Animals Like Us - Animal Medicine

[Music] [Applause] [Music] there are millions of disease-causing organisms on our planet animals like humans get sick but far from suffering in silence animals take action the meek and the mighty of the animal world share one important habit they self-medicate we set off to uncover how animals fight sickness and disease microbes are lowly organisms but among the toughest and most successful of all the Earth's inhabitants parasites like lice can carry these germs and pass them on to animals in feeding off other organisms they transmit disease causing pathogens to survive animals must put a stop to both pathogens and their carriers the old adage prevention is better than a cure holds true as much for the animal kingdom as for our own society in the mohali National Park in Tanzania East Africa simple hygiene is the first rule of thumb [Music] parasites feed off warm blood once lodged in the skin a female tick will Gorge herself until she reproduces a serious attack could weaken this young rhesus macaque through blood loss what's more ticks carry the bacterial pathogens which cause typhus and Lyme's disease a curious behavior called lip smacking accompanies another grooming session in the Mojave Park grooming rituals lasts up to three hours a day it's an effective way of removing parasites and minimizing the danger of disease no body part is overlooked lice eggs are picked off with lips fingers even leaves and eaten grooming to prevent disease may be one reason why some primates live in groups but it also plays another role in ape and monkey society it's a way of making new friends and renewing old acquaintances simple preening however doesn't do the job but starlings have hit on an ingenious method of cleaning their feathers European wood ants produce highly concentrated formic acid to ward off predators and catch prey starlings have another use for it they brush the ants against their feathers in doing so they could be call me itchy nurse from feather grouse ask formic acid is a painless assist it is also lethal to feather mites some ants give off other chemicals like fatty acids which can kill microbes an ting is in fact an all-round skin and feather care strategy for starlings the poor wood ants meanwhile have health problems of their own tens of thousands of them live in this warm food rich nest it's an ideal breeding ground for bacteria and fungi to prevent germs spreading ants to practice strict hygiene starting with disposing of their dead they also take out the garbage spent pupae shells meal leftovers and anything else likely to decay is thrown out when dead ants decompose they give off pungent chemicals called pheromones a queue for the Undertaker's to move in a funeral march ends on ceremoniously the ants park their dead and rubbish in specific sites on the boundaries of their territory a safe distance from their nest if the Starling looks to the venomous wood ant for relief other animals need look no further than the tip of their tongue even domestic dogs pay more attention to hygiene that we might first think this is not just grooming she's actually licking away pathogens killing them with chemicals in her mouth two strains of bacteria E coli and ascaris can be fatal to newborn perks which catch them when suckling professor Ben Hart's research at the School of Veterinary Medicine in Davis California found that not only dog but cat and rat saliva act as powerful antiseptics keeping wounds clean and preventing sexually transmitted diseases evolutionary ancestors of our domestic animals and other animals living in nature don't have veterinary services around there's no one giving them vaccinations don't train them when they get sick no one's caring for them and beget they survive quite well they thrive in fact and so there's got to be something to animals taking care of themselves so that they can actually in fact look about as healthy as the ones that we have under our own care of basic hygiene keeps most animals healthy and strong but feeding habits are important too especially in the wild where the weak quickly go to the wall we strike east across the Atlantic to Scotland to film for the first time ever some extraordinary scenes the island of rum is part of the Inner Hebrides archipelago which sits off the west coast of Scotland weather is harsh and the island soil poor and thin Red Deer were introduced to rum in the 18th century their natural habitat is forests but here they've had to adapt to rocky coasts granite hillsides and bleak Moors the deer struggle to find the food and minerals they need to survive and are consequently small for their species however the lengths they go to supplement their diet took one scientist quite by surprise professor Bob furnace is a seabird specialist of the University of Glasgow setting out one day to study the islands summer population of Manx Shearwater birds he made a discovery that cast the red deer struggle for survival in an entirely new light towards the end of August before the long winter months set in adult shearwaters abandoned their chicks to migrate back to the South Atlantic under cover of night a chicks emerge from that nesting burrows to practice flying in preparation for their first long journey south heat-seeking infrared cameras capture the spectacle of the shearwaters maiden flights [Music] beneath the rum sky the deer grazing Shearwater burrows where the grass is enriched by bird droppings for chicks still grounded the deer presents a mortal threat we just noticed the deer casually pick up a Shearwater chick and walk around with it in its mouth and then start chewing and it chewed it really carefully for about 15 or 20 minutes and then dropped it and we were amazed