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posted by hubie on Thursday September 29 2022, @04:10AM   Printer-friendly
from the I-don't-need-no-doctor-for-my-prescription-to-be-filled dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:

Have you ever seen your cat or dog eating grass? They do so because it can help their digestion, and many wild species use natural substances to prevent and control diseases or to repel parasites. This is called "zoopharmacognosy" or, more commonly, animal self-medication.

[...] In the field, we follow several groups of tamarins within fragments of the Atlantic forest to collect behavioral data and fecal samples for subsequent hormonal analysis. Typically, we woke up at dawn and followed the tamarins from the time they left their sleeping site until they returned to sleep, a little before sunset.

During one of these daily studies, we observed them rubbing their bodies on the trunk of a tree covered with resin. At first we thought that the tamarins were marking their territory, a behavior that is common in this species. But we soon realized that it was something else. In fact, the individuals in the group were collectively rubbing the area of the trunk from which the resin emanated and were also coating their fur with it. Our first instinct was to record the scene and take samples of the bark and resin to identify the essence of the tree.

[...] Our botanical expert later confirmed that it was a species of cabreúva, Myroxylon peruiferum, a tree well known in traditional medicine for its antibiotic, anti-inflammatory and anti-parasitic properties.

The use of this tree by the tamarins was quite intriguing, so we decided to place camera-traps at the foot of the cabreúvas to record future visits by the tamarins. [...] In total, 10 different species were observed rubbing or licking the resin exuding from the trunks of these trees. These included several emblematic neotropical mammals such as the ocelot, the collared anteater, the ring-tailed coati, the tayra, the collared peccary and the red daguet.

For many of these species, this was the first time that behavior similar to self-medication was observed and described. For example, anteaters used their large claws to rip open the bark and stimulate resin secretion before rubbing their bodies against the exposed trunk. Even more surprisingly, peccaries spread resin on each other's fur in pairs and head to head. In general, the species seemed to specifically visit the tree to acquire the resin and presumably benefit from its many virtues.

While further studies are needed to identify the properties of the resin sought by the animals and thus confirm that this is indeed zoopharmacognosy, the use of this essence in traditional medicine suggests that mammals visit cabreúvas to heal their wounds and repel parasites. For lion tamarins, the use of cabreúva resin could play an important role in the fight against yellow fever, a mosquito-borne disease that decimates primate populations.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:24PM (#1274186)

    it sounds really good

  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by sonamchauhan on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:25PM (2 children)

    by sonamchauhan (6546) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:25PM (#1274187)

    Several animals ingest minerals, including salt, at naturally occurring minerals licks. These include bats.
    https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0002011 [plos.org]

    Salt is known to have antiviral properties - salt stimulates the innate immune system. (There are two types of immunity: innate and adaptive. Innate immunity is the first line of defence against viruses - it senses them and activates an inflammatory response. The adaptive immune system -- the one trained by vaccines -- is the second line of defense)
    https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30206371/ [nih.gov]

    Bats are also famously immune to many viruses, including close relatives of COVID-19. This immunity is thought to be due to their innate immune system -- the one strengthened by salt ingestion.
    https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02596-2 [nature.com]
    https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2020.00026/full [frontiersin.org]

    So... I wonder if salt give bats their superpower.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:40PM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 29 2022, @02:40PM (#1274189)

      SALT?!?!?! I must have a super charged immune system that can defeat covid in microseconds!!!

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