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Animals Innate Self-Medicating and Self-Healing Behavior

"Animals have an in-built innate knowledge of how to heal themselves, they just need a little more help from us besides love and veterinary care. The wild relatives of our companion animals have evolved with a powerful, innate healing sense and highly developed senses, in particular sense of smell, which allows them to utilize plants and other features of the natural world to maintain their own health physical and psychological health. Our animal companions still retain this ability and enabling them to exercise this innate skill away from the wild is a crucial step in improving their emotional welfare, allowing them to self-select scents and natural wild remedies they are familiar with. Zoopharmacognosy healing therapy utilizes the physiological and emotional innate responses of animals to improve both their physical and emotional welfare."

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Animal's Self Healing Behavior

Zoopharmacognosy is the study of how animals seem to instinctively know how to use bark, leaves, clay minerals, roots and seeds to self-medicate and treat various illnesses.

Vertebrate animals have co-evolved with plants and other organic components of nature's pharmacy and have enough knowledge of their own immune responses and vulnerability to disease states and relate with their natural environment in a variety of ways to maintain their life force and survival.

In her book "Wild Health, How Animals Keep Themselves Well and What We Can Learn From Them" Dr. Cindy Engel DVM explains how animals wounded in the wild or stricken by disease possess a remarkable ability to treat their ailments. There are numerous examples of animals self-medicating. For example, elephants will climb perilous mountains to access a cave of an extinct volcano in western Kenya. With their tusks they break the soft rock from the cave walls to grind and eat clay to obtain the minerals which protects them against toxins and parasites. Birds, chimps and other animals will also eat clay to absorb toxins and pathogens and will roll in clay mud to heal their wounds or skin conditions.

Wild Health Animals Innate Self-Medicating and Self-Healing Behavior Animals have evolved with highly developed sensory systems and interpret their territory as sights, sounds, smells, tastes and emotion. This wealth of accumulated innate knowledge and well developed sensory systems enables animals to identify and utilize natural healing sources in their environment that are effective in maintaining and restoring their own physical and psychological (emotional) health.

It is well documented that free roaming animals self-medicate and heal using secondary metabolites (the plants natural healing agents) from medicinal and aromatic plants, some toxic, along with soils, clays and charcoal and will utilize them in a variety of ways such as inhaling, consuming, as well as using external remedies, such as back-rolling to expose themselves to a variety of treatments.

Plant secondary metabolites often self -selected by animals are known and used in both human, and animal pharmaceuticals for their health giving therapeutic properties that include supporting the animals immune system, having antibacterial, antiviral, anti-parasitic properties, and help promote the body’s own healing mechanisms. These secondary metabolites are widely used in ethno veterinary medicine which also supports their use and effective health benefits.

Companion and equine animals that have been rescued or abused has benefited enormously from the facilitated approach of this concept of innate animal self-healing behavior which not only serves as a natural tool for post-traumatic stress, anxiety issues and related behaviors but their physical health too.

This natural method to animal health and welfare with rescued animals has shown to be consistently effective and addressing the emotional support the animal may be in need of and proven to help animals overcome their emotional pain and experiences.

Zoopharmacognosy: Its’ Impact on Our Natural World, Agriculture, our Survival and the Planet

Seema Bhattessa

Terrestrial animals use their environment for nutrition such as fats, carbohydrates, proteins (also known as primary metabolites), what is now emerging, gaining more attention and importance, is how terrestrial vertebrates utilize their environment as a source of medicine. In particular, plant secondary metabolites (PSM’s) which are produced exclusively by plants to protection against pests, as scent, coloring or attractants and as the plants’ own hormones. They have no nutritional value and are only selected by animals in small quantities when they are in need of them.

Home base business opportunity This innate behavior of animal species is intentional for either their health maintenance, health restoration in the presence of illness or disease or as a preventative health strategy. Co-evolution of terrestrial vertebrates and plants has enabled animals have accumulated enough innate knowledge of their own immune responses and vulnerability to disease states and able to identify remedial or medicinal plant sources within their natural environment. Wild and free roaming animals that have been exposed and had access to nature’s pharmacy, enables them to locate and utilize their environmental medicine as a survival strategy. This innate animal behavior is known as Zoopharmacognosy and is a survival tool still practiced today by wildlife and free roaming species from large animals to pollinating insects, birds and reptiles.

Livestock, domestic animals and even our pets that do not normally have access to nature’s remedies, can still call on this innate sense, and will utilize plant secondary metabolites when they are in need of them, as an innate response to restore their own health in the presence of physical and illness, disease, and emotional trauma. Animals use their highly developed senses to locate and identify their remedies in their environment and will utilize them in a variety of ways such as inhaling, consuming, in their dens and nest building, as well as using external remedies, such as back-rolling to expose themselves to a variety of treatments.

Principles of zoopharmacognosy are based on well-developed sensory systems, in particular the olfactory (smell) system, because essential behaviours governing daily life, such as mate-seeking, environmental mapping, food locating and communication, are all dependent on olfactory cues. This, combined with an evolutionarily innate response by the body to meet its own physiological needs, means animals have selected diets to meet their nutritional needs and have found solutions to their medicinal needs. This pattern of selection and problem solving is based on sensitivity to the environment, and instincts about what is beneficial for survival.

