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Thread: Animals are Magical

  1. Link to Post #101
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Turkeys are highly social creatures. They are very family oriented, love to play, are incredibly affectionate and are really good at geography.

    Albert was rescued from a slaughterhouse. Albert loves people and he loves being cuddled.



    Reasons to love turkeys




    Attachment 40782
    Turkeys are sensitive animals who have good and bad moods. You can tell what mood the male is in by the color of his throat and head. When a male is excited, his head turns blue and when a tom is about to get into a fight, his head turns red. Imagine if humans had this trait!

    Albert the Turkey loves a cuddle


    Albert the Turkey getting a hug, London the Shepard gets nothing
    Last edited by Constance; 12th June 2019 at 08:15.

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Six minutes of three playful baby bears on a hammock.


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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    We truly don't want to have a bunch of cat videos on here! But this one really is rather special.

    The stirring music was composed specially for the action.


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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    A rather interesting question...

    Quote Posted by Star Tsar (here)
    Lowell Observatory

    Michael West | Can Animals See The Stars?

    Published 18th June 2019

    Human beings have always watched the skies, so it’s not surprising that astronomy is the oldest of all sciences. But what about other animals, can they see the stars too? Or are they indifferent to the charms of the night sky? In this talk, Dr. Michael West will present evidence that some animals use the stars to hunt or to migrate, while others lack the visual acuity to be stargazers.

    Michael West is Deputy Director for Science at Lowell Observatory. He received his PhD in astronomy from Yale University and held research, teaching and leadership positions on four continents before coming to Flagstaff in 2015. He’s disappointed that, as far as he can tell, his dog has no interest in the stars.

    I for one will join in with anyone, I don't care what color you are as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this Earth - Malcolm X / Tsar Of The Star

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Some days you just want to be left alone.
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    "Be kind for everybody is fighting a great battle" Plato

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    The amazingly colorful and graceful blanket octopus, as photographed by divers near off Romblon Island, Philippines.


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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Haha! This cat ...





    Quote Posted by Bill Ryan (here)
    We truly don't want to have a bunch of cat videos on here! ...
    Or do we ... ?

    Well we do have the old cat meme thread to potentially revive ...
    Last edited by Constance; 22nd June 2019 at 09:32.
    When you are one step ahead of the crowd, you are a genius.
    Two steps ahead, and you are deemed a crackpot.

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  15. Link to Post #108
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    That was totally worth it! ^^^^

    And now for a change of pace.

    My favourite funny dog video...

    I know that this doesn't exactly fit the theme of animals are magical but it never fails to make me laugh.


    Ultimate Dog Tease

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  17. Link to Post #109
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    New Zealand Now Recognizes ALL Animals As Sentient Beings!
    by: Sophie McAdam Posted on June 3, 2015



    New Zealand has just set a great example to the world by recognizing what animal lovers have known forever- that our furry friends are as sentient as we are, and (obviously, dur) they have feelings just like we do. It’s a theme we have covered time and again here at True Activist, but this landmark ruling by NZ is the first time this shift in perception and policy has been extended to all animals, not just chimpanzees, orangutans, or dolphins.

    The Animal Welfare Amendment Bill, passed last month, aims to make it easier to prosecute people in animal cruelty cases, as well as banning animal testing and research.

    Animal rights activists have celebrated the decision. “To say that animals are sentient is to state explicitly that they can experience both positive and negative emotions, including pain and distress,” said Dr Virginia Williams, chair of the National Animal Ethics Advisory Committee. “The explicitness is what is new and marks another step along the animal welfare journey.”

    * * * * * * * * * *

    Article continues here : http://www.trueactivist.com/new-zeal...hK9DpYsqS8-tgY

    Article is from 2015 so New Zealand has had this law for 4 years. I wonder when the rest of the world will catch on.

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Rainbow lorikeets eating meat leaves bird experts astonished

    Attachment 40919

    The behaviour of a population of rainbow lorikeets who frequent a backyard feeding station on a property north of Brisbane has left bird experts baffled.

    The lorikeets are eating meat and Griffith University's Professor Darryl Jones is shocked.

    Professor Jones, who is researching the impact of backyard feeding on bird populations, said lorikeets usually eat nectar and pollen which they obtain from native plants and shrubs.

    "I have researched what birds feed on all around the world," Professor Jones said.

