Zoopharmacognosy: Nature’s Pharmacy used by animals
Author’s name: Prof. Pradeep Mishra, Bhupesh C Semwal, Sonia SIngh*
Introduction: Self-medicating habits is a topic of fast growing interest to behaviorists, parasitologists, ethnobotanists, chemical ecologists, conservationists, and medical professionals. Scientists from several disciplines are now exploring the probability that a lot of species use plants, soils, insects, and fungi as ‘medicines’ in methods that guard in opposition to potential disease (preventive medicine) and/or alleviate disagreeable symptoms (curative or therapeutic medicine). It is vital to note that the scientific examine of animal self-treatment is not based mostly on an assumption that animals have an innate ‘wisdom’ by which they flawlessly know what is good for them. Self-treatment approaches are survival competencies honed by natural collection. In most scenarios self-treatment could be inspired by a need to quickly reduce disagreeable sensations. Some species, significantly excellent apes, demonstrate an intention of goal in their treatment and in these scenarios the phrase ‘zoopharmacognosy’ was coined to describe the system by which wild animals decide on and use particular plants with medicinal homes for the therapy and avoidance of disease1.
In other phrases we can say that,“Zoopharmacognosy” refers to the system by which animal self-medicate, by choosing and utilizing plants and soils and insects to treat and protect against ailment. Coined by Dr.Eloy Rodriguez a biochemist and professor at Cornell College, the word is derived from roots zoo (“animal”), pharma (“drug”), and gnosy (“recognizing”)2.Due to the fact ancient periods men and women have recorded observations of animals evidently healing themselves with natural medicines. Several herbs even now retain a common name that infers this use: puppy-grass (Agropyron repens), catnip (Nepeta cataria), and sexy goat weed (Epimedium sp.), to name a couple of. On the other hand, these observations keep on being mostly unexplored by science. Several tales of animal self-treatment are clearly created to inform and communicate natural lore alternatively than simple fact. Other people are simply misinterpretations of animal behaviour.
In accordance to Chinese folklore, a lot of hundreds of years back a farmer in the Yunnan district uncovered a snake in the vicinity of his hut. Fearful for his lifestyle, he defeat it senseless with a hoe and left it for lifeless. A couple of times afterwards, the similar snake returned. Yet again he tried out to eliminate it, but once more it returned. Soon after he had overwhelmed it a 3rd time, the farmer adopted the seriously wounded snake as it crawled into a clump of weeds, started off feeding on them, and thereby fast remedied the worst of its injuries. The plant in the tale was Panex notoginseng, which now kinds the principal ingredient in the natural formulation ‘Yunnan bai yao’, a white powder that cauterizes cuts and stems external bleeding quickly. It was conventional situation in the Vietnam War, for use when troopers were being wounded considerably from traditional health-related treatment1.
Self-treatment by animals:
Chewing plants: Huffman is 1 of the pioneers of zoopharmacognosy, many thanks to his observations in 1987 of an animal -the chimp – making an attempt to mend herself. Intrigued by her speedy recovery and curious about the trigger of her disease, Huffman analyzed the chimp’s dung and uncovered the intestinal parasite Oesophagostomum stephanostomumto is the most possible clarification for her symptoms. What is actually extra, he uncovered reduced amounts of the worm in a further woman chimp’s excretions twenty hours just after she ate the bitter pith from a Vernonia tree, when suffering from diarrhea. Huffman and his colleagues isolated an totally new course of compounds from the pith, 1 of which, vernonioside B1, was uncovered to have antiparasitic, antitumor, and antibacterial homes.
Why chimpanzees go to all this problems to locate Aspilialeaves? For quite a few explanations, scientists feel that chimpanzees take in this plant to exploit its medicinal homes. 1st, chimps take in extra of these leaves for the duration of the rainy season, when parasitic larvae abound and there is elevated threat of an infection. Next, swallowing the leaves full alternatively than chewing they supply no nutritional reward to the animals, as they pass by the animal undigested. Africans use Aspilia plant, for a wide variety of illnesses these kinds of as lumbago, sciatica, scurvy, malaria, and rheumatism.