to find that the all the bones in the wing had been chewed out but the wing had been left behind and the bones in the legs had been chewed out but the feet were still attached to the body by the tendons and the skin far from being hungry for meat Bob furnace believes the deer hunger for the calcium in the bird's bones this mineral is crucial for skeletal antler growth and the deer are in need of a dietary supplement it's quite clear that the animals are doing this very deliberately they know exactly what they're picking up and they know exactly how to manipulate it to get the bone out and it's quite a sensible thing for them to be doing because this improves their body condition it improves their reproductive output so there's obviously a strong Selective pressure to find the the minerals that they need [Music] even if it means abandoning their strict herbivore diet animals like the Red Deer on run we'll go to unusual lengths to find the minerals they need for good health one mineral in particular is absolutely essential and animals will roam far and wide to satisfy their hunger for it elephants risk injury and death to find the right spots in remote underground caves peer where high in the Aberdare National Park in Kenya's Central Highlands the stuff these elephants prize so highly is nothing more than the salt of the earth Salt's plays a vital role in their lives as it does in us like water and air we simply wouldn't be alive without it but in the wild it can be difficult to find enough plants contain only small quantities hardly adequate to meet the hundred grams or so an elephant requires daily to stay healthy salt protects mammals bodies from fluid loss but it's released in sweat and urine if salt levels fall these elephants will dehydrate and eventually die they return to the same salt licks time and time again because their lives like those of the Buffalo and other mammals depend on it [Music] the appetite for salt is so strong that feeding continues after dark by day all these mammals feed on leaves and grasses but the vegetation which makes up their diet is full of poisonous chemicals salt intake serves a second medical purpose not only does it prevent dehydration salt is used in detoxification neutralizing poisonous plant compounds in the gut [Music] [Laughter] [Music] animals and plants have a love-hate relationship a story as old as the history of life on Earth itself plants can provide animals with nutrition and medication but can also make them sick in their parallel evolution with animals plants developed strong frontline defenses against attack physical deterrents like Bob's prickles and bark make it difficult for animals to eat them [Music] plants also produce some very effective chemical weapons beneath thick bark toxic compounds like alkaloids and tannins lurk in resin and SAP [Music] these poisons are sent two stalks and leaves areas vulnerable to assault giving them a bitter taste and discouraging predators herbivores encountered this jungle of lethal substances on a daily basis so why don't they get see we journey to the Spice Islands to Zanzibar off the Tanzanian coast for an insight into how some animals cope with plant poisoning rainforest soils are poor in nutrients and the trees growing here protect their leaves with high doses of defensive compounds Indian Armand and mango tree leaves form a major part of the Zanzibar red colobus monkeys diet these leaves are full of protein but they also contain phenols in high doses these chemicals will poison the monkeys at the very least they causing digestion but the red colobus appears to have found a remedy [Music] they have learned to meet charcoal they pick up leftovers from charcoal kilns where it's made for cooking fires they also relish in charcoal from trees and stumps child when pasties are burned this young colobus learns the antidote from his mother by imitating her charcoal acts like a sponge soaking up toxic compounds in the stomach and safely removing them these monkeys crunch their way daily through several grams of charcoal the amount they eat compares closely with the recommended dose to treat cases of drug overdose and poisoning in humans nobody knows how the Zanzibar red colobus discovered this antidote which apart from humans they share with few other species [Music] [Applause] if you animals consume charcoal clay eating is far more common red clay on the banks of the Tambopata River in Peru attracts hundreds of Amazon's and macaws [Music] they gather here to purge themselves of the unwelcome side effects of eating seeds and unripe fruits this natural diet is rich in tannic acids and toxic alkaloids like whinnying and strictly [Music] soil plays the same role as charcoal it contains minerals which bind to toxins removing them from the gut clay eating for geology is one of the most common natural prescriptions in the animal world the practice extends to elephants giraffes rhinos and many other animals including primates animals actively strive to stay healthy to survive many have successful strategies for disease prevention but what happens when they don't work an animal force thick the tiny island of Cayo Santiago lies just off Puerto Rico in the Caribbean Sea rhesus macaque monkeys live here on one of the oldest primate research centers in the world mechanics are not native to the Caribbean they were introduced from India for research on kayo over half a century ago although food is provided every day the monkeys spend much of their time roaming the island foraging for plants [Music] like other animals living in the wild they're exposed to disease the subtropical climate and the macaques own feeding habits make them particularly vulnerable to intestinal parasites they can infect