The use of medicinal drugs is often viewed as a uniquely human exercise. However, Jaap de Roode's research shows that many non-human animals also practice medicine. Building on his own work on monarch butterflies, and taking us on a tour around the globe, Jaap will introduce us to a whole menagerie of medicating animals, from apes to ants, from bees to baboons, and from cats to caterpillars. He will show how studying how animals use medicine is not just fascinating, it can have practical applications too. By learning how animals self-medicate, we can improve the livestock industry, save pollinators, and even find new drugs to treat human diseases.
Jaap de Roode is Samuel Candler Dobbs professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA, where he studies parasites of monarch butterflies and honeybees. He teaches introductory biology to undergraduate students, and directs the infectious diseases across scales training program, which trains graduate students in the study and control of infectious diseases.