Abstract
Parasites and pathogens are a source of diseases that can affect the health, behavior and reproductive fitness of an individual. The study of animal self-medication as a science is relatively new, but traditional societies have long looked to animals for clues to nature’s medicine cabinet. Evidence of self-medication is widespread throughout the animal kingdom. To date, research has classified health maintenance and self-medicative behaviors into five levels: 1) ‘sick behaviors’; 2) behavioral avoidance or reduction of the possibility for disease transmission; 3) dietary selection of items with a preventative or health maintenance effect; 4) ingestion of a substance for the curative treatment of a disease or the symptoms thereof, and; 5) application of a substance to the body or a living space for the treatment or control of vectors or external health condition. Among the groups of animals studied to date, primates have provided the most details for level 3 and 4 behaviors, exemplified by such diverse dietary selection and behaviors as bitter pith chewing and whole leaf swallowing behaviors, used directly in response to increased levels of parasite infection. KEYWORDS: Animal self-medication, primates, medicinal plants, disease control, homeostasis
Highlights
The study of animal self-medication as a science is relatively new, but traditional societies have long looked to animals for clues to nature’s medicine cabinet
Among the groups of animals studied to date, primates have provided the most details for level 3 and 4 behaviors, exemplified by such diverse dietary selection and behaviors as bitter pith chewing and whole leaf swallowing behaviors, used directly in response to increased levels of parasite infection
The study of animal self-medication as a science is relatively recent, history tells us that humans have traditionally long looked to animals as a source of medicinal knowledge (Engel, 2002; Huffman, 2002; 2007a)
Summary
The study of animal self-medication as a science is relatively recent, history tells us that humans have traditionally long looked to animals as a source of medicinal knowledge (Engel, 2002; Huffman, 2002; 2007a). Have humans learned from watching sick wild animals, because we share the same evolutionary history, possess a common physiology and have lived together under similar environmental condition for much of our species history, it can be argued that we have inherited many of the same ways to combat common diseases in the environment (Huffman, 2015a) In support of this notion, recent archeological and biochemical evidence suggests that a close extinct relative in our lineage, Homo neanderthalensis, used medicinal plants that are still in use today by our own species (Hardy et al, 2012; 2013; Huffman, 2016). Regardless of the illness, there are four basic requirements for demonstrating selfmedication: i) identify the disease or symptom(s) being treated; ii) distinguish the use of a therapeutic agent from that of everyday food items and or ‘medicinal foods’; iii) demonstrate a positive change in health condition following self-medicative behavior, and; iv) provide evidence for plant activity and or direct pharmacological analysis of compounds extracted from these therapeutic agents (Huffman, 1997). Current evidence suggest that for insects, self-medication may be operated entirely by innate mechanisms (Bernays & Singer, 2005), while for some higher vertebrates like chimpanzees, important aspects of selfmedication, such as what plant species and when and how to ingest it, appear to be acquired and transmitted from generation to generation via socially biased learning and maintained in the group as culture (Huffman & Hirata, 2004; Huffman et al, 2010)
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