Kyoto Uni study shows lemurs self medicate during pregnancy

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Primates found popping prenatal drug

 

http://www.newscientist.com

 

from New Scientist Print Edition

 

A Madagascan lemur has been revealed as the first animal known to

self-medicate when pregnant. Female sifaka eat plants rich in poisonous

tannins in the weeks before giving birth, researchers have discovered.

 

 

Sifaka lemurs eat what's best for baby (Image: M HARVEY/GALLO/CORBIS)

It is unclear why the sifaka does this. In other mammals, small doses of

tannins kill parasites and stimulate milk production. And vets often use

tannins to prevent miscarriage, raising the intriguing possibility that

by eating the plants the sifaka is protecting its developing baby.

At first sight, a taste for tannins might seem odd whether you are

pregnant or not. Plants use them as defensive chemicals to deter

herbivores from munching their leaves, as the toxic tannins bind to

proteins in the animals' guts.

" The sifakas are doing something that goes against the grain, " says

Michael Huffman, an expert in primate self-medication at Kyoto

University in Japan and a member of the team. " But this probably means

they have a good reason for doing it. "

 

His team studied Verreaux's sifakas (Propithecus verreauxi) in Kirindy

Forest, western Madagascar. Pregnant females ate more of the tannin-rich

plants, called fihamy and kily, than other females or males, the authors

will report in a future issue of the journal Primates. They also found

that the sifakas that ate the plants had fewer failed pregnancies than a

group of sifakas that did not.

Huffman accepts that he cannot be sure this is down to the tannins, as

the sifakas that eat them might simply live in a less stressful habitat.

Also, the researchers admit that the animals could be after other useful

compounds in the plants.

Numerous primates, including chimps, baboons, black lemurs and

capuchins, dip into the jungle pharmacy to combat parasites.

Some 39 species have been observed eating soil, which soaks up toxins in

the gut and allows the animals to eat poisonous plants without getting

sick. Another trick used by chimps is to swallow bristly leaves whole,

which irritate their stomachs and induce diarrhoea, flushing out

tapeworms and other gut parasites.

 

James Randerson

 

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search the print edition Archive Weblinks Primate Research

Institute, Kyoto University Verreaux's sifakas, Animal Diversity Web

Animal Self-Medication Primates journal