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Animal instinct

Why do chimps chew on leaves that they clearly find revolting? And why do elephants risk death to extract rocks from a mountain cave in Kenya? Perhaps they know something we don't about staying healthy, says Jerome Burne

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Perhaps they know something we don't about staying healthy

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This guy needs to meet my dog. He has the teeth of an Englishman, the breath of an American, and his butthole looks like he's a regular at a cologen injection clinic. He sleeps for 22 hours a day and has been known to get out of bed, walk over to the food bowl and bring mouthful back to bed. And I don't mean his bed I mean mine. He's 12 years old and has crustly toe nails. He is 65 pounds and stands 16 inches at the whithers. If he doesn't want to do something there is nothing you can do to make him. He has never biten a person but it takes four strong people to hold him each year to get his shots. He has destroied three grooming salons all of which my whole family is barred from. He will eat anything other than lettuce and once it is in his mouth it is gone no matter what it is. Chewing is an option with him. He belches and farts alot. And when there is company he likes to lay on his belly with his legs stretched out behind and pull himself along the floor while panting in what can only be described as masterbateing. Aswell he has this way of looking a house guests that suggest he is either bored or about to rip their throats out. If I didn't love him so much I would have shot him long ago.

[ February 28, 2002: Message edited by: Slick Willy ]

The article is fascinating. I take issue only with the line about catnip -- that sentence definitely belongs down in the paragraphs about getting stoned, as everyone who's watched a cat roll about in the stuff will know. (Warning: never give catnip to kittens -- too strong.)

This gives one pause:

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What is certain is that our hominid ancestors ate a far more varied diet than we do. It was a diet that that would seem very bitter and astringent to us but was filled with a huge range of potent chemicals, many of which would have been effective against parasites and pathogens. While chimpanzees are known to eat 123 different plant varieties in a year, even the most health-conscious westerner rarely consumes more than 20 or 30. Seventy five percent of our global food supply comes from just 12 crops.

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So now I just don't ask anymore. But at my place, if I want to get any food down the hatch, it had better be carrots, cucumbers, applesauce, bagels and cream cheese, waffles, grilled cheese sandwiches, baked french fries, or chicken strips.