Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The eating of earthy substances, such as clay or chalk, practiced among various peoples as a custom or for dietary or subsistence reasons.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act or practice of eating earth, as dirt, clay, chalk, etc. See
dirt-eating . Alsogeophagism .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The practice of eating earthy substances such as
clay andchalk , often thought to augment a mineral-deficient diet.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun eating earth, clay, chalk; occurs in some primitive tribes, sometimes in cases of nutritional deficiency or obsessive behavior
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Well, you might be surprised that many cultures, from the ancient Greeks to modern-day Saharan tribes participate in geophagy – or eating dirt.
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In fact, dirt eating, known as geophagy, is so prevalent in some parts of the world that scientists and anthropologists think that nutritional deficits may bring on the craving.
mental_floss Blog 2009
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In fact, dirt eating, known as geophagy, is so prevalent in some parts of the world that scientists and anthropologists think that nutritional deficits may bring on the craving.
mental_floss Blog 2009
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Far from being a dysfunctional behavior, geophagy has evolved as a practice for maintaining health amongst chimpanzees.
Archive 2008-01-01 2008
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An interesting press release here, on geophagy (soil eating) in chimpanzees.
Archive 2008-01-01 2008
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In this particular study (1), to be published online this week in Springers journal Naturwissenschaften, geophagy increases the potency of ingested plants with anti-malarial properties.
Archive 2008-01-01 2008
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The deliberate ingestion of soil, or geophagy, has important health benefits for chimpanzees, according to Sabrina Krief and her colleagues from the Muséum National dHistoire Naturelle in Paris, France.
Archive 2008-01-01 2008
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Anyway, there was a really good Nova? special on geophagy 5-6 years ago.
Is a 3-yr-old who eats paper normal? Field Notes 2008
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Known as geophagy or "earth eating" macaws feed on clays to counteract poisons from the seeds in fruit they eat.
Archive 2008-07-01 WENDEE HOLTCAMP 2008
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Known as geophagy or "earth eating" macaws feed on clays to counteract poisons from the seeds in fruit they eat.
the adventures of Muffy and Hellion WENDEE HOLTCAMP 2008
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