Why Chimps Eat Dirt

Why Chimps Eat Dirt

news.yahoo.com

By studying samples of soil eaten by chimpanzees in Kibale National Park in Uganda, a research team led by Sabrina Krief of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris found that eating soil with their meals boosts the anti-malarial properties of plants the chimps eat.

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Eating soil has also played an important role in many native tribes of many countries. A few Native American and African tribes have been known to go a full season by eating only soil, but scientists did not know how they survived, because the soil contained no nutrients. Perhaps now, we have a better idea of what keeps them alive.

I just wonder when they will add soil to the food pyramid.

news.yahoo.com
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Show me a native tribe that went a full season ONLY EATING SOIL, and I will show you an anthropologist that didn't do his homework.
While some natives consumed a bit of earth, no one existed eating exclusively dirt.... ever.

Parrots often eat clays to help reduce the toxicity of some of the nuts they eat.