Wild Health When wild animals “self-medicate” with plants for example, they are detecting aromas of in the smell of these sources but are also known to utilize soil minerals and structural compounds naturally occurring in bark, grasses, minerals, blue green algae, and other organic sources in their environment. PSM’s have a number of protective functions on the body, they can bolster the efficacy of their body’s immune system which helps reduce vulnerability to infection or advanced disease states, offer protection from free radicals and effective against pathogenic bacteria, viruses, fungus and parasites.

So what are the implications and benefits of zoopharmacognosy? The potential and benefits of zoopharmacognosy are huge, particularly in sustaining and managing wildlife, agriculture, ecosystems, livestock and animal health and can help reduce the industrial impact on the environment, establishing a more synergistic relationship between humans and nature. For animal survival, plant resources containing PSM’s and other environmental remedies may be as important as food resources and predator distribution. Dwindling environmental sources of PSM’s could play a key role in contributing to the disappearance of some of our wildlife and honeybees. It may also be an important factor in the increase of diseases transferable between animals and people (Zoonotic diseases) that we have witnessed in recent years and that have threatened and taken its toll on our own health, businesses and economies, such as Avian flu, BSE in cattle and more recently Swine flu.

Understanding zoopharmacognosy behaviours can help define associations of individual vertebrate animals with various plant species, enabling us to better understand the unexpected and unusual migratory and breeding patterns, as well as the survival rates of wildlife, captive zoo and re-released wild animals. Indeed, analysis of such associations can help predict more suitable locations for animals with essential botanical needs.

Zoopharmacognosy behavior can provide a more natural and cost-effective approach to the health of our livestock and sustaining our wildlife in their natural habitat. Providing nature’s wild remedies in the design of our agricultural farms, gardens, captive animal enclosures and habitats such as zoos and wildlife reserves, can benefit the health and well being of the individual animals themselves, as would a variety of conservation efforts.

Associations between animal species, and environmental sources for health maintenance, is more in design with nature and other characteristics of the land for and offers huge potential in:

  • preserving biological diversity and environmental systems
  • can be a valuable contribution towards creating stable agricultural ecosystems
  • can contribute as indicators for ecological networks beyond that of food webs and environmental change assessments
  • Offers another tool in restoring fragile or damaged habitats, helping the wilderness re-establish itself
  • In sustaining the long term health of our livestock, in disease prevention by empowering the animals themselves to strengthen their immune systems and resisting disease in the first instance, as well as reducing the severity of symptoms should they occur
  • As possible indicators for wildlife and environmental conservation and management.

Healing of Healing of animals and the environment is not a goal but a process and would benefit from zoopharmacognosy as part of that process. The consequent effect on associated animal species remains unknown as long as the true relationship with PSM’s and other wild remedies remains under examined. Article written by Seema Bhattessa

“Olfaction” or Smell therapy (also known as zoopharmacognosy)

This method utilizes the physiological and emotional innate responses of animals to improve both their physical and emotional welfare. The effects of olfaction therapy on people has been widely researched and investigated by the perfumery industry, as most of us are aware that different scents and odours can influence one’s emotional response and behaviour. Olfaction to treat post -traumatic stress is also well demonstrated by scientists in USA by recreating the smell of Ground Zero as a desensitization therapy for the affected survivors.

Sheeps The wild relatives of our pets have evolved with a powerful, innate healing sense and highly developed senses, in particular sense of smell, which allows them to utilize plants and other features of the natural world to maintain their own health physical and psychological health. By enabling our pets to exercise this innate skill away from the wild is a crucial step in healing their emotional welfare, allowing them to self- select scents and natural wild remedies they are familiar with. This approach helps them to connect with positive, healthy feelings, give them back a measure of the confidence they may have lost, reduces anxiety, offers them emotional support and assists with their emotional release and helps correct any trauma related behaviour and responses.

Offering a bonding and more trusting experience between new and existing owners and their animals is another benefit of this therapy as well as stimulating the immune system, the most important tool an animal has in combating the onset of illness.One example of a case study was that of a 6year old male Bull Terrier dog with a fear phobia of noises.

He was rescued by his current owner at the age of about 18 months old. The dog had a history of having had fireworks thrown at him one evening which left him with a severe case of noise phobia that was so extreme that he would panic at the slightest noises such as rain on a window and developed a fear of the dark. This phobia almost threatened his own life when on one occasion; during a thunderstorm he walked through a glass cabinet in an attempt to escape the noise.

Using Olfaction self-healing therapy the dog self-selected remedies for five days which included Sandalwood, Vetiver, Neroli and Lavender, which were indicated for anxiety, obsessive worry, nurturing and comforting and offered a sense of peace and calm. On day 5 the smoke alarm accidentally went off in the house and the owner’s concern was the dog's reaction. Immediately, the owner walked into the room where she had left him and was amazed to find him lying on his bed, fully awake and did not even raise his head to acknowledge her presence. The owner had never seen him react so calmly.

