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Comment by darth_avocado | Hacker News Reader

Obviously orangutans are much smarter as a species, they are know to pass down knowledge/behaviors, including tool usage, down generations. But there could be more to this behavior. A dog instinctively knows to eat grass when they have stomach issues and Alaskan Bears eat certain plants to expel parasites after hibernation. How do they know? Zoopharmacognosy is a fascinating subject that needs more research.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopharmacognosy

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When my wife was pregnant the doc said to let them know if she had any cravings for minerals, clay, or something weird like that. Turns out it can mean a vitamin deficiency. Not sure how the mind knows to send out a specific craving besides food and water.

There's a school of thought that says a lot of thinking happens in the gut, which delegates tasks to the brain, so to speak.

My gut instinctively knows I need chocolate right after eating dinner

I reckon that's just your tongue in a silly hat with a fake mustache.

My tongue needs to go further down on the decision making food chain

I have this after eating a bare steak. I think there's something about eating a lot of something that does not contain carbs that immediately turns on craving for sugar.

I had to ponder this for a minute :)

I picked up dark chocolate as a snack in early 2020, which I chose very specifically to avoid carbs. I also use cocoa powder to make low-carb ice cream for the same reason.

I guess I've used it this way for long enough now that I've broken my default association between chocolate and sugar.

Damn, now I absolutely need dark chocolate.

I like this one: https://chocolatebar.com/products/extreme-dark-88-dark-choco...

I'm a little bitter-sensitive, and it's the most-pleasant 88%+ I've had so far.

Still inevitably some carbs in cocoa, so you can do some carb-budget damage if you eat more than a serving--but I feel like it's a good treat for its weight.

They call a serving size 1/3 of the bar, with 11g carbs (4g fiber, 3g sugar). I think the bar is 3x5 squares, and I generally just have one at a time. Not sure I've had more than 3 squares in a day.

I think that would be around 7g total carbs, a bit under 2g sugar, and about 2.4g fiber (i.e. around 4.6g net carbs.)

(edit: i've seen them at cvs and target, at least--though my nearest cvs no longer carries the brand)

I say this after eating a tomato sauce. Of all foods to cause a craving for a follow up, tomato sauces are the top. Next up is smoked meat (bbq) makes me want banana pudding, but I think that's a trained habit vs a craving like tomato sauces.

My gut instinctively knows I need chocolate and then not eat dinner

There is communication between your gut and brain.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/the-gut-brain-con...

Your gut microbiome also has more living cells than the rest of your cells combined.

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/25201-gut-microbi...

So, it's a team effort :)

https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/1/10/team_effort.png

I cannot imagine what it would be like to be able to think normally because I have had gut related medical issues my whole life

Apparently this is called geophagia, see this comment further down: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40242839

When I had thrush but didn't know it, I craved yogurt and garlic, both of which would be excellent in restoring floral balance. I don't know how bodies know these things, but they do! It's fascinating.

Another one that I've been watching recently is chicks knowing to take dust baths with zero interaction with adult chickens. One reason for this behavior is apparently pest control.

I find it interesting when people attribute abstract intentions to this kind of behaviour. The chick's probably not thinking "man I gotta dust myself for mites", it probably just feels good to get dusty. Now, the reason it feels good is probably that dust baths are correlated with fewer parasites and better overall outcomes, but I doubt the chick knows that.

Same thing with cats liking scritches under their chin. They're not thinking "ah yes I am scent marking this human", scent glands are probably just itchy.

Sure, correlation like that is possibly a bit specious.

On the topic of chicks and dust baths, it's quite interesting because as soon as they encounter dirt for the first time they all do the same things. If you've never seen it I recommend looking for a video. But it seems like a weird behavior to have in every chick I've hatched. TBH, I love seeing weird inherent behaviors emerge like that.

Cats can smell those scent markings though. They do also mark their territory in other ways. Our cats really do the rubbing thing during feeding, so i think they are trying to mark their territory, lol.

I'd considered the dog eating grass thing as more of a now-disputed myth, but maybe someone has evidence. Either way my own dog loves munching on the taller/thicker grass every time we walk, like he's a sheep. His favourite foods also include broccoli and bok choy so that could be why. I think a lot of people downplay the role plants play in a dog's diet (not required but helpful especially with processed diets that can lack organ meat etc), and they don't always get fed them at home.

My dog loves Bell peppers. She will eat any piece that hits the ground, quite greedily.

my dogs are the same -- but substitute "anything even conceivably food-related" for "Bell peppers"

We minded a labrador once (notorious appetites), he'd eat capsicums, and on the neighbourhood walks would even go for raw green olives that fell from trees onto the paths. I'm pretty sure they are very bitter which sensible animals interpret as poison but not he. So we had to steer away from those during that season.

You should get a sheepdog dog to herd your sheep-dog.

Hah we actually did... the younger border collie also does it, but less. Maybe he's copying his brother from another mother.

I've had half a dozen dogs, and every single one of them ate grass every chance they could get- in large quantities. I also don't think it has anything to do with having an upset stomach. Dogs seem to really enjoy grass, and make it a regular part of their diet... I know they likely can't extract any calories from it, but it may have other benefits.

There is nutrition in grass which is available to mammals like dogs (and humans). They are mostly cellulose, but plants use carbohydrates and proteins for their own structure and metabolism, and these are present in all plants in at least small amounts. Roots, shoots and fleshy stalks, are better than the leaves. Like an unpleasant, less nutritious lettuce or celery with too much fibre. Those are also hard to get meaningful calories from at like 50 - 100 calories per pound, but there's some calories, and there's other nutrients in them too.

My dog strongly disagrees with you that grass is more unpleasant than lettuce.

The cellulose aka fibre is useful for them too, for the same reason as us, even if there are not many calories or other nutrients available. Dry food, bones, high protein diets can all benefit from a bit of bulk.

I've been told that wild dogs and wolves eat the digestive contents of herbivores which is semi-digested (free range haggis!), which definitely seems true to me given how much both of mine go for rabbit/sheep droppings. This supposedly supplies some more available vegetative nutrients to them. But this came from a pet nutritionist, I'm not sure how strict or scientific their training is.

Pet dogs that live with cats are well-known to eat cat turds out of the litterbox.

The only thing dogs like more than cat feces is human feces. I assume that is deeply breeded-in. If you are a group of 50-100 nomadic hunter(-gatherer)s, you will appreciate not so much smelling surroundings.

I have a dog that literally only eats grass when he needs to retch something up. He'll go to the back door and whine and gag, whine and gag. If we're upstairs, he'll come fetch me. I don't stop him, either. I've learned that lesson. He's a mutt breed, we think half Yorkshire Terrier and half Miniature Schnauzer, for whatever that's worth. Our full-breed Rat Terrier did no such thing in 17 years of life but the mutt has been doing it since we got him nearly 15 years ago!

Humans instinctively know to eat earth and clay when you have certain vitamin or mineral deficiencies, or parasite infections, too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geophagia#Humans

Of course, these days you're probably better off swallowing a supplement. But where's the fun in that?

Elephants too

If you're fascinated by canine instincts, wait till you hear about the super generations of monarch butterflies.

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