Experts are now browsing for responses to the more substantial problem: What is the system by which leaf swallowing functions in opposition to parasites? A single investigation showed Aspilia leaves to contain a vivid crimson oil acknowledged as thiarubrine-A, a compound clinically proven to eliminate parasites, viruses, fungi, and microbes. Huffman uncovered live worms in chimp feces trapped “like Velcro” to leaf hairs and trapped inside of the folds. He speculates that worms may possibly become hooked up to the leaves or somehow enticed into the folds for the duration of digestion, getting a “magic carpet ride” by the gastrointestinal tract, inevitably to be excreted from the overall body. Substances in the plant may possibly also lessen the potential of the parasites to adhere to the intestine, building it less complicated for them to be swept out by the leaves. To day, experts have documented 30 plant species whose bushy leaves are “swallowed full,” not just by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), but by pygmy chimps, or “bonobos” (Pan paniscus), and jap lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla graueri). These excellent apes, of study course, share their forest pharmacy with a further vital primate:Homo sapiens. . Rubia cordifolia is the antiparasitic plant Ugandans use to alleviate belly conditions. Typically, men and women of that region also depend on Aneilema aequinoctiale for fevers, earaches, and to prevent bleeding. Lippia plicata is ingested by Africans for extra major threats these kinds of as dysentery and malaria. And in Tanzania, Ficus exasperata is the most popular antidote for ulcer sufferers.
Wild cures for replica: Animals may possibly have “stumbled” upon a wealth of methods to control replica, and scientists believe current discoveries are only the suggestion of the iceberg. In accordance to Globe Wildlife Fund scientist Holly Dublin, African elephants (Loxodanta africana) request a individual species of tree, probably to induce labor. Dublin adopted a expecting elephant for extra than a 12 months in East Africa, and observed that the elephant adopted a strictly uniform diet plan and pattern of day by day habits till in the vicinity of the conclusion of gestation. At that time, the elephant walked seventeen miles in 1 day -a lot of extra than her standard a few- and ate a tree of the Boraginaceaehousehold from leaves to trunk! 4 times afterwards she gave birth to a healthy calf. The College of Wisconsin anthropologist Karen Strier uncovered that, at distinctive periods, muriqui monkeys (Brachyteles arachnoides)of Brazil go out of their way to take in leaves of Apulia leiocarpa and Platypodium elegans,and the fruit of Enterlobium contortisiliquim(monkey’s ear). The 1st two plants contain isoflavanoids which are componds comparable to estrogen. Ingesting the leaves may possibly enhance estrogen amounts in the overall body, thereby decreasing fertility. Alternatively, ingesting monkey’s ear may possibly enhance the monkey’s chances of turning out to be expecting because the plant incorporates a precursor to progesterone (the “pregnancy hormone”) called stigmasterol.
Fur rubbing habits: Mary Baker, an anthropologist at the College of California, analyzed that white-faced Capuchin monkeys ( Cebus capucinus) breaking open the fruits of selected species of Citrus plants, and rubbing the pulp and juice into their fur. They also tore stems, leaves, and seed pods from Clematis dioica, Piper marginatum and Sloanea terniflorastems, blended with saliva and vigorously rubbed them in as very well. These botanicals contain secondary compounds with healing and insect- repelling traits. Baker also observed that fur-rubbing behaviour turns into extra recurrent when temperatures and humidity increase for the duration of the rainy season. This may possibly be owing to the corresponding enhance in the threat of bacterial or fungal infections. North American brown bears (Ursus arctos) chew the root of Ligusticum porteri, building a paste of the plant with saliva, rub on their faces. Ligusticum porteri incorporates coumarins- fragant organic compounds that may possibly repel insects when topically applied3.
‘Fur rubbing is a regular behaviour of rubbing masticated plant elements and other objects these kinds of as insects on the external surface area of the overall body by animals. Fur rubbing has been reported in a variety of primates, like Cebus capucinus, C. olivaceus, C.paella, Atelos geoffroyi, A. belzebuth, Aotus boliviensis, A. lemurinus griseimembra, A. nancymaae and Eulemur macaco. It has been proposed that fur rubbing serves to repel or eliminate ectoparasites. In Venezuela, Capuchin monkeys rub hugely harmful millipede secretion into their fur for the duration of the humid achieved season when insect bites are significant. The millipede seretions contain benzoquinones, which are very well acknowledged for their insect repellant property.White- nosed coatis (Nasus narica) have been observed coating their overall body with the resin of Trattinnickia aspera (Burseraceae). These may possibly also provide to control ectoparasites and so should really be considered a self-medication4.
Eating microbes for digestion: The folivorous, or leaf-ingesting, hoatzin, on the other hand, works by using specialized microbes in the crop to break down difficult-to-digest leafy plant materials. Exploration implies that the bird’s intestine microbes also neutralize harmful secondary compounds uncovered in the plants it eats.
Antimicrobial property of plant: In accordance to biologist John Berry at Cornell College, sweet crimson fruits of Aframomum angustifolium, having antimicrobial homes basically pose a digestive danger to the standard, healthy population of microorganisms uncovered in the gorilla’s intestine. Soon after ingesting fruits of this wild ginger, antibacterial compounds in the plant can briefly injury these microbes, in flip upsetting the gorilla’s digestive system if they are not presently a normal section of the diet plan. Proof demonstrates that the gorilla’s microbiota has designed resistance to the biologically active elements of the plant in locations the place it is typically eaten–an adaptation3.
