RESOURCE ECOLOGY

SOIL – PLANT – ANIMAL INTERACTIONS

SOIL AS A RESOURCE FOR
ANIMALS
GEOPHAGIA
Soil as a resource for animals

• Two short movies

• Dzanga Bai in Republic of Central Africa
• 4 min + 4 min
Geophagy
deliberate consumption of soil
• Normal behaviour
Animals recognize own nutritional
• Reasons/ effects needs according to their physiological
• Nutritional wisdom? state and are able to link it to mineral
deficiencies in available forage plants
• 2 principal hypotheses
Geophagy
THE SUPPLEMENTATION HYPOTHESIS

• animals consume the mineral-rich soil to compensate the lack

of some macro- or microelements in their plant diet.
• Na, Zn, Cu, Co, Fe, I, Se, P, K
Geophagy
THE DETOXIFICATION HYPOTHESIS
• alleviating gastrointestinal disorders or upsets
• CLAY when ingested have pharmacological properties and helps animals to
bind and thus eliminate toxic effects of tannins and alkaloids in the diet
1. Soils adsorb toxins such as phenolics and secondary metabolites;
2. Soil ingestion has an antacid action and adjusts the gut pH;
3. Soils act as an antidiarrhoeal agent;
4. Soils counteract the effects of endoparasites.
Geophagy
OTHER HYPOTHESIS

• ….. may satiate olfactory senses

• ….. serve as a famine food
• ….. may have no function at all
Places to provide sources of geophagy
‚key-resource sites‘
• Forest clearings
• River banks
• Termite mounds: folivorous monkeys may add to the beneficial intestinal
bacterial flora needed to efficiently digest hard-to-process plant materials.
This connection has especially been correlated with eating termite mound
soils by Sifakas. Termites are thought to incorporate symbiotic bacteria in
the walls of their mounds that could be beneficial cellulose-digesting flora.
•…
Mt. Elgon, Kenya
• https://www.youtube.com/w
atch?v=4umTqIwGT0I
• 8:35 min
• https://vimeo.com/35525821
• 9 min
Geophagy in Reptiles
• Both free-ranging and captive tortoises, lizards, and crocodilians may
consume stones (lithophagy), soil, and sand (geophagy).
• Desert tortoises, especially females, in the Mojave Desert seek out
and consume white calcite stones (not brown, gray, or other dull-
colored stones), which were mostly calcium carbonat
• Eating bones, stones, and soil may be important for calcium
acquisition, detoxification of toxic plants, or to expel parasites.
• Many reptiles incidentally ingest sand or gravel while eating
• Crocodilians ingest stones that may stay in their stomachs for
months to years, and their significance is much debated. Some
believe gastroliths are incidentally ingested and are nondetrimental,
others believe they assist with ballast and/or mechanical breakdown
of food
Geophagy in BIRDS
• Sage grouse are eating dirt
in Wyoming, USA
• Nanday parakeet
 Geophagy in UNGULATES

Babirusa, Sulawesi

Tapir in Manu NP, Peru

Red hartebeest, Kgalagadi, SAfr

Mountain goats, Jasper, Canada

Geophagy in PRIMATES
Geophagy in PRIMATES
Geophagy in HUMANS
• Detoxification procedures
• Famine
• Videos

Hawai
Salt/Sodium
• Dietary deficiency of salt is not clear as animals
continue to consume them even if sufficient
• „Salt appetite are basically genetic neural programs,
they may be substantially changed by learning and
cognition“ Denton et al. 2011 PNAS

• ? Iodine? – deficiency causes low reproduction?

IMPLICATIONS OF GEOPHAGY

• Effects on animal distribution in the ecosystem

• Effects on conservation:
• Enhancing animal‘s reproduction
• Increased survey of key-resource sites
• Ecotourism

• Effects on poaching
• Elephants use banks of roads due to easier access to
soil by tusks
THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION!