Researchers from the Musée National d’Histoire Naturelle
in Paris have found that eating dirt helps chimps fight off malaria. They eat
dirt to boost the anti-malarial properties of certain plants, the researchers
say.
Geophagy, eating soil by the chimps, has been observed to be a common practice
in some other animals. While soil eating has been discouraged in humans because
of links to mental-health issues, researchers suggest that geophagy can be
explained in chimps as a means of enhancing health effects of certain plants.
In lab tests, soil and leaves were analyzed, both separately and as a mixture
with different soil samples. The test findings reveal that when the leaves are
digested without being mixed with the soil, they have no significant
anti-malarial activity. Leaves digested with the soil showed clear anti-malarial
properties.
The researchers found that the tested soil contained the clay mineral kaolinite.
Kaolinite is commonly found in diarrhea medicines and is also well known to a
local healer as a remedy for diarrhea.
Nature, it seems, knows best. The chimpanzees have an instinctive knowledge of
what is necessary for their optimal health.
This intelligence of nature continually fascinates scientists. As human beings,
let us go beyond fascination and learn to respect and live in harmony with this
grand Nature, which provides us with all that we need for life.