it by accidentally swallowing worm eggs which can lie dormant in the soil for up to ten years the most common symptom of infection is diarrhea with the sometimes fatal consequence of dehydration nonetheless this colony of macaques enjoys a high reproductive rate and low mortality in short they appear able to cope with parasite infection even to the point it seems of treating its symptoms the macaques take action to stop the runs clay soils contain a mineral called Kalin which helps prevent fluid loss the Monkees appear to be using it to counteract diarrhea caused by parasites [Music] the macaques eat so much clay that dozens of clay mines like this one have been excavated across the island clay may also neutralized toxins in the plants things much like the choco eaten by red colobus monkeys on Zanzibar macaques use of it mirrors our own species Australian Aboriginals Africans Chinese and Europeans swallow clay in one form or another to counteract intestinal and digestive problems if nature is the macaques pharmacy it is often ours to nature both heinous and poisons animals and humans alike have learned to wield this double-edged sword 3,000 years ago the ancient Greeks knew the benefits of natural poisons the story goes that in the first century BC Mithridates king of Pontus in Asia Minor immunized himself against poisoning by taking small doses of lethal substances daily the medieval physician Paracelsus wrote the dose makes the poison in other words too much will kill you but a little can work magic poisons of a foundation of pharmacy long before us animals started exploiting plants defensive toxins for their own protection against disease and infection fields and forests became their medicine cabinets [Music] all sorts of animals including those on our doorsteps have learnt to tap into these medical resources even the humble Hedgehog appears to have come up with the useful plant remedy beneath it spies hedgehogs are prone to ringworm mites and ticks they're also famous for athletes [Music] unlike aches and monkeys hedgehogs don't have grooming partners but they have found a substitute these animals are attracted to strong smells plants like mints and lemongrass the Hedgehog chews on the leaves working up a fine lava which he pastes on his body [Music] the reason they perform these strange rituals is unclear many plant oils have been discovered to be effective pesticides hedgehogs could be using them as a way of controlling their parasites [Music] the law the potion certainly seems to work against fleas [Music] animals use plants as remedies but how do they know which ones work does the way they smell give them a clue to their effectiveness in Central America large troops of white-faced capuchin live in the lowland forests along Costa Rica's Pacific coast these monkeys rub their fur with plants they collect in the forest at the kuru reserve they've been seen fur rubbing with different parts of different plants from ATIS stems slowly a tree pods piper leaves and citrus fruits they do it mainly during the rainy season humid months when there are lots of insects and microbes about chemicals in these plants inhibit fungal and bacterial growth and repel ants suggesting that the Capuchin czar using them for their medicinal properties dr. Mary Baker an anthropologist at the University of California Riverside began a study into how the monkeys select the right plants the olfactory cues the scent here's a stimulation but I didn't know if there were other cues for recognizing the plants or that might stimulate this behavior so one of the things I wanted to figure out was how are they recognizing these plants is it is it purely olfaction or can they recognize them visually do they use taste do they use tactile cues following a series of experiments Mary Baker found that the key for plot choice the scent and vision but she also discovered that young Capuchin sometimes made mistakes they chose the wrong planet this would seem to imply that there is a learning curve when you look at different troops at different reserves the same plants are available to the monkeys in these different troops but each troop uses its own set of plants which suggest that they learn from other monkeys and the truth which are the ones to rob well like the charcoal eating red colobus the customs of the capuchin seemed to pass from one generation to the next all four Capuchin species fur rub suggesting that instinct for genetics also play a part the monkeys know which plants to choose but that doesn't necessarily mean they also know about the plants medicinal properties those experiments allow me to conclude that they are very much aware of certain qualities of the plants but what they're getting from that quality might be enjoyment or it might be medicinal and I just don't know put the Capuchin just be doing this for pleasure cooling themselves down on a hot day how can we really know why they fur rug or why hedgehogs self anoint our own experience of traditional medicine suggests Capucines do indeed self-medicates Mary Baker discovered that indigenous people in Central America treat internal disease and skin infections with the same plants used by the monkeys [Music] man was long been looking to the habits of sick animals to find ways of curing his own ailments Navajo Indian mythology tells of a plant called OSHA knowledge of its use came from watching bears which dig up the root chew it and rub it on their fur [Music] Leon secretary is a traditional healer many times when some of our people when they follow the the bear there's many ways that if it's hurt a hurting it tries to find ways to heal itself and it knows exactly what kind of medicinal plant they need to keep to get or to eat and this is the