    "I'm up to date with all the kinds of crazy things that birds are eating all over Australia.

    "To see a lorikeet eating meat astonishes me completely. I have never heard of such a thing before."

    Do you have any photos of rainbow lorikeets eating meat?

    For years, Bill, who owns the Elimbah property, has put out pets mince for magpies, currawongs and kookaburras.

    He also puts out seed for vegetarian birds like galahs, king parrots and the lorikeets.

    He feeds about a dozen birds each day and knows they are spoilt for choice when it comes to food.

    Attachment 40920

    Bill's property is home to native trees and shrubs, and there is untouched forest nearby.

    He is happy to offer a few scoops of mince and seed to the birds that come in for a free feed.

    It was about seven years ago when Bill first noticed the lorikeets eating meat, and they have been eating it ever since.

    "At first they went for the seed but then they started chasing the other birds away from the meat, which surprised me," he said.

    Professor surprised lorikeets are defending meat

    Professor Jones said the availability of food on the property made the lorikeet's decision to eat meat mystifying.

    "It makes no sense at all," he said.

    "It makes me wonder very strongly that these particular birds, the individuals in the picture, are probably needing some protein.

    "But the birds look extremely healthy in those pictures."

    Attachment 40921

    He said lorikeets always get around in pairs and tend to be nasty with other bird species when it comes to food.

    He said it is not surprising that the lorikeets are chasing magpies and kookaburras away from the meat.

    "What is unusual is that the food that they're defending is actually meat," Professor Jones said.

    "That's the strange part about it.

    "Maybe the lorikeets saw what the other birds were eating and simply decided to try it and liked it.

    "It's extremely unusual."

    Professor Jones believed that lorikeets eating meat had never been documented before.

    "If it was a genuine idea that lorikeets would eat meat I'm sure it would've come up by now," he said.

    He said the lorikeet population had increased dramatically in south-east Queensland in the past decade.

    What once was a common species has now become the most abundant bird in the south east.

    Professor Jones said people tend to plant native, nectar-bearing plants in their gardens and local councils do the same in their parks, which provides ample food for lorikeets and other birds.

    He said lorikeets are also being fed by thousands of Queenslanders in backyard feeders.

    "I would very much like to know if people who put out meat for other birds are getting lorikeets coming and eating it as well," he said.

    Wildlife carer says she is 'horrified'

    Licensed wildlife carer Fran Sanders has been looking after native animals and birds in Brisbane for 25 years.

    She has never seen lorikeets eating meat or heard of them doing it.

    "I'm absolutely amazed and horrified," Ms Sanders said.

    She has assisted hundreds of people who backyard feed mince to carnivores like butcher birds and magpies and kookaburras.

    "I've never heard any of them talk about lorikeets coming down and eating mince," she said.

    "I know when people are backyard feeding, lots of birds will come down and eat because it's easy.

    "Like us I suppose they get a little bit of a lazy streak and they come down and it saves them hunting or finding food.

    "They will eat things that aren't really their food."

    Of the lorikeets eating meat at Elimbah, Ms Sanders has no answers.

    "Whether it's just a habit they've started because it's there and they've found it, I don't know," she said.

    "They're not meat eaters, that's for sure.

    "It's incredible, I'm just so stunned."

    Ms Sanders said although people enjoy backyard feeding birds, they need to be careful with the food they put out.

    She said birds do not naturally eat seeds, which can damage their tongues, preventing them from naturally feeding on pollen and nectar.

    "And meat like pets mince can cause fatty liver disease in carnivorous birds."

    Source: ABC News Australia

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  21. Link to Post #111
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    This is improvisation at its finest.


    An orangutan at a zoo in Thailand wasn't too impressed with her sleeping quarters - so she decided to do something about it.

    Nemo, who is 14-years-old, was captured on video using a blanket to create a hammock in which she could sleep.

    She expertly ties the ends of the blanket around the bars of her enclosure, leaving just enough slack to create a comfortable hammock.

    In the wild, orangutans sleep among the tree tops and make their nests using foliage folded carefully together.

    Nest building has an important social function among orangutans, as knowledge of how to construct them is passed down from mother to baby.

    It takes an orangutan until the age of three to be able to construct its own nest, and is a sign that it's ready to leave their mothers.

