Elephants may use medicinal plants to treat themselves and their babies
Small study uses local knowledge to identify 35 medicinal plants used by elephants in Kenya
A sickly looking elephant chews the bark of a tree that's widely used in traditional medicine.
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that → use → medicine
A mother elephant mixes a plant with known medicinal properties with her milk and feeds it to her babies.
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elephant → mix → babies
These are a few of the stories that researchers have gathered from local wildlife scouts and community members about African elephants in the Mount Elgon region of Kenya.
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researchers → gather → Kenya
"I've stopped being surprised at this point," Elodie Freymann, who studies self-medication in the animal kingdom, told As It Happens guest host Helen Mann.
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It → stop → Mann
"Knowing how intelligent and complex elephants are and elephant societies are, it was just a matter of time, I think, before we began learning just about the extent of the diversity of the medicinal plants that elephants are using in the wild.
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elephants → know → wild
Freymann is the co-author of a new study, published Thursday in the journal Nature, that taps into local knowledge to document several dozen medicinal plants used by Mount Elgon elephants.
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that → publish → elephants
The researchers say the study adds to a growing body of evidence that elephants are complex and intelligent creatures, and demonstrates why it's important to protect the biodiversity they rely on.
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they → say → biodiversity
However, scientists caution that more research is needed to say with certainty that the elephants are self-medicating.
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elephants → caution → certainty
The findings are based on interviews with eight members of the Sabaot community who have lived and worked with the elephants for decades, including wildlife scouts, community guides and village elders.
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who → base → scouts
In some cases, they describe elephants who appear weak, lethargic or stomach sick seeking out specific plants that are used in local medicine.
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that → describe → medicine
In other cases, they describe mother elephants feeding known medicinal plants to their young.
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they → describe → young
Of the 35 plants mentioned in the interviews, 34 are used locally in traditional medicine.
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34 → mention → medicine
Eight of the nine most commonly cited plants have been documented in scientific literature as having pharmacological properties.
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Eight → cite → properties
"We went to the source.
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We → go → source
We went to people who have lived amongst these elephant populations for decades and decades," said Freymann, a post-doctoral fellow at Brown University in Rhode Island.
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Freymann → go → Island
"I think Western science, for a very long time, hasn't championed those local voices, and it's time we start doing that.
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we → think → that
"
More evidence needed
Chase LaDue, an elephant ecologist who was not involved in the research, said the study makes a great starting point for further research, but doesn't prove elephants are intentionally medicating themselves or their young.
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elephants → need → themselves
"There were no health data showing any of these elephants were actually sick, and nobody measured whether eating these plants changed anything," LaDue, a curator at the Oklahoma City Zoo and the executive director of the Sri Lanka Elephant Project, said in an email.
"What young calves do all the time is put their trunks into their mothers' mouths and sample whatever she's chewing.
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she → be → whatever
It's one of the main ways they learn what to eat.
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they → learn → what
It's possible something like that is being described here and understood through a medical lens.
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something → describe → lens
I'd want to see it before calling it medicine."
Local knowledge, he says, often points researchers in the right direction.
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he → want → direction
But anecdotal evidence has its limits.
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evidence → have → limits
"If you grew up knowing a plant treats stomach trouble in people, and you see an elephant eat it, it's natural to connect the two.
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it → grow → two
But elephants eat an enormous variety of plants.
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elephants → eat → plants
In a region this botanically rich, it would be surprising if many of them didn't have some traditional medicinal use," he said.
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he → have → use
"Overlap by itself doesn't tell us much."
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Overlap → tell → much
Freymann says it's unlikely the elephants are eating medicinal plants simply out of personal preference because they tend to be full of compounds that taste bitter and awful.
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that → say → compounds
"In small doses, they're medicines, but in high doses, they're poisons," she said.
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she → say → doses
"They're the compounds that the plants generate as a defence against predators, like caterpillars, that are trying to eat them.
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that → generate → them
But she agrees this study is just a starting point.
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study → agree → ?
Her team has outfitted the interviewees with cameras to document the elephants consuming the plants.
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team → outfit → plants
She says studying that footage will be the next step in the research.
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studying → say → research
"We have an incredible, incredible launch pad for conducting further research on this," she said.
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she → have → this
When an earthquake hit, these elephants formed a protective circle around their youngest
Elephants may have names for each other that humans don't know, study finds
If the researchers are able to prove the elephants are, indeed, self-medicating, they'll join a growing list of animals who exhibit similar behaviour, including chimpanzees and other great apes, and some insects and birds.
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who → hit → chimpanzees
All the more reason to champion biodiversity, says Freymann.
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Freymann → champion → biodiversity
"Habitat loss doesn't just mean the loss of foods for animals.
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loss → mean → animals
It doesn't mean the loss of territory for animals.
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It → mean → animals
It also means the loss for medicine," she said.
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she → mean → medicine
"In this changing world with unstable climatic conditions and changing ecologies, it's more important than ever that animals have the access to the medicines that they need to flourish in their environment."
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they → change → environment
The Aporia
