26 June 2017
By Adrian Barnett
Are there merits to munching mud? Some monkeys seem to go out
of their way to add it to their standard diet of leaves, fruits and insects. In
Amazonian Peru, at least, one primate species seems to use mud medicinally,
possibly to prevent stomach upsets before they even begin.
Why some monkeys eat mud has been much debated, with the main
options being to kill parasites, as a mineral supplement or to cure stomach
upsets.
“Many previous reports involved just a few sightings, or come
from accidental encounters,” explains Dara Adams at the
Ohio State University in Columbus, who led the study. “We were really focused
on answering this question, and that seems to have made the difference.”
The team studied Rylands’ bald-faced saki monkey (Pithecia rylandsi), a rainforest canopy
specialist. With thick grey fur, it has a similar shaggy appearance and size to
a Maine Coon cat. The sakis’ treetop lifestyle means they did not get their mud
from the ground, but from the nest casings of tree-living termites.
“In 1125 hours, we recorded 76 feeding bouts at 26 termite
mounds,” says team member Jennifer
Rehg, from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. “They ate mound
casing – they weren’t focusing on the termites. They even ate inactive
mounds.”
Muddy goodness
But why termite mounds? Enter Mrinalini Watsa
from Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, who conducted a detailed
analysis of the mud the sakis were eating.
“The important thing is that this isn’t just any mud, it’s
termite-processed mud,” she explains. “Compared to topsoil, it has a higher
carbon and clay content.”
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