{"id":544650,"date":"2026-04-22T13:06:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:06:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544650\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:06:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:06:09","slug":"monkeys-hooked-on-haribo-eat-soil-to-settle-their-stomachs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/544650\/","title":{"rendered":"Monkeys hooked on Haribo eat soil to settle their stomachs"},"content":{"rendered":"

A diet largely composed of M&Ms, Cornettos and Haribo sweets would unsettle most constitutions. The monkeys of Gibraltar, fond of relieving tourists of such provisions, appear to be no exception.<\/p>\n

A study has found that junk food now forms a sizeable proportion of their menu. It also revealed how they have taken, in effect, to self-medicating. They have picked up the habit of eating soil containing kaolin clay, a substance long used by humans to soothe upset stomachs.<\/p>\n

Scientists from the University of Cambridge documented the same behaviour across several troops of Barbary macaques on Gibraltar.<\/p>\n

\"AMartin Nicourt\/Gibraltar Macaques Project\/PA<\/p>\n

The practice, known as geophagy, involves the deliberate ingestion of earth. While not unknown among primates, the Gibraltar monkeys appear to be unusual in using it to offset the effects of what amounts to an ultra-processed diet.<\/p>\n

The Barbary macaques of Gibraltar are the only wild monkeys in Europe. The species was originally native to North Africa and the first specimens were likely brought across from Morocco or Algeria centuries ago. <\/p>\n

A legend that British rule would end if they vanished led to the population being replenished by order of Winston Churchill<\/a> during the Second World War. By 1942, the macaques had dwindled to only seven individuals, partly due to disease and food shortages.<\/p>\n

Today, the problem is a glut of calories. Despite rules prohibiting feeding, visitors routinely share snacks with the animals, or have them deftly snatched away. The result is a menu far removed from what nature intended. Nearly a fifth of the monkeys\u2019 diet now comes from human food, despite them being supplied every day with fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n

\u201cFoods brought by tourists and eaten by Gibraltar\u2019s macaques are extremely rich in calories, sugar, salt and dairy,\u201d said Sylvain Lemoine, who led the research. \u201cThis is completely unlike the foods typically consumed by the species, such as herbs, leaves, seeds and the occasional insect.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such indulgence appears to come with digestive consequences. The researchers argued that junk food disrupted the macaques\u2019 gut microbiome, causing stomach problems.<\/p>\n

\"AMartin Nicourt\/Gibraltar Macaques Project\/PA<\/p>\n

Soil ingestion, they suggested, was a response to this. \u201cWe think the macaques started eating soil to buffer their digestive system against the high-energy, low-fibre nature of these snacks and junk foods, which have been shown to cause gastric upsets in some primates,\u201d said Lemoine.<\/p>\n

Both the intake of junk food and earth decline in winter, when visitor numbers fall, and rise again during the summer. By contrast, a troop with no contact with visitors showed no soil consumption at all.<\/p>\n

Many of the macaques favour \u201cterra rossa\u201d, a red clay common across Gibraltar<\/a> and rich in kaolin. In humans, kaolin is valued for its absorptive properties and is used in treatments for nausea and diarrhoea.<\/p>\n

Lemoine said: \u201cThe consumed soil acts as a barrier in the digestive tract, limiting absorption of harmful compounds. This could alleviate gastrointestinal symptoms from nausea to diarrhoea. Soil may also provide friendly bacteria that helps with the gut microbiome.<\/p>\n

\u201cNon-human primates become lactose intolerant after weaning, so dairy is known to cause digestive issues in monkeys, and ice cream is hugely popular with Gibraltar\u2019s tourists and consequently macaques.\u201d<\/p>\n

The study, published in Scientific Reports, argued that geophagy now formed part of the macaques\u2019 \u201ccultural repertoire\u201d \u2014 meaning it is a learnt behaviour passed between animals.<\/p>\n

Different troops even show distinct tastes. Most seek out the red clay soils, but one group prefers dirt scraped from potholes in asphalt roads, hinting at a local tradition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A diet largely composed of M&Ms, Cornettos and Haribo sweets would unsettle most constitutions. The monkeys of Gibraltar,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544651,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-544650","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-gb","9":"tag-health","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544650","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544650\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}