I have only just learned of the very distressing heart disease problem (fibrosing cardiomyopathy), suffered by captive Lowland Gorillas and reported very well at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23971635/

I have written to the National Zoo, Washington D.C., to see if there's anything I can offer by way of help. There has to be a simple explanation somewhere (although it may not be simple to find). The more minds on this, the better and the Alternative Medicine approach may shed different light on the topic.

 [Why not take a look at www.alternativevet.org , while you're here?]

This excerpt turned up in an article I was reading, about a serious heart problem in captive Lowland Gorillas.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23971635/

". . . . . . research in the wild has paid off before. Not long ago, for example, it was learned that lowland gorillas, which are primarily herbivores, wade into swampy lake areas and eat vegetation growing underwater.

"There was no way of knowing that sort of thing was happening until somebody went out there to Africa and noticed what the gorillas were doing," says primatologist Joseph Erwin of the Foundation for Comparative and Conservation Biology in Needmore, Pa.

Ellen Dierenfeld, a gorilla nutritionist at the St. Louis Zoo, says that a member of the ginger family, Aframomum melegueta, is a staple food of western lowland gorillas in their native environments.

Some scientists say Aframomum is a powerful antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal and anti-inflammatory "natural drug," which may serve as a preventive medicine for the gorillas. But this and other native African plants are often not part of zoo gorillas' daily diets."

Why do arguments still go on about the ability of animals to self-medicate (zoopharmacognosy)? It is such a fundamental necessity of wildlife that I am surprised it was ever a source of argument.

Previous blog:

http://chris-day.blogware.com/blog/_archives/2008/3

Herbs and Herbal medicine:

http://www.alternativevet.org/herbs.htm