Animals Healers and Alarm Raisers

This short article will briefly detour around a few unique ways of healing that animals have evolved and also explore some of the tricks and traps that animals have some species of animals have developed to stun, baffle, frighten their enemies.

Meet Dr. Chimp and other animal doctors If you think that if a wild animal left alone may not be able to heal itself, you may be in for a big surprise. Chimps and other animals of the rainforest know how to heal themselves very well. For example, if a chimp is in pain, it knows exactly which leaves to eat.

This knowledgeable behaviour about herbal medicines is not just limited to chimpanzees but also other primates, like baboons, lemurs and vervet monkeys.

A chimp's prescription for diarrhoea
If it has diarrhoea, the chimp will go over and pick up some leaves from of the Aspilia plant to treat itself. The leaves of this plant help to even eliminate parasitic worms.

A chimp's prescription for abortion
It is interesting to observe that many of the medicines used by the chimps are the same as that used by the primitive tribal people of that area. For example, in order to induce abortion, chimpanzees chew Combretum and Ziziphus leaves.

How baboons cure dysentery and diarrhoea Baboons are seen chewing leaves of Solanum indicum while if they suffer from sever infestation with Shistosoma worms, a harmful gut parasite, they go out an chomp the fruits of the Balanites tree. How female baboons handle the pain of menstruation Menstruating baboons even have a treatment for period pains, taking the leaves of the candelabra tree to ease their discomfort.

How Zanzibar red Colobus monkeys neutralize toxicity
Zanzibar red colobus monkeys use charcoal to neutralize poisons.

Alarm Raisers! Lizards which throw blood! Just imagine being a small vulnerable lizard. One would think that there's very little that a harmless little lizard can do when caught, except understand its limitation and role in the food chain. However, that's what most lizards do, try to escape after detaching their tail or gallantly give up their life if they cannot scurry away fast enough.

However, far away in Texas, there's a breed of lizards that really brave it out and give the offending intruder a real scare. When attacked the Texas horned lizards inflate themselves and burst the walls between sinuses and eye sockets, squirting out jets of blood from their eyes. The awfully frightening fountains of blood actually spurt out for a distance of more than a metre.

Hawkmoth that does a snake dance! Caterpillars look like diminutive, hungry worms that have go on non stop leaf munching binges for their lunch and dinner. Frail, small creatures, caterpillars make easy prey for many birds, frogs and other large insects. However, there's a family of caterpillars that can make any animal's hair stand on end with its truly alarming display.

The hawkmoths are when attacked puff themselves up until one end of their body begins to really look appear like the head of a snake. The caterpillar then sways its 'snake head' part of the body to and fro. That makes the attacking animal think that here's a live and kicking snake that's going to go out and strike very soon.

Hissing butterflies! From caterpillar to butterfly, here's another surprise. Delicate and dainty, butterflies look like nature went out to explore the world of lines,colours and beautiful patterns. The number of different butterflies with their unique patterns and colours is simply amazing!

However, one butterfly that really takes the cake for alarm strategy is the peacock butterfly. When this butterfly is threatened, it opens its wings to display large eye spots that look suspiciously like a snake. To complement the mimicry repertoire, the butterfly makes a distinct snake like hissing sound.

The snapping turtle that shows a worm Turtles and tortoises look so much like peaceful, lovable creatures that just go about living peacefully for hundreds of years. However, a turtle species - the snapping turtle has devised a unique way to make finding food easy.

When the snapping turtle opens it's mouth, it reveals a small fleshy, worm like structure. The turtle which looks like a log, could easily make a gullible predator go for that harmless worm.

Hog nose snakes that throw up foul meat smells and fluid
Snakes that are not equipped with venom glands have evolved other ways of looking threatening and finding food. The hog-nose snake when threatened release fluids that have the distinct smell of a rotting carcass.

The wood snake that stinks like dead flesh Another species of snake that also exhibits a similar strategy is the West Indian wood snake. The snake coats its scales with a fluid that stinks of decomposing flesh. When attacked it has special blood vessels in the eye which burst to redden the eyes and cause blood to run from the gaping mouth.

The praying mantis that dresses up as an orchid Another insect which is just as vulnerable like grasshoppers, ants and caterpillars is the praying mantis.A beautiful way of camouflage that this insect has devised is to resemble the beautiful and colourful petals of the ichneumon orchid.

Sound laser stunners! Moving from visual mimicry to sound, there is quite a lot of special effects that animals use to stun and alarm other creatures when threatened. Dolphins, and sperm whales used sound waves to disorient, stun and kill their prey like fish and squids.

They do this through the use of the 'melon' structure on their head to shoot out a narrow beam of sound.

Moths that speak sonic Moving from the submarine creatures to terresterial animals that use sound, there is a rich diversity once again. Besides the bat families that use sound to navigate, moths too use sound. A species of moth has used sound in a very interesting way. When hunted by a bat, this species of moth gives out a sharp, ultrasonic squeak. That makes the bat drop the prey instantly out of fear, shock and surprise, thinking that it has banged in to something.

Surrogate ant mothers and nurseries for large blue butterflies Ant have a very interesting, elaborate and complex social organization. Not many insects exploit the ants interesting chemical means of communication. However, one insect that does that with good results is the large, blue butterfly.

The blue butterfly uses the ant's nurturing qualities to its advantage.By giving out certain chemicals, it gives the ants a false message that it is one of their own. Once, the message is given by the large, blue butterflies, the ants go out and bring them in to their nest and nurture them as one of their own.