    Source: The telegraph

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  23. Link to Post #112
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Quote Posted by Constance (here)
    An orangutan at a zoo in Thailand wasn't too impressed with her sleeping quarters - so she decided to do something about it.

    Nemo, who is 14-years-old, was captured on video using a blanket to create a hammock in which she could sleep.


    The photo was published in the 2008 book Thinkers of the Jungle: The Orangutan Report by Schuster, Smits, and Ullal. The description of the photograph reads:
    …a male orangutan, clinging precariously to overhanging branches, flails the water with a pole, trying desperately to spear a passing fish…The extraordinary image, a world exclusive, was taken in Borneo on the island of Kaja… This individual had seen locals fishing with spears on the Gohong River. Although the method required too much skill for him to master, he was later able to improvise by using the pole to catch fish already trapped in the locals’ fishing lines.

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  25. Link to Post #113
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Meet Ingo and Poldi: Tiny rescued owl and dog are madly in love
    Tanja Brandt is a German photographer who has dedicated her career towards photographing animals and wildlife.

    In one of her most recent projects, Brandt shot photographs of a highly unlikely pair of friends – Ingo, the Belgian shepherd; and Poldi (Napoleon), the one-year-old owlet.

    Brandt describes the relationship between Ingo and Poldi as somewhat of a ‘protector-protected’ relationship. Ingo is a guardian for Poldi, whom Brandt states “doesn’t know how to live free”.

    Poldi didn’t hatch until two days after his six brothers and sisters, and has always been very vulnerable due to his size. Ingo, on the other hand, comes from a family of strong and oftentimes ruthless police dogs.

    Ingo is very protective over the year-old owlet, and their bond is as strong off-camera as it appears in Tanja’s photographs.

    “They respect each other and they can read each other.”
    Attachment 40937

    Even though Ingo is physically stronger and protective over him, it is clear that the Poldi also takes care of his canine companion. Their friendship is ultimately mutual – they love and care for one another – and this is clear in Brandt’s photographs.

    Attachment 40938

    Attachment 40939

    Attachment 40941

    Attachment 40940

    To see the rest of these beautiful photos, visit www.whitewolfpack.com
    Credit: Tanja Brandt

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Little Tyke: The Lioness who was vegetarian

    Attachment 40943

    At four years old, the mature African lioness weighed 352 pounds. Her body stretched 10 feet 4 inches long and could run 40 miles per hour. Her skull, highly adapted to killing and eating prey, possessed short powerful jaws. Normally, African lions eat gnus, zebras, gazelles, impalas, and giraffes. This particular big cat, in her prime and perfect health, chose a more gentle way of life, vegetarian!

    A Violent Birth

    Georges and Margaret Westbeau, standing outside the thick steel bars of the cage, watched nervously. Inside, a vicious, raging beast baring razor claws and glistening fangs, roared. Flinging herself at the couple, who watched from barely three feet away, her suffering amber eyes defied their presence.
    Always, in the past, this lioness destroyed her offspring as soon as they were born. Four times in the last seven years, her powerful jaws had crushed her newborn cubs, furiously throwing them against her cage's bars where they tumbled, lifeless.
    Denying the normal instincts of motherhood, what possessed this lioness? Her life mocked its former freedom. She lived a caged animal, taken from the wild and tortured by those who captured her. Did she feel that by destroying her cubs they would be spared the humiliation that she endured?
    Suddenly, the newborn cub came flying towards the people anxiously watching. Georges quickly grabbed the cub through the bars before it could be killed. Its right front leg dangled helplessly from its mother's brutal jaws. In the face of such fury the only thing the human could say was, 'You poor little tike'.
    The Westbeaus took the three-pound 'Little Tyke' to their Hidden Valley Ranch near Seattle and there it joined the menagerie of other animals including horses, cattle, and chickens. Curious peacocks lined the housetop, kittens peered through a picket fence, and two terriers danced with joy for the new addition to the household.
    Drinking bottles of warm milk, Little Tyke began the long road to recovery.

