Zoopharmacognosy: Learning From Wild Medicine

Jonathan Luker, ANTH 2218

Since I have a personal interest in cognitive science, I wanted to do
some research on comparisons between non-human primate and human
behaviors. This led me to the topic of zoopharmacognosy, from the Greek
roots for animal, medicine, and knowledge. Zoopharmacognosy refers
to animals in the wild practicing self-medication. Although we normally think
of medicine as a concept too sophisticated for animals, the reality is that
they can be quite good at keeping themselves healthy. Formal research into
zoopharmacognosy is relatively new, but awareness of the value of wild
medicine is much older. I, for one, hope that these investigations continue.
Not only is self-medication a good example of behavioral plasticity, it may
reveal a key stage in the history of human medicine.
My favorite example of zoopharmacognosy shows the relationship
between civilized and wild medicine. Near the start of the 20th century, the
Tanzanian medicine man Babu Kalunde was facing a crisis. A serious illness
had spread through his village, similar to dysentery. The inspiration for a cure
came from his observation of a sick porcupine with similar symptoms. It was
eating the roots of a plant that Babus tribe knew to be dangerously
poisonous. After testing the plant on himself in small doses, Babu shared the
story of the porcupine and convinced the tribe to try it. The cure proved so
successful that the WaTongwe tribe uses it to this day (Huffman, 2001).

As I soon discovered, use of plants as medicine is not limited to

humans and porcupines. Chausiku, a female chimpanzee in East Africa,
demonstrated very similar knowledge of plant medicine. Michael Huffman, of
Kyoto University, was observing her troop when Chausiku fell ill. Huffman
watched as she went out of her way to peel some bark off a mjonso tree and
chew on the pith. He shared the story with his local contact: Mohammed
Kalunde, who happened to be Babu Kalundes grandson. Mohammed told
Huffman that the WaTongwe tribe uses mjonso pith as a treatment for
malaria, parasitic infections, and upset stomachs. Sure enough, Chausiku
seemed to be feeling much better the next day (Bekoff, 2002).
To my surprise, primates may be able to use plants in their
environment for more than fighting stomach bugs. Kenneth Glander, of Duke
University, thinks that mantled howling monkeys in Costa Rica can control
the gender of their offspring. His study showed that many female howlers
bore only male offspring over a period of 20 years, a pattern very unlikely to
occur by chance alone. Females in the same population were seen eating a
collection of unknown plants just before or after copulation, but not at any
other time. Most of these females were at either lower or upper extremes of
their social hierarchy. Therefore, their infants were at greater risk in social
conflicts, perceived either as easy targets or future threats. Glander
speculates that ensuring that all surviving offspring are male bolsters their
mothers gene spread, and therefore her reproductive success (Cowen,
1990). Although the connection is not yet proven, I think its worth

investigating whether secondary compounds in the plants could have such a

profound effect in animals.
This research helped me to clarify what secondary compounds are
and why theyre important to biology. In brief, theyre chemical compounds
that are produced internally by plants as defenses against insects and other
predators. Several of these compounds are effective against bacteria, fungi,
or parasites, and may have the same effects when ingested by animals
(Cowen, 1990). A report by Michael Huffman shows both pith-chewing and
leaf-swallowing behaviors to be effective at fighting parasitic infections in
chimpanzees. Its interesting to note that when chewing the pith of medicinal
plants, the chimpanzees are always careful to avoid the leaves and bark.
Chemical analysis of the plants revealed higher concentrations of dangerous
toxins in the leaves and bark (Huffman, 2001), suggesting that the
chimpanzees learn not only which plants are useful for medicine, but how to
use them safely.
So how do animals learn these sophisticated medical practices?
Several ideas have been put forth as possible explanations. Although it
doesnt seem likely, its possible that they simply have an instinctive
inclination to select the right plant for the right condition. The idea that
medical plants are discovered by random sampling during illness is not
commonly argued for. Not only would the risk of accidental poisoning be
higher, chimpanzees in particular are very conservative in their feeding
habits (Huffman, 2001). To me, the more plausible explanation is that the

young learn from their mothers, or from watching others in the troop.
Youngsters in the wild have been observed imitating their sick mother right
after she used a plant for medicine (Bekoff, 2002). This combination of
empathy and imitation is likely reinforced by associating the plant with a
feeling of well-being. It has long been known that animals at many cognitive
levels can form such associations (Bekoff, 2002). I find the imitation proposal
to be the most convincing, since it accounts for both the behavioral plasticity
and the importance of social connections that primates are known for.
So what practical knowledge can we gain from research into
zoopharmacognosy? As we observe animals in the wild and take note of any
evident self-medication, we may be able to find new medicines useful for
humans, just as Babu Kalunde did. Clues about our own history may be even
more significant. Its not much of a stretch to imagine that our early
ancestors learned about medical plants in the same way as other primates.
As they developed fire and cooking, more advanced preparation techniques
removed many secondary compounds from their average diet. The result
was a greater dependence on use of resources specifically as medicine
(Huffman, 2001). With a history like that, its easy to see why our view of
medicine is very different from how its practiced in the wild. Overall, I found
zoopharmacognosy to be a fascinating topic, and I hope to see more
research focused on it in the future.

Works Cited

Bekoff, M. (2002). Minding Animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart. New York, N.Y.:
Oxford University Press. Retrieved from
http://search.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/login.aspx?
direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=146935& site=ehost-live&ebv=EB&ppid=pp_69
Cowen, R. (1990). Medicine on the Wild Side. Science News, 138(18), 280282.
Retrieved from
http://www.jstor.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/stable/3974722
Huffman, M. A. (2001). Self-Medicative Behavior in the African Great Apes: An
Evolutionary Perspective into the Origins of Human Traditional Medicine. Bioscience,
51(8), 651661.
http://doi.org.libprox1.slcc.edu/10.1641/00063568(2001)051[0651:smbita]2.0.co;2