After great apes, scientists find African elephants self-medicate too, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• Scientists have discovered that African elephants in Kenya exhibit self-medication behavior, a phenomenon known as zoopharmacognosy.
• These elephants consume specific plants and four types of soil, including mineral or clay, when unwell.
• The knowledge of medicinal plants is transferred intergenerationally among elephant mothers and their offspring.
• Local experts in Kenya's Mount Elgon region identified 35 plant species and four types of soil used by elephants for medicinal purposes.
• Several of these natural resources are also utilized in indigenous human traditional medicine.

Detailed Insights:

• Zoopharmacognosy involves animals seeking out natural resources like plants, charcoal, clay, and insects to treat various ailments such as endoparasite infestations, infections, and gastrointestinal problems.
• This behavior has been observed in other species, including orangutans, chimpanzees, and Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins.
• Elephants demonstrate intentionality by traveling long distances to specific trees to consume bark or leaves, bypassing other foraging opportunities.
• An observation in India noted a pregnant Asian elephant consuming the bark of Terminalia crenulata, a plant traditionally known to aid childbirth.
• The findings underscore the importance of respecting the Intellectual Property Rights of indigenous communities when pharmaceutical industries explore such traditional knowledge for drug development.
• This research highlights the potential for bioprospecting while also raising concerns about biopiracy if traditional knowledge is exploited without proper consent and benefit-sharing.
• The Mount Elgon region is also known for its unique "cave elephants" that mine salt from caves to supplement their diet.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Zoopharmacognosy: The study of how non-human animals self-medicate by selecting and ingesting or applying natural substances like plants, soils, and insects to treat or prevent diseases.
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): A cumulative body of knowledge, practices, and beliefs passed down through generations within communities about their relationship with the environment.
• Bioprospecting: The systematic search for biochemical and genetic information from biological resources for commercial products, ideally conducted with prior informed consent and benefit-sharing.
• Biopiracy: The unauthorized use or patenting of biological resources or traditional knowledge from indigenous communities without proper consent or compensation.
• Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): Legal rights granted to creators or owners of intellectual works, which in this context, relate to protecting traditional knowledge from misappropriation.