way that we are taught the OSHA plant came from the bear many of the plants that we know that we use from the animals for many many hundreds and thousands of years the animal knew about these plants and they were the one they were the first one to to use those plants old from there the medicine is given by the animals [Music] the OSHA plant holds a special place in Navajo culture it's taken for stomach flu and to bring down fever and works as an anesthetic and antibacterial indeed traditional medicine reflects something of our shared evolutionary past with the animal world so it comes as no surprise that humans and animals living in the same environment use the same plants to treat the symptoms of similar diseases animals however use some plant remedies we may never be able to exploit the Greek philosopher Socrates was killed by the poison hemlock potion he was forced to drink a caterpillar uses this very same plant to survive an attack by parasites [Music] during the spring we'll leave our caterpillar tee voraciously building up fat stores in readiness to keep ate when they're good and plump the parasite strikes these flies prey on woolly bears waiting for an opportune moment to inject their eggs into the caterpillars abdomen the fly larva develops inside living off the woolly bears fat when it's grown full size the maggot burrows its way back through the abdomen wall to the outside world it seems astonishing that any creature could survive such an ordeal the woolly bear secret according to Professor Rick Carbon lies in their diet at the bodega Marine Reserve in California rick carbon caged caterpillars eating two very different plants Bush looping a woolly bear favorite and poison hemlock back at the lab using an ultrasound monitor to detect which caterpillars had been infested rick carbon made a remarkable discovery the caterpillars chances of surviving this traumatic event hatching up to five fly larvae increases if the caterpillar has been feeding on poison hemlock the caterpillar is also more likely to choose hemlock as a host if it's been parasitized the sick caterpillar switches food preferences it actually chooses to eat poison hemlock although hemlock doesn't kill the fly larvae it somehow enables the woolly bear to survive attack hemlock is full of extremely toxic nitrogenous compounds called alkaloids a tiny dose is more than enough to kill a large vertebrate let alone a small caterpillar these insects seem able to push the alkaloids so quickly through their systems that the toxins don't get taken into their body tissue [Music] caterpillars don't have brains but they're still capable of complicated behaviors like responding to changes in their health is this a conscious decision of the sort that we would make probably not rick carbon puts their actions down to the pressures of natural selection natural selection can act on animals like caterpillars that don't have a well-developed central nervous system no thinking is going on but the behavior can still be pretty complex and can still be adaptive to the insect or defending itself and changing so that it defends itself against its enemies even if the woolly bear doesn't know much about why it's eating hemlock its actions mean it can recover from the attack pupate and eventually metamorphose into an adult moth evolutionary pressures force animals to take action to maintain their health whether it's done consciously or not the implications can still be very far-reaching here in the Corinne DeForest in Madagascar a primate species is believed to be using plants to actively boost reproductive health dr. Valentina karai an Italian researcher at the University of Pisa is tracking a species of lemur called SIF occurs they unique to this Indian Ocean island she's been looking into the diet of pregnant and lactating females and come up with some surprising results this sucker mother is eating the leaves of a tamarind species called killi by the Malagasy its leaves are known to have a high tannin content talons are toxic they bind to proteins in the animal's gut and cause indigestion but female SIF occurs hunger for talons especially when pregnant or after giving birth singly Shabangu eyelids are teeny largest Aponte's up at Lani my lip also know you're sorry mothers I'm going if they used in the right amount not too much tannins can be useful for the animal to increase its body weight or to increase milk production when lactating vets use them as an astringent to prevent internal bleeding and miscarriages so turn-ins can be useful for several reasons for these animals not only this if occur females find talent in kilee but in another plant called firming challenge like other toxins also fight intestinal parasites protection perhaps Pacifica fetuses if according to Paracelsus the dose makes the poison then these lemurs appear to know the limits of their own tolerance further research needs to be carried out and extended to other species of lemur but the strategy is already known to be successful a spectacle three males in the Corinthian give birth every year compared to every two years in other parts of Madagascar the origins of their behavior and how they pass it on remain a mystery the mystery is buried in our remotest past when our ancestors shared the same evolutionary ladder as the Apes their ways of treating sickness our disease offered the snapshot of what our own medicines might have been millions of years ago but do they understand their actions we've come full circle and are back in the muhuali mountains of Tanzania with our closest relatives the chimpanzees the rainy season here last six months from November to May this little shelter from violent storms and torrential rains while thick fur provides some