    Mysterious reaction

    With the advice of experts the Westbeaus began weaning Little Tyke onto solid food at three months. Leaving only a favorite doll, they removed most of her rubber toys, replacing them with bones from freshly slaughtered beef. They carried the small cub to the bones. Unexpectedly, she violently threw up!
    Experts told them in no uncertain terms that lions couldn't live without meat. In the wild, lions ate only flesh - eleven pounds a day for an adult female. Alarmed at Little Tyke's strange behavior, they wondered at how they could introduce meat into her diet? In the meantime, they continued feeding Little Tyke baby cereal mixed with milk.
    A well meaning friend suggested mixing beef blood with milk, in increasing proportions. Given milk containing ten drops of blood, Little Tyke would have nothing to do with it. They mixed in five drops of blood, and hid that bottle. As she sucked on the plain milk they quickly switched bottles. Again she refused it. In desperation they added one drop of blood to a full bottle of milk, but Little Tyke refused this bottle as well, and they could only stare in amazement.
    Another friend suggested putting plain milk in one hand, and milk mixed with hamburger in the palm of the other hand. Little Tyke readily licked the milk from one hand, but when Georges changed hands, she immediately turned away. Sensing her distress, Georges wiped his hands on a nearby towel and picked her up. Hissing in fear and cringing away, she looked sick from the danger-smell of meat on his hand. She only settled down when given a fresh bottle of milk held in washed hands.

    Thousand-dollar reward

    At nine months old and weighing sixty-five pounds, Little Tyke had the splints and bandages on her leg taken off for the last time. She slowly learned to depend on the healed leg, and mingled with other animals on the ranch.
    Since the ranch didn't earn enough income to make ends meet, the Westbeaus ran a small cold storage plant in town. Little Tyke came with them when they went to work and word got around about this vegetarian lioness. When she was four years old, the Westbeaus advertised a thousand dollar reward for anyone who could devise a method tricking Little Tyke into eating meat. Numerous plans met with failure since Little Tyke refused to have anything to do with flesh.

    The answer

    The caretakers of this gentle animal sought out animal experts, always asking them about diet. Finally, one young visitor set their mind at ease. With serious eyes he turned to them and asked, 'Don't you read your Bible? Read Genisis 1:30, and you will get your answer.' At his first opportunity Georges read in astonishment, 'And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.' At that point, after four years, the Westbeaus finally stopped worrying.

    Little Tyke's meals

    A typical meal consisted of various grains, chosen for their protein, calcium, fats, and roughage. Margaret always cooked a few days' supply ahead of time. At feeding time, a double handful of the cooked grains along with one-half gallon of milk with two eggs, supplied Little Tyke a delicious meal. She had one condition before eating. Her favorite rubber doll had to be right next to her!


    Little Tyke with Becky

    For teeth and gums, the Westbeaus supplied rubber boots, since she refused bones. They attracted her to the boots by sprinkling them with perfume. One boot lasted almost a month.
    Little Tyke had many close animal friends. Her favorites were Pinky (a kitten), Imp (another kitten), Becky (a lamb) and Baby (a fawn). Her favorite and closest friend, however, was Becky, who preferred Little Tyke's company to any of the other animals.

    Attachment 40944

    National publicity

    You Asked For It, the popular television show hosted by Art Baker, once featured Little Tyke. The producers wanted a scene with chickens, which didn't bother Georges since Little Tyke roamed easily among chickens at Hidden Valley Ranch. When the film crew brought the chickens in, they turned out to be four little day-old chicks!

    Slurp of the tongue

    Little Tyke's only previous experience with new chicks had been with a hen and her chicks who had wandered onto the lawns around their home on the ranch. Georges thought nothing of it until he saw Little Tyke acting peculiarly, slinking into the house, and looking guilty with lips tightly closed over obviously open jaws. He called 'Tyke! What have you got?' Instantly her mouth opened and a little chick popped out, unharmed. Flapping it's little down-covered wings, it almost flew back to its upset mother. Apparently Little Tyke had affectionately licked the tiny chick, as she was prone to do when, with one huge slurp of the tongue, the little chick had popped into her mouth, and she hadn't known how to fondle it further!

    With the amazed camera crew filming, Little Tyke strode over to the chicks, hesitated long enough to lick the chicks carefully and gently with the very tip of her tongue, and moved away with a yawn. A moment later she came back to lie down among the chicks. They immediately made their way into the long silky hair at the base of her great neck where they peered out from the shelter of their great protector.
    Another scene saw a new kitten, after an introduction, walk over to Little Tyke's huge foreleg and sit down. Little Tyke crooked one paw around the tiny creature and cuddled it closer.

