After all, whens the last time you saw a pigeon with a bum wing sporting a cast?
The following conversation has been lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
Jaap de Roode:Its just such a cool topic, and Ive always loved animals.
Cats' love of catnip is likely caused by an evolutionary adaptation that uses the plant to ward off insect pests—one of the many examples of animal medication in Jaap de Roode’s new book.© Olga Kazanovskaia/Shutterstock
So in some ways, I just wanted to demonstrate that this is not the case.
That to me was really importantto make people notice.
Its exciting but also so important to realize that for many reasons.
Gizmodo:You provide over a dozen specific examples of animal medication throughout the book.
But it also seems like weve still just barely scratched the surface of this phenomenon.
Do you expect scientists like yourself will end up finding a myriad of other animals that practice medicine?
Were also seeing that people are starting to think about this more now.
And we know that nectar has all sorts of plant chemicals in them.
So even at that level, we may find thatmosquitoes do itas well.
And thats just one example.
So, yes, I think there will be many, many more.
Do Animals Understand Death?
And so were always looking for ways that make us better or cleverer than other species.
Its been this realization that we are just rediscovering things that people had known thousands of years ago.
But I think we can also benefit in other ways and for the animals benefit as well.
I talk about these livestock experiments in the book.
So you give animals a better life and its better for their welfare.
The same is true with honey bees.
Theres this ongoing honey bee crisis.
Butbringing that backwill make the bees healthier, and that will make us healthier.
Itll help with all the pollination, which we need for our food production.
If we make happier animals, itll make for happier people.
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And in a new study Friday, researchers have found that some of these bites are wholly defensive.
But it doesn’t have to be, some researchers argue.
Who Chooses Medically Assisted Death?