protection they frequently get soaked this is a difficult time for chimpanzees they're vulnerable to sickness catch colds and coughs with the Rays comes a scarcity of good food chimps are omnivores they meet leaves and fruit things like figs and the sour tasting citrus type fruits called Sabbath root but this is not the season of Plenty right fruits are difficult to find this is a rare treat [Music] not to be shared [Music] primatologist at Kyoto University professor Mike Huffman and Mahalo Park Officer Mohammadi calumny have been working together for some time on the subject of animal self-medication their work accounts for much of what we know today about how wild chimpanzees treat sickness [Music] torrential rains and a poor diet leaves the chimps weak and tired they're vulnerable to attack by parasites [Music] the chimpanzees get infected by eating leaves and grass contaminated with worm larvae which thrive in these warm wet conditions a month into the rains and many chimps begin to show the tell-tale signs of parasitic infection diarrhea and stomach cysts this female cysts of a likely result of nodule worms burying into the walls of her intestines but wormy chimps have a remedy for parasites a strange behavior which puzzled scientists for some time until Mike Hoffman deciphered it basically what what the Apes do is to take a leaf one at a time very carefully and very slowly pulling it into the mouth folding it over two or three times and then swallowing it they'll do this was up to a hundred leaves in one sitting multiply this by a hundred and the stomach doesn't know what to do with it it's something that can't be digested so it naturally pushes it through the system and within about six hours a hundred of these leaves come charging through the intestinal tract pushing out the worms these rough leaves act a bit like velcro they purge nodule worms from the chimpanzees innards espalier and some forty other plants used by great apes for the same ends all have the same physical properties in common a rough hairy surface it looks like this Billy I have to clean it up he could be no it's lo hago to get the grass Baretta at the higher ratio than average usually we have two leaves for one adult worm but in this dung we've got maybe four leaves tops and we've got ten worm so far across Africa chimpanzees bonobos and gorillas ascribed to this same treatment but witnessing it is rare we know now that chimps self-medicates early in the morning or on an empty stomach and more often during the rainy season when parasites are active [Music] chimps build sleeping nests at night high up in the tree canopy but when they're tired or unwell they often build them during the day to rest it [Music] this young chimp is collecting a powerful medicinal plant it's not aa Spiller but a plant called Vernonia amick Delina Vernonia works in quite a different way from a Spiller instead of scouring the gut with bristles the bitter pit inside the store poisons intestinal parasites the pit contains chemicals which inhibit parasite activity as well as actually killing some microbes which also infect humans the tongue way people of muhuali use this same plant as medicine Mohamed Iike London knows all about this plant properties he's not only a tracker but a traditional healer devoted to me imagine come walk away the night we use this Pannonia plant which we call Matt Johnson to purify blood and for a number of then cover ourselves with blankets when as we do this we inhale the steam which makes us sweat a lot this helps in the cure of Malaysia Malaysia chimpanzees have a complex treatment system they can combine chemical remedies like Vilonia with mechanical ones like a Spiller to combat sickness on top of that their daily grooming ritual keeps the skin parasite free but do primates understand that they're targeting the causes of sickness when they swallow these plants if they did we might expect them to use the plants with which they treat some ailments and apply them to cure others like wounds for example but they don't Capucines don't use citrus and antihistamines on cuts which would speed their healing and this rhesus macaque uses only water on her gash perhaps even intelligent animals are not aware that they're targeting the causes of their illness but simply seeking relief from uncomfortable sensations it's difficult to know that in fact me human societies may not all be aware of exactly what they're targeting when they take medicines that make them better they all have their ideas of the causes of illness but it may not always be the correct interpretation but I think it's safe to say that chimpanzees and other animals indeed do know when they're not feeling comfortable and then coming across ways that make them feel better so they don't have to know a lot of details to be able to treat a symptom and to know when that symptom has disappeared from the rules with simple hygiene to complex treatments of symptoms it's only in the last two decades that science has begun to appreciate the evolutionary pressures that force animals to take their health into their own hands perhaps Alan is no more than we think only as long as their wild habitat survived will we learn more about the potential of nature's pharmacy and the potency of animal medicine [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: Best Documentary

Views: 50,073

Rating: 4.2341881 out of 5

Keywords: Documentary, animals, animal, National Geographic, series, wildlife, medicine, doctor, plant, medical, diets, monkeys, health, disease, treat, animals like us, animal medicine, wildlife documentary 2019, wildlife documentary

Id: nnt1gE069RQ

Length: 51min 43sec (3103 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 20 2018