    In front of cameras, Art Baker picked up the Bible and read: 'The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock.'
    Mail poured into the producers, making this episode one of the most popular in the show's history.

    Little Tyke's death

    Unfortunately, while spending three weeks in Hollywood for the show, Little Tyke contracted virus pneumonia, a disease that took her life a few weeks later. The sudden change in climate may have been a contributing factor. She succumbed quietly in her sleep, retiring early after watching television.

    Inspiring to this day

    Her life is over, but her teachings live on. Of the many lessons she taught, not the least is that love removes fear and savagery. Little Tyke reflected the love and care shown to her after the first few moments of her precarious birth.

    Thousands saw photographs of her lying with her lamb friend, Becky, inspiring many to see the world a fresh way: two such diverse natures enjoying each other's love! One eminent attorney kept a huge enlargement of this photograph in his office, and pointed to it as he counciled couples on the verge of divorce.

    Scientific dilemma

    Science is at a loss when it comes to Little Tyke. Felines are the strictest of carnivores. Without flesh she should have developed blindness, as well as dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), a degenerative disease that turns heart muscles flabby and limits their ability to pump blood. This is because her diet didn't contain an adequate source of the amino acid, taurine.

    Little known in the 1950's, subsequent research at UC Davis in 1976 proved that taurine is an essential nutrient for felines, the lack of which would cause degeneration of the retina. later research implicated inadequate taurine levels in dilated cardiomyopathy as well. For cats with DCM, if the disease has not progressed too far, administering taurine causes an almost miraculous recovery. Formerly, cats lived only a few days to weeks after diagnose.

    Taurine is non-existent in natural non-animal sources. It is present in minute amounts in milk and eggs. Little Tyke could have gotten her taurine requirement from milk, if she drank 500 gallons per day, or from eggs, if she ate more than 4000 per day. How did Little Tyke get taurine?

    Challenge

    Perhaps even more important, why did Little Tyke disown her species' instincts? Little Tyke is a curiosity to the public, aberation to zoologists, anomaly to scientists, and an inspiration to idealists.

    Little Tyke wasn't alone. A photograph taken at Allahabad, India in 1936 shows another awesome lioness.

    In Autobiography of a Yogi, Paramahansa Yogananda wrote:
    ...Our group left the peaceful hermitage to greet a near-by swami, Krishnananda, a handsome monk with rosy cheeks and impressive shoulders. Reclining near him was a tame lioness. Succumbing to the monk's spiritual charm - not, I am sure, to his powerful physique! - the jungle animal refuses all meat in favor of rice and milk. The swami has taught the tawny-haired beast to utter "Aum" in a deep, attractive growl - a cat devotee!

    Attachment 40945


    Attachment 40946

    Source: www.vegetarismus.ch
    Last edited by Constance; 27th June 2019 at 09:22.

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Frostbitten Russian cat first to get four TITANIUM prosthetic paws
    23 Jun, 2019 11:45
    https://www.rt.com/viral/462510-cat-4-prosthetic-paws/



    An unprecedented series of operations in Russia’s Siberia gave new life and four new limbs to an amputee cat, making it the first of its kind to walk on all four prosthetic paws.

    The cat named Redhead was found over a year ago in Russia’s Novosibirsk, suffering from severe frostbites.



    “His ears and four paws were frostbitten,” veterinarian Sergei Gorshkov said, adding that all four of the animal’s paws had to be amputated.

    After rehabilitation, the vets started to prepare Redhead for a series of operations to enable it to walk again.

    “We were preparing for around a year because there was no such case in the world when a cat has all four prostheses,” Gorshkov noted.

    Redhead underwent all of the surgeries, and he’s now happily skipping on four brand-new titanium paws, as footage shows. The cat now has a second chance at having a full life, and has even been using its new paws to defend itself against other cats.
    Last edited by Kryztian; 28th June 2019 at 04:47.

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    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Quote Posted by Kryztian (here)
    Frostbitten Russian cat first to get four TITANIUM prosthetic paws[/SIZE]
    Ah. That reminds me of this.


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    Default Re: Animals are Magical



    Sorry Bill. Another cat video ..... with a catch
    "Be kind for everybody is fighting a great battle" Plato

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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Dragon Lizard Caught Playing Leaf Guitar In Indonesia
    https://www.boredpanda.com/dragon-li...mpaign=organic



    Aditya Permana, a professional photographer in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, recently captured this once-in-a-lifetime photo of a forest dragon lizard that looks like it’s playing a guitar!

