Can animals actively seek out a plant to heal a parasitic infection or to numb pain? For years scientists have presumed that such activity was restricted to animals capable of more complex cognitive abilities, like chimpanzees. However scientists have described incidents of fruit flies (1), caterpillars (2)  and butterflies  (3) “self medicating” to prevent or cure parasitic infections, suggesting that such behavior may be both innate as well as learned.

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