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Health benefits in managing livestock welfare:

They say the best way to help an animal is to help the animal help itself. Due to human intervention, livestock animals, unlike their wild counterparts do not have access to nature’s pharmacy and denied the opportunity to have some control of its own health and emotional welfare. Livestock farmers who add vitamin and mineral supplements to animal feeds, and while this is done with careful knowledge, it still may not be the natural choice of the animal.

Herds and individual animals that appear stressed or traumatised could benefit from a facilitated approach of this innate self-healing behaviour , in particular, natural remedies with known calming and stress relieving properties would help them to remain calm in everyday situations that may otherwise cause them to be stressed. What's more, secondary metabolites from medicinal and aromatic plants can help enhance and support the animals’ natural healing processes and immune systems, improving existing health and providing protection against disease. his facilitated approach would allow livestock safe access to natural remedies they innately recognize and an opportunity to utilize on a self-selection basis. This approach is intended to broaden the idea of livestock health, rather than replace traditional professional veterinary care. There is no risk of the remedies contaminating produce with harmful residues like some conventional antibiotics, and because the animals never become resistant to the therapy it will continue to be effective from one generation to the next.

Reasons to consider innate animal self-healing :
  • Valuable contribution towards improving livestock health and welfare management
  • Assists livestock to cope with environmental stressors
  • Environmental enrichment: Provide a calm balanced emotional state and environment
  • Helps reduce the anxiety and stress of animals being intensively farmed
  • Cost effective in the long term health of livestock
  • Valuable contribution in the control and management of animal diseases transferable to the human population
  • Strengthens animals immune system reducing vulnerability to infection or advanced disease states
  • Reduce the need for antibiotics
  • Improves quality of produce

Innate animal self-healing behaviour can be a turnkey tool for reducing the effects of stress, trauma and anxieties in livestock at all stages from birth to the end of life, as well as supporting and strengthening the immune system.em.
This long forgotten innate animal knowledge offers safe, natural solution to our current livestock health and emotional welfare problems both now and in the future.

Seema BhatSeema Bhattessa holds a B.S. Hons. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of London, a Diploma in Zoopharmacognosy , as well as other animal relevant qualifications. She currently resides in the greater London area, where she owns and operates Innate-Scents Animal Therapy and Zoo Pharma Consulting  while independently researching the benefits of Zoopharmacognosy on sustaining wildlife health and conservation, as well as connecting the research to other scientific disciplines.

How we can help manage stress and improve emotional welfare of livestock?

Piggies Besides reBesides re-examining and improving farming practices such as diet, environmental hygiene, non-confinement of animals and handling, there is another approach that offers enormous potential to improve livestock stress and emotional welfare as well as supporting and strengthening their immune system using innate animal self-medication behavior also known as animal self-healing behavior or zoopharmacognos.

This is an evolutionary survival strategy of how all vertebrate animals restore and manage their own health as they would in the wild. What is more, domestic and livestock animals still retain this innate ability which is a safe practice and withstood the test of time. facilitated approach to this method has been well demonstrated and proven in domestic animals and shown to be effective for improving physical illness and emotional stress such as trauma, fear phobia, anxiety.

This holistic approach to livestock health is more in keeping with nature and gives back to the animal some control of its own health as a curative or preventative approach. One example of this innate animal self-medication behavior that livestock farmers are very familiar with is allowing access to a salt lick in the field on a self-selection basis.

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Energy Healing

Natural Energy self-healing therapy that includes Reiki or Spiritual healing, is a non-invasive ancient therapy that has stood the test of time and offers another method of assisting animals in promoting self-healing on all levels, bringing more balance and harmony to the animal and giving a sense of well –being, calm and acceptance. Energy healing can address a variety of issues, it can increase positive outcomes with a range of conditions on all levels, physical, emotional and behavioural issues, helping them to release any anxieties, worry or stress. Animals are very sensitive to energies and respond to energy healing far more readily than we do.

Energy heaEnergy healing utilizes invisible energy systems that exist around and through an animals’ body and include the auras, chakras and meridians which can affect the emotional, physical and spiritual energy systems of the body. These energy systems are very responsive to environmental changes and can affect animals’ emotional state (as well as physical). Universal energy is channelled through the hands of the practitioner to balance and harmonise the animals’ energy field and this channelled healing energy goes to wherever it is needed in the body to assist the self-healing process of the body on all levels.

Pets of all species and rescued animals can benefit enormously from self-healing therapies such as these which not only serve as a natural tool for post-traumatic stress, anxiety issues and related behaviors but their physical health too. My work and experience of working with rescued animals has been consistently effective and because this approach to holistic animal care addresses the emotional support the animal may be in need of and proven to help animals overcome their emotional pain and experiences and learning to trust and bond with people again.

Seema Bhattessa holds a B.S. Hons. Degree in Pharmacy from the University of London, a Diploma in Zoopharmacognosy ,perates Innate-Scents Animal Therapy and ZooPharma Consulting while independently researching the benefits of Zoopharmacognosy on sustaining wildlife health and conservation, as well as connecting the research to other scientific disciplines.