Chimp Geophagy

An interesting press release here, on geophagy (soil eating) in chimpanzees. An excerpt:

"The deliberate ingestion of soil, or ‘geophagy’, has important health benefits for chimpanzees, according to Sabrina Krief and her colleagues from the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris, France. Far from being a dysfunctional behavior, geophagy has evolved as a practice for maintaining health amongst chimpanzees. In this particular study (1), to be published online this week in Springer’s journal Naturwissenschaften, geophagy increases the potency of ingested plants with anti-malarial properties."

1. Krief S, Klein N & Fröhlich F (2008). Geophagy: soil consumption enhances the bioactivities of plants eaten by chimpanzees. Naturwissenschaften