Geophagy in Uganda

Dr. Paula Pebsworth, our star primatologist post-doc, is busy setting up more camera traps (one pictured, bottom right) in Budongo Forest, Uganda. As it turns out, the chimpanzees there are wild about eating earth (as are many other species), and Paula is working hard to assess just what it is, exactly, that drives this behavior. We are fortunate to be collaborating with some terrific phytochemists, Dr. John Arnason and Dr. Chieu Anh Ta to investigate the detoxification capacity of these craved earths.