Image source, Mount Elgon FoundationImage caption, Accounts from local experts revealed that wild elephants used more than 35 plants, many of which have known medicinal uses
ByVictoria GillScience correspondent- Published17 minutes ago
African elephants use dozens of different medicinal plants to treat themselves and their families when they are sick.
This is the conclusion of a study which interviewed people who live and work alongside the elephants in the Mount Elgon region of Kenya.
These particular animals have long intrigued scientists with their extraordinary behaviour - they are known as salt-mining elephants, because they go into caves and scrape the rock with their tusks to extract minerals for their diet.
This newly published research suggests that the same elephants use several different plant species in the forest for medicinal purposes.
Image source, Mount Elgon FoundationImage caption, Camera traps set up by the Mount Elgon Foundation captured the elephants 'mining' for salt in caves, to supplement their diet
One of the lead researchers, Dr Elodie Freymann from Brown University in the US, said the study raised the question of whether destruction of forest habitat deprives animals - and humans - of the medicines they need to thrive.
"This shows just how entangled our medicines are with the non-human world," Dr Freymann told BBC News.
Medicine for baby elephants
Image source, S PowlesImage caption, The researchers say the forests are 'natural pharmacies' for the elephants
The scientists collaborated with the conservation charity the Mount Elgon Foundation, external. They interviewed local people, including wildlife scouts and community elders.
Accounts described elephants selecting particular plants when they seemed unwell, and mothers reportedly giving medicinal plant material to their calves.
From this, the researchers concluded that the elephants use 35 different plant species, and that 25 of those are known locally to have medicinal uses.
The study, published in the journal Scientific Reports, external, did not name the interviewees - keeping participants anonymous so they felt free to share their stories.
Their accounts reveal some intriguing details. In one testimony, a wildlife scout described seeing elephants using a plant known as Angurweet "as medicine to give to babies".
Angurweet is used as a remedy for ailments including stomach ache. The scout, who described elephant mothers mixing it in their mouths - "removing the leaves and chewing it until smooth, along with the roots of some other trees".
He also recounted that he had seen mothers mix this plant material with their own milk. "They give it to the babies, who chew on it themselves and spit out the solids".
Professor Michael Huffman, a primatologist based in Japan, currently at Nagasaki University, said this particular account was "tantalising", but more evidence would be needed to prove that elephants provided bespoke medical treatment for their calves.
The scientists have already embarked on gathering that evidence - giving the local wildlife experts they worked with cameras to record the behaviour they witness.
They are also analysing plants that the elephants use - looking for new medicines that the elephants themselves may have discovered.
Another lead reearcher on the project, Dr Fabien Schultz from the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, told BBC News: "Local knowledge has given us a map".
"We [now] want to follow the elephants and investigate whether they select particular plants in particular health contexts, and whether those plants have relevant biological activity."
Image source, Fabien SchultzImage caption, The study identified 35 different plant species that the animals use
Natural medicine factories
Many animals treat themselves with plants and other natural remedies.
The earliest scientific accounts of elephants practicing "self-medication" date back to the early third century.
Roman author Claudius Aelian in his text De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals) described an elephant that, after being wounded by spears and arrows, consumed flowers and oil from an olive tree. The elephant made a full recovery.
Centuries later, these scientists are delving into what we can learn from wildlife about the properties of plants in the forest habitats they evolved in.
"There are medicine-producing organisms on this planet that have this incredible capability," Dr Freymann told BBC News." Medicine factories that exist all around us."
Image source, Christopher PowlesImage caption, Researchers worked with local experts to identify plants the elephants use
Prof Huffman, who was not involved in this study, added: "We now know that mosquitoes and drosophila (flies) self-medicate, bees self-medicate, as do many other species all the way up the evolutionary ladder to the great apes of Africa and Asia.
"WIth each new species studied, we have gained a greater understanding of our medicinal past."
For Dr Freymann, the findings also contain a lesson for our future.
"So many of the medicines we buy in a pharmacy were derived from compounds from trees, algae, from fungi, from coral reefs.
"It's a win-win for us to protect these forests and keep those natural pharmacies around... long enough that we can discover new natural products that could save us down the line."
