Geophagia
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Geophagia, also known as geophagy, is the intentional practice of consuming earth or soil-like substances such as clay, chalk, or termite mounds. It is a behavioural adaptation that occurs in many ani
Parrots eating earth
Five Japanese macaques eating soil
A five-year-old girl in Peru with a desire to eat earth (geophagia). Wood engraving by E. Riou, 1860s.
Several different rocks of clay-like material being sold at a local market in Kabwe, Zambia. These are usually purchased and consumed by pregnant women.
Kaolinite
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Kaolinite is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2Si2O54. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one "tetrahedral" sheet of silicate tetrahedra linked to one "octahedral" sheet of aluminat
Geophagia
…preferred soils have a much higher cation-exchange capacity than the adjacent, rejected layers of soils because they are rich in the minerals smectite, kaolin, and mica. The preferred soils surpass the pure mineral kaolinate and surpass or approach pure bentonite in their capacity to bind quinine and tannic…
Kaolinite from Twiggs County in Georgia in USA
Kaolinite structure, showing the interlayer hydrogen bonds
Kaolin mine in Czech Republic
A kaolin processing plant