#537: The Hidden Knowledge of Animals — Mark Plotkin on Nature’s Medicine Cabinet
The Tim Ferriss Show
Tim Ferriss: Bestselling Author, Human Guinea Pig
4.6 • 17.7K Ratings
🗓️ 13 October 2021
⏱️ 55 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Hidden Knowledge of Animals — Mark Plotkin on Nature’s Medicine Cabinet | Brought to you by UCAN endurance products powered by SuperStarch®.
This special episode of The Tim Ferriss Show features Dr. Mark Plotkin (@DocMarkPlotkin).
Mark is an ethnobotanist who serves as president of the Amazon Conservation Team, which has partnered with ~80 tribes to map and improve management and protection of ~100 million acres of ancestral rainforests. He is best known to the general public as the author of the book Tales of a Shaman’s Apprentice, one of the most popular books ever written about the rainforest. His most recent book is The Amazon: What Everyone Needs to Know. You can find my first interview with Mark at tim.blog/MarkPlotkin.
He is also the host of the Plants of the Gods podcast, through which you can learn about everything from hallucinogenic snuffs to the diverse formulations of curare (a plant mixture which relaxes the muscles of the body and leads to asphyxiation), and much, much more.
Today’s episode focuses on how animals use medicinal plants, and it has some wild stories featuring cows, penguins, pigs, frogs, and everything in between. It’s pulled from a chapter in Mark’s book Medicine Quest: In Search of Nature's Healing Secrets. I loved the chapter, and I asked Mark if he’d be willing to record it in audio to share it with you all. He agreed and here we are.
Please enjoy!
If you prefer to read the chapter, you can find the full text here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello boys and girls, this is Tim Ferris and welcome to another episode of the Tim Ferris show. |
| 0:04.8 | This special episode features Dr. Mark Plotkin. He is a very popular guest and he's back by |
| 0:11.0 | popular demand on many levels. Mark, you can find him at Doc Mark Plotkin PLOTKIN on Twitter, |
| 0:19.0 | is an ethno-bottoness who serves as president of the Amazon Conservation Team or ACT ACT. |
| 0:25.0 | He has partnered with roughly 80 tribes in South America, predominantly to map and improve |
| 0:33.0 | management and protection of roughly 100 million acres of ancestral rainforests. He is |
| 0:38.0 | best known to the general public as the author of the book Tales of Assamines Apprentice, |
| 0:42.5 | which is one of the most popular books ever written about the rainforest. His most recent book |
| 0:46.7 | is the Amazon subtitle What Everyone Needs To Know. You can find my first interview with Mark |
| 0:51.7 | where we cover his bio, his amazing resume, his adventures with Richard Evan Shulteys, |
| 0:57.2 | with indigenous tribes, everything he's learned from Western science and the various compounds he |
| 1:02.7 | has first-hand experience using at Tim.blog slash Mark Plotkin. He's also a host of the plants |
| 1:09.3 | of the gods podcast through which you can learn about everything from hallucinogenicity |
| 1:12.9 | snuffs to the diverse formulations of curare. Each episode basically covers a given plant. |
| 1:18.5 | Curare by the way doesn't just relax the muscles of the body and lead to esphyxiation, if used |
| 1:23.6 | for hunting, for instance. It also led to modern anesthesia in many senses. So there's a lot to it. |
| 1:30.0 | So check out plants of the gods. Today's episode focuses on how animals use medicinal plants |
| 1:35.5 | and it has some wild stories related to what we can learn and what we can use from the behaviors |
| 1:42.6 | of cows, penguins, pigs, frogs, and everything in between. There's a lot of hidden wisdom in nature. |
| 1:49.6 | And this particular audio is both from chapter and Mark's book titled Medicine Quest, |
| 1:54.8 | Subtitle in Search of Nature's Healing Secrets. I read the book, I loved it, and I asked Mark if |
| 2:00.1 | he'd be willing to record this chapter in audio to share with you all. So he made some updates, |
... |
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