Tag Archive for 'Self-medication'

Radiologically contaminated sites such as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone have created novel environmental stressors with the potential to substantially influence the ecology of organisms and wider ecosystem function. Nevertheless, radiation dose rates at which negative effects occur are uncertain. Burrows et al investigated a potential mechanism for these sub-lethal consequences by testing whether radiation exposure makes bees less metabolically efficient. Image credit: Josef Pichler.

Bumblebees May Self-Medicate when Their Colony Faces Fungal Pathogen

Aug 27, 2026 by Natali Anderson

In a new study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, buff-tailed bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) exposed to a brood-killing fungus shifted...

Great bustards (Otis tarda) near Madrid, Spain. Image credit: Jacinta Lluch Valero / CC BY-SA 2.0.

Great Bustards Use Two Plant Species to Self-Medicate, Scientists Say

Nov 23, 2022 by News Staff

The great bustard (Otis tarda), the largest member of the bustard family Otididae and the only member of the genus Otis, is believed to be the heaviest...

This photo shows a chimpanzee female, Roxy, applying an insect to a wound on the face of an adult chimpanzee male named Thea. Image credit: Tobias Deschner.

Chimpanzees Regularly Capture Insects and Apply Them onto Wounds

Feb 8, 2022 by News Staff

In a new paper published this week in the journal Current Biology, University of Osnabrück’s Dr. Simone Pika and colleagues report the first observations...