Saturday, December 29, 2007

Eating Dirt

On every continent with the exception of Antarctica, there are people who snack on chalk, loam or marl. But it's only now that scientists are gradually beginning to understand what force brings them to do this. Whether people are eating loam from natural sources or buying "healing clay" at the drugstore and eating it, they are clearly following some ancient craving that has been shaped over the course of evolution.
It is not only humans who indulge in a bit of dirt every now and then parrots, cattle, rats, elephants and chimpanzees also partake.Even prehistoric man shared this passion for eating earth an archaeological dig in Africa uncovered powdered loam that had clearly been used as marching rations two million years ago. But the question remains: why?(more from Spiegel)

No comments:

Post a Comment