Wild Health
 
How animals keep themselves well
&
What we can learn from them

About the Author

Cindy Engel earned a PhD in animal behaviour from the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom. Her field work has followed the habits of rabbits in England and the movements of jaguars in the jungles of southern Mexico. For the past fifteen years she has been an assistant lecturer in the Faculty of Environmental Science at The Open University, and she is currently also a consultant in animal behaviour for various commercial organic farms. A freelance radio and television science advisor, she has recently worked on a wildlife series for the National Geographic Channel, and a BBC radio series on the national history of medicine. Cindy has studied holistic human medicine for and is a qualified herbal medicine and shiatsu massage practitioner, living on a smallholding in rural Suffolk with her two children.

Cindy's Ph.D. was a study of the relationship between physiology and behaviour in animals. She has published numerous scientific papers, particularly in the journal Animal Behaviour .

 

Contents

Section 1: Living Wild

• Health in the wild
• Nature's pharmacy
• Food, medicine & self-medication
• Information for survival

Section 2: Health Hazards

• Poisons
• Microscopic foes
• Gaping wounds & broken bones
• Mites, bites & itches
• Reluctant hosts, unwelcome guests (parasites)
• Getting high (psychoactive substances)
• Psychological ills (stress management)
• Family planning (breeding & fertility control)
• Facing the inevitable (coping with aging and death)
• What we know so far (interaction of physiology, behavior, environment)

Section 3: Lessons we might learn

• Animals in our care (domesticated pets & farm livestock
• Healthy intentions (disease prevention)
• Notes (scientific & zoological literature references)
• Index

 

Synopsis

How do animals keep themselves healthy?

This book is an exploration of how animals cope with stress, keep themselves well and cure disease and parasitic infections in the wild. It has long been documented that wild animals heal themselves with herbs. Folklore, legends and traditional medicine all lay claim to such feats of self-medication by animals. Until recently though scientists have been reluctant to accept these stories, dismissing them as romantic anthropomorphism. But things are changing as more and more scientists uncover examples of insects, birds and mammals self-medicating their ills. Monkeys, bears, coatis and birds protect themselves from insect bites and fungal infections by rubbing medicinal plants and insects into their skin. Chimpanzees carefully select anti-parasitic medicines to deal with parasites. Elephants roam miles to find the clay they need to help counter dietary toxins and birds line their nests with pungent medicinal leaves and so improve their chicks' chances of survival. This book is the first general overview of the emerging science of "zoopharmacognosy" and describes strategies that can be used to improve the health of animals in our care.

The behavioural strategies animals use to maintain health are explored by resorting to no more mystical explanation than Darwinian natural selection. As these strategies have successfully endured the ravages of evolution, they provide a solid basis by which we might improve the health of captive wild animals, livestock and companion animals. Also, by observing wild health and the many similarities with the human pharmacopia, we may even discover (or rediscover) ways to further improve our own health.

Animal health and medicine are fascinating subjects that have enormous implications for human medical treatment and preventive medicine. Wild animals eat plants that have scientifically proven medicinal properties. They also know how to select the right foods for a nutritionally balanced diet - often with more skill than people do! This book is very timely, coming just as world-wide interest is growing in "nutraceuticals" - the health-promoting ingredients in foods.

Animals even seek out psychoactive substances. They get drunk on fermented fruit, hallucinate on mushrooms, become euphoric with opium poppies. Self-control of breeding is achieved with plant chemicals while other herbs are used as aphrodisiacs, still other natural medications are used to enhance fertility.

"Wild Health" reviews scores of remarkable examples of the ways animals medicate themselves. For example, Desert Tortoises will travel miles to mine the calcium needed to keep their shells strong. Monkeys, bears, coatis, and other animals rub citrus oils and pungent resins into their coats as insecticides and antiseptics to prevent infected insect bites. Chimpanzees swallow hairy leaves folded in a certain way to purge their digestive tracts of parasites. Birds line their nests with medicinal leaves to protect their chicks from blood-sucking mites and lice.

Animal medications have many similarities to human pharmaceuticals. Some early human medicaments, including many practices being revived today as alternative medicine, arose through the observation of animals. As "Wild Health" shows, animals still have a lot to teach us!

Reviews

"Wild Health is a bench-mark book of multi-disciplinary science, highly accessible to both layman and expert alike. It is an intellectually refreshing call for a more holistic approach to health and staying healthy. Articulately separating science fact from fiction, Dr. Engel takes the reader on a spell-binding journey through the various possible strategies which have evolved in the animal kingdom for defence against disease, the unseen predator. The lessons to be learned from this book are clear and simple. No single animal species or human culture has a monopoly on the powers of healing. We need to protect and respect them all. By combining millions of years of natural selection in the animal kingdom with the accumulative knowledge of modern and traditional human health care systems, we stand a better chance of survival not only as individuals but also as a species."
Michael A. Huffman, D.Sc., Associate Professor of Ecology, Kyoto University, Japan.

"A book which would have been valuable and fascinating at any time since Darwin, but is now urgently needed."
Professor Martin Wolfe, Research Director, Elm Farm Research Centre, UK.

"This book provides a splendid and scientifically accurate account of animals' knowledge of what's good for them to eat and what's not. It provides evidence of lifesaving biological pre-programming of animals and perhaps some evidence in support of animal culture. It is a "must buy" book for anyone who wants to know more about how animals think and react to the world around them."
Dr. Nicholas H. Dodman, Professor, Tufts University.

"Scientific fact is based on what we know today and will almost certainly change over time. Cindy Engel synthesizes a collation of seemingly disparate anecdotes into a cohesive, logical argument that makes the reader think outside the constraints of current biological boundaries--providing a foundation of testable hypotheses in understanding the integrated nature of Wild Health."

Dr. Ellen S. Dierenfeld, Department Head, Wildlife Nutrition, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo, USA.

"Wild Health is a fascinating and enlightening view of how our relatives stay healthy. Secrets of nature deliciously told."
William Karesh Chair of the Wildlife Specialist Group, International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources

"A Sensuous, rigorous analysis of how animals stay healthy in the wild"
Celeste Biever, The Financial Times 17 January 2002.

"A fact-filled fun-to-read book... Read this book, marvel, and start imitating the wisdom of wild animals"
Jeffry Mason, author of "When Elephants Weep".

"A fascinating new book... The implications are huge"
Jerome Burne Guardian 17 January 2002.

"Reading Wild Health is an astonishing experience - it's a revelation in the same way that Silent Spring was a revelation, and will change the way its readership sees the world. With its faultless scholarship and beautiful writing, Wild Health is a stunning achievement, and will certainly have enormous influence."
Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of "The Hidden Life of Dogs"

 

Ordering information   "Wild Health" is available in British and USA editions (differing in cover photo) click on one of these direct links to order:       British edition   Canada edition   USA edition All deliver world-wide currency conversion calculator

 

More books on health & disease in animals: reviews

 

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