Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees

Vernon Reynolds; Andrew Lloyd; Christopher English; Peter Lyons; Howard Dodd; Catherine Hobaiter; Nicholas Newton-Fisher; Caroline Mullins; Noemie Lamon; Anne Marijke-Schel; Brittany Fallon

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0134075

Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees

Vernon Reynolds, Andrew Lloyd, Christopher English, Peter Lyons, Howard Dodd, Catherine Hobaiter, Nicholas Newton-Fisher, Caroline Mullins, Noemie Lamon, Anne Marijke-Schel, Brittany Fallon

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Chimpanzees of the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda were observed eating clay and drinking clay-water from waterholes. We show that clay, clay-rich water, and clay obtained with leaf sponges, provide a range of minerals in different concentrations. The presence of aluminium in the clay consumed indicates that it takes the form of kaolinite. We discuss the contribution of clay geophagy to the mineral intake of the Sonso chimpanzees and show that clay eaten using leaf sponges is particularly rich in minerals. We show that termite mound soil, also regularly consumed, is rich in minerals. We discuss the frequency of clay and termite soil geophagy in the context of the disappearance from Budongo Forest of a formerly rich source of minerals, the decaying pith of Raphia farinifera palms.

Original language	English
Journal	PLoS ONE
Volume	10
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134075
Publication status	Published - 28 Jul 2015

Bibliographical note

© 2015 Reynolds et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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Andrew Lloyd
- A.W.Lloydbrighton.acuk
- Vice-Chancellor's Office - Deputy Vice-Chancellor
- Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Devices
Person: Academic

Cite this

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title = "Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees",

abstract = "Chimpanzees of the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda were observed eating clay and drinking clay-water from waterholes. We show that clay, clay-rich water, and clay obtained with leaf sponges, provide a range of minerals in different concentrations. The presence of aluminium in the clay consumed indicates that it takes the form of kaolinite. We discuss the contribution of clay geophagy to the mineral intake of the Sonso chimpanzees and show that clay eaten using leaf sponges is particularly rich in minerals. We show that termite mound soil, also regularly consumed, is rich in minerals. We discuss the frequency of clay and termite soil geophagy in the context of the disappearance from Budongo Forest of a formerly rich source of minerals, the decaying pith of Raphia farinifera palms.",

author = "Vernon Reynolds and Andrew Lloyd and Christopher English and Peter Lyons and Howard Dodd and Catherine Hobaiter and Nicholas Newton-Fisher and Caroline Mullins and Noemie Lamon and Anne Marijke-Schel and Brittany Fallon",

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AU - Reynolds, Vernon

AU - Lloyd, Andrew

AU - English, Christopher

AU - Lyons, Peter

AU - Dodd, Howard

AU - Hobaiter, Catherine

AU - Newton-Fisher, Nicholas

AU - Mullins, Caroline

AU - Lamon, Noemie

AU - Marijke-Schel, Anne

AU - Fallon, Brittany

N1 - © 2015 Reynolds et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

PY - 2015/7/28

Y1 - 2015/7/28

N2 - Chimpanzees of the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda were observed eating clay and drinking clay-water from waterholes. We show that clay, clay-rich water, and clay obtained with leaf sponges, provide a range of minerals in different concentrations. The presence of aluminium in the clay consumed indicates that it takes the form of kaolinite. We discuss the contribution of clay geophagy to the mineral intake of the Sonso chimpanzees and show that clay eaten using leaf sponges is particularly rich in minerals. We show that termite mound soil, also regularly consumed, is rich in minerals. We discuss the frequency of clay and termite soil geophagy in the context of the disappearance from Budongo Forest of a formerly rich source of minerals, the decaying pith of Raphia farinifera palms.

AB - Chimpanzees of the Sonso community, Budongo Forest, Uganda were observed eating clay and drinking clay-water from waterholes. We show that clay, clay-rich water, and clay obtained with leaf sponges, provide a range of minerals in different concentrations. The presence of aluminium in the clay consumed indicates that it takes the form of kaolinite. We discuss the contribution of clay geophagy to the mineral intake of the Sonso chimpanzees and show that clay eaten using leaf sponges is particularly rich in minerals. We show that termite mound soil, also regularly consumed, is rich in minerals. We discuss the frequency of clay and termite soil geophagy in the context of the disappearance from Budongo Forest of a formerly rich source of minerals, the decaying pith of Raphia farinifera palms.

U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0134075

DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0134075

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JF - PLoS ONE

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Mineral Acquisition from Clay by Budongo Forest Chimpanzees

Abstract

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