A study in Scientific Reports reveals that Barbary macaques in Gibraltar have developed geophagy, or soil consumption, to combat digestive discomfort caused by their diet of potato chips and sweets stolen from tourists. Their stomachs do not process the sugar, salt, and dairy in processed food well, so they resort to terra rossa and mixtures with tar as a natural gastric protector.
Geophagy as a biological solution for unadapted diets 🧬
The research establishes a direct correlation between the availability of junk food and the frequency of geophagy. In summer, with more tourists, soil consumption spikes; in low seasons, it decreases. The red soil acts by purging toxins and absorbing harmful substances, rebalancing the primates' altered gut microbiome. It is a forced adaptation mechanism due to a human environment imposing an inadequate diet on their physiology.
The tourist menu: snack chips for an appetizer, soil for dessert 🍟
The macaques have discovered that the tourist menu includes a main course of processed junk and a dessert of terra rossa with tar. No one has explained to them that salad is a better option. So while humans pay for food that upsets their own stomachs, the monkeys steal it and take a geological antacid. A catering system that even the most creative chef would not design.