It was 1987 in Tanzania and the chimpanzee Chausiku was doing something very peculiar.
那是1987年的坦桑尼亞,黑猩猩喬西庫正在做一些非常奇特的事情。
Primatologist Michael Huffman noticed Chausiku was chewing the bark of shrub Vernonia amygdalina, commonly known as bitter leaf -- a plant that was not a normal part of her diet.
靈長類動物學家邁克爾·霍夫曼注意到喬西庫正在咀嚼灌木斑鳩菊的樹皮,這種植物通常被稱為苦葉,并且不是喬西庫日常飲食的一部分。
Since bitter leaf is used across Africa by humans as a remedy against malaria fever, stomachache, and intestinal parasites, Huffman speculated that Chausiku might be self-medicating, as she had been acting lethargic and with little appetite over a period of days.
由于非洲各地的人類都用苦葉來治療瘧疾發燒、胃痛和腸道寄生蟲,霍夫曼推測喬西庫可能是在自我治療,因為她在幾天內一直表現得昏昏欲睡、食欲不振。
His hypothesis was met with both excitement and disbelief.
他的假設引起了人們的興奮和懷疑。
Indeed, just 22 hours later, Chausiku was back to her healthy, energetic self. Later research suggested Chausiku might have had a nodular worm infection in her gut.
事實上,僅僅22小時后,喬西庫就恢復了健康、充滿活力的狀態。后來的研究表明,喬西庫的腸道可能感染了結節性蠕蟲。
By analyzing the improvement in her feces, urine, and behavior, Huffman made the case for this being the scientifically documented example of self-medication in animals.
通過分析她的糞便、尿液和行為的改善,霍夫曼證明了這是有科學記錄的動物自我藥療的例子。
Huffman, now a professor at the Wildlife Research Center of Kyoto University, admits that figuring out whether an animal is medicating is somewhat like an educated guess.
霍夫曼現在是京都大學野生動物研究中心教授,他承認,弄清楚動物是否具有藥物作用有點像是一種有根據的猜測。
"We can only describe what we see and then measure the outcomes of those actions," he says. "But since we cannot talk to animals, we do not know what they are thinking when they self-medicate."
“我們只能描述我們所看到的,然后衡量這些行動的結果,”他說。“但由于我們無法與動物交談,我們不知道它們自我治療時在想什么。”
Nevertheless, he believes there are both innate physiological factors, like cravings for certain tastes, and socially learned ones, like noticing a decrease in pain after a certain action, at play in these behaviors.
盡管如此,他認為這些行為中既有先天的生理因素(例如對某些口味的渴望),也有社會習得的因素(例如在采取某種行動后注意到疼痛減輕)。
He and a growing body of scientists posit that medication is not something reserved just for humans or even closely linked species, like primates.
他和越來越多的科學家認為,藥物治療不僅適用于人類,甚至不是靈長類等密切相關的物種。

Examples of animals using medication are more widespread and varied than ever previously thought.
動物使用藥物的例子比以前想像的更加廣泛和多樣化。
Researchers break down five examples of species across the animal kingdom figuring out ways to fight disease and prevent infection.
研究人員對動物王國中的五個物種進行了分析,找出對抗疾病和預防感染的方法。
When, in grasslands of southeastern Arizona, south of Tucson, in August 1993, biologist Michael Singer first observed woolly bear caterpillars -- fluffy, black caterpillars that turn into tiger moths -- he noticed they were grazing on a variety of plants rather than a narrow selection.
1993年8月,在亞利桑那州東南部圖森以南的草原上,生物學家邁克爾·辛格首次觀察到毛熊毛毛蟲(一種毛茸茸的黑色毛毛蟲,會變成虎蛾),他注意到它們吃的是多種植物,而不是狹隘的選擇。
"This was very un-caterpillar-like behavior," says Singer, now a researcher at Wesleyan University.
“這非常不像毛毛蟲,”現為衛斯理大學研究員的辛格如是說。
It turns out the caterpillars were sick.
原來毛毛蟲生病了。
They were, as is common, infected with parasitic flies that lay their eggs inside the caterpillar's body, develop by eating the caterpillar's insides, and then burst out, killing their host.
正如常見的那樣,它們被寄生蒼蠅感染,這些蒼蠅將卵產在毛毛蟲體內,通過吃掉毛毛蟲的內臟而發育,然后爆發,殺死宿主。
The caterpillars' behavior wasn't random -- they were seeking out toxic plants such as ragwort, fiddleneck, and rattlebox, which contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
毛毛蟲的行為并不是隨機的--它們尋找含有吡咯里西啶生物堿的有毒植物,如狗舌草、琴頸草和豬屎豆。
Singer's mind immediately thought of self-medication. "When I first talked to people about this, they said, 'No way, a caterpillar is not going to be able to do that, right?'"
辛格的腦子里立刻想到了自我藥療。“當我第一次和人們談論這個時,他們說,‘不可能,毛毛蟲做不到這一點,對吧?’”
But a series of experiments revealed that although these caterpillars only have four tastebuds, one is specifically tuned to pyrrolizidine alkaloids, and it is specifically activated to make the toxic chemicals taste better when the caterpillar is sick with parasites.
但一系列實驗表明,雖然這些毛毛蟲只有四個味蕾,但其中一個味蕾專門針對吡咯里西啶生物堿,當毛毛蟲感染寄生蟲時,它會被專門激活,使有毒化學物質的味道更好。
Experiments showed that parasitized caterpillars that eat pyrrolizidine alkaloids will increase their chance of survival -- but alkaloids were still poisonous to healthy caterpillars.
實驗表明,吃吡咯里西啶生物堿的寄生毛毛蟲會增加其生存機會,但生物堿對健康毛毛蟲仍然有毒。
This is a trade-off similar to side effects in medicine for humans. Singer says this is what persuaded him these plants have therapeutic, medicinal value, and this was a case of self-medication.
這是一種類似人類醫學副作用的權衡。辛格說,這就是說服他這些植物具有治療和藥用價值的原因,這是一個自我藥療的案例。