Gibraltar Macaques Eat Dirt to Counteract Junk Food Effects

A study released on March 19 in Scientific Reports reveals that Barbary macaques in Gibraltar have started eating soil, a behavior known as geophagy, to alleviate digestive issues caused by junk food from tourists. Throughout 100 days of observation between August 2022 and April 2024, researchers recorded 44 monkeys consuming soil on 46 occasions. Almost 20% of their diet consisted of junk food. Monkeys in tourist-heavy areas were more likely to eat both junk food and soil, unlike those in quieter spots. During winter, as tourist numbers fell, their intake of human food dropped by 40%, leading to a 31% decrease in soil consumption. Sylvain Lemoine from the University of Cambridge suggests that soil might counteract the effects of unhealthy snacks. Paula Pebsworth from the University of Texas at San Antonio argues that providing less human food would be a better solution than relying on soil consumption.