Wild Health
“Wild Health is absolutely enthralling!”
—Dr Jane Goodall DBE
Paperback & Kindle
How animals keep themselves well in the wild and what we can learn from them ISBN 9781-80049-278-3
Monkeys, bears, coatis and birds protect themselves from insect bites and fungal infections by rubbing bioactive plants and insect secretions into their skin. Chimpanzees carefully select bitter-tasting anti-parasitic plant medicines to deal with parasites. Elephants roam miles to find the clay they need to help counter dietary toxins, and birds line their nests with pungent medicinal leaves and so improve their chicks’ chances of survival.
This book, now a classic text on animal self-medication, was the first to popularise the idea of zoopharmacognosy back in 2001. It explores the behavioural strategies animals use to maintain health, many of which can be adapted to improve the health of animals in our care. By observing wild health we may even discover (or rediscover) ways to benefit our own health.
“Cindy Engel’s book is a work of some scholarship”
Articles about animal self-medication in my BLOG
WILD HEALTH is Available in English, German, Korean, and Japanese.
German Edition
Gesundheit aus der Wildnis. Wie Tiere sich selbst gesund erhalten und was wir von ihnen lernen können. Publisher Animal Learn Verlag (February 1, 2005), ISBN 9781-3936188172
Reviews for Wild Health
“A sensuous, rigorous analysis of how animals stay healthy in the wild...replete with fresh ideas, Wild Health also explains phenomena we have experienced but not understood...her writing is accessible and amusing.”
“Wild Health is a fascinating and enlightening view of how our closest relatives stay healthy. Secrets of nature deliciously told — so easily digestible that to absorb its benefits there’s no need to eat clay like the wild parrots Dr. Engel describes.”
“An enticing, well-researched narrative...easy for any reader to digest” ”
““Articulately separating science fact from fiction, Dr Engel takes the reader on a spellbinding journey through the various possible strategies which have evolved in the animal kingdom for defence against disease, the unseen predator.”
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“Wild Health is absolutely enthralling! Cindy Engel explores the fascinating world of animal self-medication in this well-researched and engagingly written book. All the thousands of us who are turning increasingly to alternative medicine will find Wild Health particularly compelling.”
My articles have been published in The Financial Times Weekend, The Ecologist, The Guardian, The Mail on Sunday, and New Scientist. Peer-reviewed academic papers have been published in Animal Behaviour and the Chemical Signals in Vertebrates.
Engel, C (2006) ‘Livestock self-medication’ in Alternative Health Practices for Livestock, Eds T. F. Morris and M. T. Keilty (Blackwell Publishing) pp 54-61.
Engel, C (2002) ‘Acknowledging the Potential Role of Animal Self-medication’, Proceedings of the UK Organic Research Conference, Aberystwyth, Wales, Research in Context, pp 355-358. [available via academia.edu]
Engel, C (2006) ‘Zoopharmacognosy’ in Veterinary Herbal Medicine, Eds S.G. Wynn and B. J. Fougere, Mosby Elsevier Press, pp 7 - 16.