Wild chimpanzees in the forests of Uganda are increasingly eating clay to supplement the minerals in their diet, according to a long-term international study published in the early version of the journal PLOS ONE. The paper led by the University of Oxford¹ describes how the researchers observed wild chimpanzees in the Budongo forest eating and drinking from clay pits and termite² mounds³. The paper concludes that this change in diet may be partly due to the widespread destruction of raffia palm trees that chimps⁴ relied on for their minerals in the past. However, the main reason seems to be the chimps have recently started to boost the minerals in their diet by eating the clay which also helps them 'detox' and digest their food. The research was led by Emeritus⁵ Professor of Biological Anthropology⁶ at Oxford University, Vernon Reynolds, with a team of researchers from the universities of St Andrews, Brighton, Kent, Neuchatel, and Utrecht. Researchers observed the chimps using leaves like clay 'sponges', dipping the leaves in the clay water and returning to their mouths where they squeezed the liquid out with their tongues. They were also seen using their fingers to extract lumps of clay directly from the ground before eating it.

 

Studies of wild chimpanzees in the Budongo Forest, Western Uganda, have been continuing uninterrupted since 1990, when Professor Reynolds set up the Budongo Conservation Field Station there.

 

An analysis of the clay and termite soils shows they are very high in a range of minerals, but the clay was particularly high in aluminium⁷ - a feature of kaolinite clays eaten by a range of species, including humans, to aid digestion⁸ and detoxification. The chimps' diet, which consists mainly of fruits and leaves, is very high in tannins and the researchers believe that the clay provides an important way for chimpanzees to neutralize⁹ these. It is common practice for local women in Budongo to drink or eat forest clay mixed with water for stomach problems and during pregnancy¹⁰. Clays, such as kaolinite, also contain sodium¹¹, calcium¹², iron, magnesium¹³ and potassium, says the paper, which the Budongo chimps seem to have discovered they can access with their leaf sponges. Accessing the clay with the leaf sponges was also found to provide higher mineral concentrations than taking clay-water or clay directly from the ground.

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