(May be relevant to the Ape Rights thread and the Talking Chimp Passes On thread)
New Scientist reports on pregnant lemurs:
His team studied Verreaux's sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) in Kirindy Forest, western Madagascar. Pregnant females ate more of the tannin-rich plants, called fihamy and kily, than other females or males, the authors will report in a future issue of the journal Primates. They also found that the sifakas that ate the plants had fewer failed pregnancies than a group of sifakas that did not.
This is unusual behavior, because the tannins in these plants are toxic, binding to proteins in the lemurs' guts.
They note:
In other mammals, small doses of tannins kill parasites and stimulate milk production. And vets often use tannins to prevent miscarriage, raising the intriguing possibility that by eating the plants the sifaka is protecting its developing baby.
What interests me is that the behavior is not unique. Chimps and other primates are, apparently, quite familiar with jungle pharmaceuticals:
Numerous primates, including chimps, baboons, black lemurs and capuchins, dip into the jungle pharmacy to combat parasites.
Some 39 species have been observed eating soil, which soaks up toxins in the gut and allows the animals to eat poisonous plants without getting sick. Another trick used by chimps is to swallow bristly leaves whole, which irritate their stomachs and induce diarrhoea, flushing out tapeworms and other gut parasites.
Seems awfully *human*, doesn't it? |