    The photographer insisted that he did not manipulate the lizard, telling the Dailymail that he “did not directly photograph the lizard at first, until the lizards feel calm and comfortable around me. I noticed it looked like it was playing."


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    Animals are magical indeed but sometimes they need help. Six baby elephants rescued from a mud pit in Kao Yai National Park - Thailand:


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    Default Re: Animals are Magical

    Animals that self-medicate

    Many animal species have created their own pharmacies from ingredients that commonly occur in nature.

    Birds, bees, lizards, elephants, and chimpanzees all share a survival trait: They self-medicate. These animals eat things that make them feel better, or prevent disease, or kill parasites like flatworms, bacteria, and viruses, or just to aid in digestion. Even creatures with brains the size of pinheads somehow know to ingest certain plants or use them in unusual ways when they need them.

    Attachment 40978
    In an effort to self-medicate, a bonobo female selects stem of a M. fulvum plant for stripping. Image courtesy of LuiKotale Bonobo Project, copyright Max Koelbl.

    Anyone who has seen a dog eat grass during a walk has witnessed self-medication. The dog probably has an upset stomach or a parasite. The grass helps them vomit up the problem or eliminate it with the feces.

    The science of animal self-medication is called zoopharmacognosy, derived from the roots zoo (“animal”), pharma (“drug”), and gnosy (“knowing”). It’s not clear how much knowing or learning is involved, but many animals seem to have evolved an innate ability to detect the therapeutic constituents in plants. Although the evidence is entirely circumstantial, the examples are plentiful. The practice is spreading across the animal kingdom in sometimes surprising ways.

    Neighborhood Pharmacy

    A wide range of animals self-prescribe the plants around them when they need a remedy.

    • Bears, deer, elk, and various carnivores, as well as great apes, are known to consume medicinal plants apparently to self-medicate.
    • Some lizards are believed to respond to a bite by a venomous snake by eating a certain root to counter the venom.
    • Baboons in Ethiopia eat the leaves of a plant to combat the flatworms that cause schistosomiasis.
    • Fruit flies lay eggs in plants containing high ethanol levels when they detect parasitoid wasps, a way of protecting their offspring.
    • Red and green macaws, along with many animals, eat clay to aid digestion and kill bacteria.
    • Female woolly spider monkeys in Brazil add plants to their diet to increase or decrease their fertility.
    • Pregnant lemurs in Madagascar nibble on tamarind and fig leaves and bark to aid in milk production, kill parasites, and increase the chances of a successful birth.
    • Pregnant elephants in Kenya eat the leaves of some trees to induce delivery.

    Most studies of animal self-medication, however, are in the great apes. In the 1960s, the Japanese anthropologist Toshisada Nishida observed chimpanzees in Tanzania eating aspella leaves, which had no nutritional value. Harvard primatologist Richard Wrangham saw the same behavior at Jane Goodall’s Gombe reserve, where chimps were swallowing leaves whole. Other scientists noted the same in other chimp colonies. Without chewing, the animals weren’t getting much nutritional benefit. So why do it?

    In 1996, biologist Michael Huffman suggested the chimps were self-medicating. Huffman, an American who has worked for years in Japan at the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University, first saw a parasite-ridden, constipated chimpanzee in Tanzania chew on the leaves of a noxious plant it would normally avoid. By the next day, the chimpanzee was completely recovered

    The plants had bristly leaves, rough to the touch. Huffman theorized the chimps were swallowing the plants to take advantage of that roughness, using the leaves and stems to scour their intestines and rid themselves of parasites. Other researchers observed the same practice among other apes across Africa.

    Huffman established widely used criteria for judging when an animal is self-medicating. First, the plant eaten cannot be a regular part of the animal’s diet; it is used as medicine not food. Second, the plant must provide little or no nutritional value to the animal. Third, the plant must be consumed during those times of year—for example, the rainy season—when parasites are most likely to cause infections. Fourth, other animals in the group don’t participate (2, 3). If the activity meets these standards, it is safe to assume the animal is self-medicating, Huffman says. Researchers have observed the practice in 25 regions involving 40 different plants.


    The rest of the article continued here

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