6 Feb
2024
6 Feb
'24
5:31 p.m.
Dear BERGers,
This is just a kind reminder that Michael Huffman (Kyoto University) will be giving a
seminar tomorrow entitled "The Evolution of Animal Self-Medication". Please
note that the seminar will be delivered online at 9am due to Mike being in Japan (link to
the meeting below). The seminar will be chaired by Sharon.
Abstract
Dietary selection is an important process for the maintenance of health homeostasis. From
the potential plants available in one’s environment, choices are made to ensure a proper
balance of nutrients for energy, growth, maintenance, reproduction, and sometimes even
their nesting material. Animals also select such plants for their medicinal properties.
This rapidly growing field of research is known as animal self-medication. Infection by
parasites, viruses, and other pathogens affects an animal’s behavior, health, and
reproductive fitness. In response, across the animal kingdom, species have evolved a
variety of means by which they counteract these affronts to their health homeostasis. Four
basic modes for achieving this are: 1) behavioral avoidance or reduction of disease
transmission: 2) ingestion of items with a prophylactic effect: 3) ingestion of substances
of direct therapeutic value against pathogens: and 4) external application of these
substances to the body or living area for the control of disease transmitting
invertebrates or the treatment of wounds. Primates have provided considerable evidence for
the control of intestinal parasites across all four modes, and there is much evidence
being gathered across the animal kingdom to demonstrate the universality of this adaptive
strategy. Traditionally, humans have also looked to the behavior of sick animals for
insights into the uses of medicinal plants for themselves and their livestock. In this
light, the field abounds with options for research into the applications of phytotherapy
in captive and domestic livestock healthcare maintenance.
Biosketch
Michael A. Huffman is an Associate Professor in the Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto
University, Japan. A native of Denver Colorado, he started his career in primatology as
an undergraduate in 1979 with a field study on wild Japanese macaque behavioral ecology of
Arashiyama (Kyoto) in the Department of Zoology, Kyoto University. This research became
the foundation for his later field studies towards an MSc (1985) and DSc (1989) degrees in
the Laboratory of Human Evolution Studies, Kyoto University.
In addition to investigations on free-ranging and captive Japanese macaques spanning
over 45 years, he has intensively studied the behavioral ecology of wild chimpanzees in
Tanzania and Uganda, with a focus on primate host-parasite ecology, primate
self-medication, and ethnopharmacology. Since 2006 he has been conducting fieldwork in
Sri Lanka, Taiwan, India, and Vietnam, with collaborations in over 35 countries on all
continents.
With his students and his many collaborators, Huffman has published extensively in the
fields of cultural primatology, animal self-medication, ethnobotany, pharmacology, primate
host-parasite ecology, reproductive behavior and physiology, behavioral endocrinology,
phylogeography, and historical primatology; including 10 books, over 240 refereed journal
articles, book chapters, review articles and other miscellaneous publications. The
research has covered over 15 free-ranging and captive primate species from apes to lemurs,
and other mammals in Japan, Taiwan, Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh,
Tanzania, Uganda, Guinea, South Africa, Brazil, Italy, and Austria. He is deeply
committed to building bridges through interdisciplinary collaborations and mentoring.
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Spring Semester speakers:
Date
Time
Speaker
Format
07/02/2024
09:00
Mike Huffman (Kyoto)
Online
14/02/2024
16:00
Amaya Albalat (Stirling)
Talk F2F/hybrid
21/02/2024
16:00
Kirsten Blakey (Stirling)
Talk F2F/hybrid
28/02/2024
16:00
Bill Phillips (Stirling)
Talk F2F/hybrid
06/03/2024
No meeting (reading week)
13/03/2024
16:00
TBC
20/03/2024
16:00
Impact research catch up
F2F
27/03/2024
16:00
Sylvain Lamoine (Cambridge)
online
03/04/2024
16:00
Review of BERG research strategy (core BERG)
F2F
10/04/2024
16:00
Matti Wilks (Edinburgh; TENTATIVE will confirm in Jan)
F2F
17/04/2024
16:00
Victor Shirimizu (Strathlyde)
F2F (Room 4B96)
24/04/2024
16:00
Lifespan Equipment Demonstration
01/05/2024
16:00
Victoria Lee (SRUC)
F2F/hybrid
08/05/2024
10:00
James Brooks (Kyoto)
Online
-------------------------------
Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his)
Lecturer in Psychology
Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG)
Division of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences
University of Stirling
Stirling, FK9 4LA
Scotland, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1786 467844<tel:+441786467844>
Twitter: @fedurekp<https://twitter.com/fedurekp>
@BERG_Stirling<https://twitter.com/BERG_Stirling>
Staff page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG
page<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/>
I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday).
________________________________
Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159
