Zoopharmacognosy, folk medicine, primitive medicine in anthropological perspective

Zoopharmacognosy is a science which means self-treatment of animals and conducts studies to understand the self-treatment methods of all living things with the help of other sciences. Zoopharmacognosy examines the behavior of animals for preventive and prophylactic and therapeutic purposes and collects information about the treatment of animals. When self-treatment methods of living things are examined, it is seen that people apply similar treatment methods. Among those treatments, eating clay or eating soil-like substances, namely "geophagia" comes at first order. The similarities between the treatment methods of human and other living species and whether the human being learned the treatments by observing from these organisms are being investigated. It is still under investigation how animals and other living species have learned therapeutic behavior, whether they have been learned or instinctive. Studies examining the self-treating behavior of animals aim to reveal complex animal-plant-parasite interactions and ultimately understand the development of self-medication in early hominids. From an anthropological point of view, the effect of zoopharmacognosy behavior on human, to what extent it is related to human, how it affects human life was investigated. How zoopharmacognosy affects primitive medicine and folk medicine is the subject of evaluation. An anthropological point of view about the current effects of zoopharmacognosy is presented. Key Words: Zoopharmacognosy, Folk Medicine, Primitive Medicine, Medical Anthropology, Self-Treatment