animals eat minerals like clay or charcoal for their healing properties. Colobus monkeys on the island of Zanzibar have been observed stealing and eating charcoal from human fires. The charcoal counteracts the toxic phenols produced by the mango and almond leaves that make up your diet.
Some species of South American parrots and macaws are known to eat soil with a high kaolin content. Parrots diet contains toxins due to the fruit seeds they eat. (Even the humble apple seed contains cyanide.) Kaolin clay absorbs toxins and carries them out of the bird’s digestive system, leaving parrots unscathed by the poisons. Kaolin has been used for centuries in many cultures as a remedy for human gastrointestinal upset.
drug survival
So how do animals know how to heal themselves? Some scientists believe that evolution has given animals the innate ability to choose the right medicinal herbs. In terms of natural selection, animals that could find medicinal substances in the wild were more likely to survive. Other observations have shown that, particularly among primates, medicinal skills appear to be taught and learned. Adult females are often seen hitting their baby’s hand with a particular leaf or stem as if to say “No, not that one.”
Wild animals do not depend on industrially produced synthetic drugs to cure their diseases; the medicines they need are available in their natural environment. While wild animals instinctively know how to heal themselves, humans have all but forgotten this knowledge due to our lost connection to nature. Since wild animals have begun to be observed actively looking after their own well-being, the question arises as to how we approach health care with natural remedies, not only for ourselves but also for our companion and farm animals.