- NEW YORK (Reuters
Health) - As if on a visit to their neighborhood pharmacy, capuchin monkeys
living in the jungles of Costa Rica appear to seek out and apply a variety
of natural remedies to their fur to keep their skin healthy and bug-free.
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- According to researchers, this type of animal self-medication
suggests that humans may not have a lock on medical science.
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- "The monkeys may intentionally select these plants
for their medicinal value," according to researcher Maria DeJoseph
of Exponent Health Group in New York City. She said some of the plant-based
therapies used by the capuchins might even be useful in treating human
skin ailments.
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- The findings are published in the June issue of the Journal
of the American Academy of Dermatology.
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- Much of DeJoseph's findings stem from the work of American
anthropologist Dr. Mary Baker, who has spent many years observing the small,
tree-dwelling capuchins in their Costa Rican habitat. Baker has long observed
the monkey's "fur-rubbing" behavior, where the animals use their
mouths and hands to break up seedpods and leaves from specific plants before
rubbing them into their fur.
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- Investigating further, DeJoseph and co-researcher Dr.
Robin Taylor traveled to Costa Rica to identify and collect samples of
the plants used in fur-rubbing. Analyses conducted at a laboratory in the
United States confirmed what DeJoseph had suspected--that fur-rubbing was
actually a sophisticated form of self-medication.
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- The leaves of two plants used by the capuchins--Piper
marginatum ("cake bush"), Clematis dioica ("Old man's beard"),
and the seedpods of a third plant, Sloanea ternifola, each have "some
antibacterial, antifungal and antiarthropodal (bug-repelling) properties,"
DeJoseph told Reuters Health. Extracts of both cake bush and S. ternifolia
inhibited the growth of disease-causing staphylococcus and candida microbes,
while cake bush extract also proved effective in repelling ants.
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- Sloanea ternifola seedpods may do double duty as both
tool and drug: according to the researchers, the monkeys also use the spiky
pods as combs to rid their fur of parasites.
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- DeJoseph stressed that its not entirely clear that capuchins
consciously seek out medicines in their environment. "The behavior
might be similar to learned taste aversions," where animals (including
humans) learn to avoid foods that make them sick, she explained.
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- "Similarly, we might be able to remember what makes
us feel better when we are not well." Although more study needs to
be done to confirm that theory, DeJoseph said, "there are anecdotal
accounts amongst zookeepers that primates can make these associations."
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- And the capuchins aren't alone at playing doctor within
the natural world. Zoologists believe certain species of bears may also
engage in therapeutic fur-rubbing, while chimpanzees, baboons and spider
monkeys eat specific plants to rid themselves of gastrointestinal ailments.
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- The bottom line, according to DeJoseph, is that humans
could still learn a thing or two from animals when it comes to medicine.
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- "Amongst indigenous peoples there are folk tales
and myths about animals telling people about medicinal plants. It is possible
that people learned about some medicines by watching animals," she
said. In fact, DeJoseph's team believes that natural remedies used by the
capuchins "might lead to strategies for the prevention and treatment
of ectoparasite infestations in humans."
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- SOURCE: Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
2002;46:924-925.
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- Copyright 2002 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved
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