Fruit flies lay their eggs on fermenting matter that is rich in ethanol, which drives away parasitic wasps.
There is, in other words, a whole pharmacopoeia of botanical products out there.
Examples of animals employing the products of other animals for medical purposes are, by contrast, rare.
Louise Peckre of the German Primate Centre, in Göttingen, has found that red-fronted lemurs treat threadworm infestations in the gut and around the anus with millipede juice.
But Ms Peckre’s lemurs were not behaving in a way that suggested repelling insects was their purpose.
Human beings, who are frequent hosts of threadworms, can deal with them using drugs such as benzimidazole, which are similar in structure to benzoquinone.
Ms Peckre therefore suspects that her lemurs are employing millipedes in lieu of a trip to the pharmacy. »
