Gibraltar macaques chew dirt to blunt junk-food digestion
TL;DR
Researchers studying 230 Barbary macaques in Gibraltar found those with more access to tourists’ calorie-dense snacks eat dirt about 12 times a week, suggesting geophagy buffers the digestive impact of high-calorie, low-fiber junk food and may aid gut bacteria; the behavior is more common in seasons with more tourists and is absent in groups with no tourist access.
- Monkeys have found a bizarre natural supplement to counteract human junk food BBC Science Focus Magazine
- Gibraltar’s monkeys eat mud ‘to avoid upset stomachs from tourist junk food’ The Guardian
- Monkeys in Gibraltar self-medicate with soil to help them digest tourists' junk food Phys.org
- Gibraltar's monkeys find a clever way to avoid a junk food bellyache Reuters
- Monkeys 'learn to eat soil to cope with junk food' BBC
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