Anting behaviour: ‘Anting’ is a behaviour in which birds rub crushed ants through their plumage and some birds enable the ants to crawl about their plumage by right lying on ants nests. Anting is reported in extra than 200 species of songbirds and it is used to soothe irritated pores and skin, help with feather upkeep and repel or reduce ectoparasites. The most typically used ants by birds for anting are people species which contain formic acid. Subsequent empirical reports with bird lice discovered that formic acid is damaging to feather lice.
Antimicrobial lining in the nests: The leaves of wild carrot (Daucus carota, Umbelliferae), noticeably lessens the number of fowl mites (Orntithonysus sylviarum) in starling nests. The dusty-footed wooden rats (Neotoma fuscipes) place bay foliage close to their sleeping nests and it has been experimentally revealed that the inclusion of bay foliage noticeably lessens the flea larval survival. The wooden ants, formica paralugubris typically integrate large quantities of solidified conifer resin into their nests. By creating resin-no cost and resin –rich experimental nests, it was shown that the incorporated resin inhibits the advancement of pathogenic micro-organism within ant nests4.
European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), lining their nests with decide on refreshing vegetation, these birds are shielding themselves from a myriad of achievable infections. Wild carrot (Dauscus carota), for illustration, kills fowl mites in starling nests. The carrot incorporates the steroid B-sitosterol, a compound that repels mites and inhibits their egg-laying skills. Wooden storks also reuse previous nests, typically for generations, about a lot of many years and also carry refreshing inexperienced materials to their nests. Several of the plants they use are also hugely volatile these kinds of as crimson cedar (Juniperus silicola), cypress (Taxodium distichium), black gum (Nyssa bioflora), poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans), crimson maple (Acer rubrum), wax myrtle (Myrica cerifera), Virginia creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia), and h2o oak (Quercus virginiana). When examined in opposition to large pores and skin beetles that infest wooden storks, these plants had no effect. On the other hand, wooden storks’ options demonstrate the similar profile of aromatic, bitter and astringent plants, suggesting that treatment may possibly be about dealing with the symptoms of mites and bites alternatively than impacting right on the ectoparasites.
The domestic home sparrow is in on the act as well. In Calcutta, scientists have noticed that the home sparrow commonly brings neem (Azidiachta indica) leaves, which are impressive pesticides, to line its nest at hatching time. These sparrows have also been observed to adjust from neem to quinine-wealthy leaves of Krishnachua tree (Caesalpinia pulcherrima) for the duration of an outbreak of malaria. Quinine controls the symptoms of malaria and scientists ponder whether or not the sparrows were being choosing leaves to deal with malarial symptoms1.
Usage of soil: ‘Geophagy’ is an act of deliberately consuming soil, stones and rock by herbivorousand omnivorous mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. This behavoiur is observed and analyzed in the context of self-treatment in Japanese macaques (macacca mulatta), mountain gorillas (gorilla gorilla), chimpanzees (pan troglodytes) and african elephants. Geophagy is proposed as a implies to preserve intestine pH, to satisfy nutritional requirements for traces minerals, to satisfy starvation for sodium to detoxify previously eaten plant secondary metabolites and to battle intestinal complications like diarrhea4.
Summary:
Self-treatment in animals stays a field with limitless unexplored avenues. Washington College biologist Jane Phillips-Conroy, who analyzed self-treatment in baboons, states, “Just because a monkey eats a individual plant won’t imply he is aware of it can be medicinal. We need extra definitive reports like people of Huffman, with genuine evidence that individual plants are helpful in opposition to individual illnesses. “In accordance to Huffman, “With growing chemoresistance to the Western world’s present arsenal of antibiotics and anthelmintics [antiparasitics], we are unable to afford to enable that prospective source of expertise disappear3”. Truly, Zoopharmacognosy is based mostly on the evident potential of animals to demonstrate a cognitive grasp of prospective medicines in their setting. Further new discoveries in the field of zoopharmacognosy is vital in purchase to train us extra about habits, botany, and with respect to medicine, all locations in which we may possibly utilize our expertise to reward the impending potential generations.
References:
- http://www.colostate.edu/Depts/Entomology
- http://en.wikipedia .org/
- http://nationalzoo.si.edu/publications
- Raman R and Kandula S. Zoopharmacognosy: Self-treatment in wild animals. Resonance 2008: 245-fifty three.
By Sonia Singh
