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Animal Superpowers
(Monday, 21 July 2008) Written by greeniac121212
Much as we love to anthropomorphize animals, most of us have probably never read or heard that animals, like us, use medicines and alcohol to increase their sense of well being. Well, according to Dr. Karl Shuker, in his book, "The Hidden Powers of Animals," they do!

Tanzanian chimps use aloe gel in the same way that humans do, to relieve skin discomfort. The chimps also actively use antibiotics (from the Aspilia plant), the same ones that are used by humans living in the area. These chimps have discovered and long been using the same plants that the native peoples use to remedy parasitic infections and stomach pains. Monkeys in Africa have also been known to use plants to cure diarrhea and sooth menstrual cramps!

And it's not just chimps and monkeys that use medicinal plants either. Sparrows tend to eat the paradise flower, which provides them with an anti-malarial substance, specifically during malaria epidemics. Female elephants are even thought to eat from a certain type of tree to induce labor!

As far as intoxiation goes, animals from butterflies to birds to elephants are also known to drink too much at times and experience the effects, much the same as humans do. Interestingly, however, the starling is able to metabolize alcohol so much faster than other animals, including humans, that it does not get drunk.

I find all of these discoveries very interesting. It seems there is so much we humans do not know about animal knowledge and behavior. It's only through patient attention to subtle cues that scientists have been able to learn as much as they know now. The more I learn about animal "secret powers," the more shocked I am, and the more I think that we still have entire worlds of informaiton left to learn about these topics.

One of the most remarkable "animal super power" stories I've ever heard was in an environmental science class. My teacher has read about a certain group of dolphins that was noted to sing a certain song together. When a new dolphin was born, she or he would be taught the song and sing along too. As the scientists observed these dolphins for multiple generations, they noticed that, with each geeneration, the song kept getting longer. One theory is that the dolphins were recording history!
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