Goji Berries For Your Primate

Squirrel monkey Pip, debating over which berry to choose, the traditional fresh blueberry, or the more nutritious and exotic goji berry.

 

Goji berries, which come in dried form, are perhaps the most nutritionally-rich fruit a monkey can eat. Goji berries contain 18 kinds of amino acids and contain all 8 essential amino acids (the building blocks for complete protein). Similar to a red colored raisin, the dried goji berries are drier than raisins and not nearly as sweet. They taste somewhat like a cross between a cranberry and a cherry. Most monkeys eat them well, but some are more finicky. Pip the squirrel monkey isn’t very interested in goji or wolf berries (similar to goji berries). Pip will eat blueberries but will pass on the goji berries, even when they are plumped by water soaking.

Goji berries also contain up to 21 trace minerals (the main ones being zinc, iron, copper, calcium, germanium, selenium, and phosphorus). 

They are the richest source of carotenoids, including beta-carotene (more beta carotene than carrots), of all known foods or plants on earth! They contain 500 times the amount of vitamin C, by weight, than oranges making them second only to camu camu berries as the richest vitamin C source on earth. Goji berries also contain vitamins B1, B2, B6, and vitamin E.

Packed with nutrition, the goji berry should be used sparingly with monkeys because they are rich in iron. A good daily intake of Goji berries for a monkey is a small monkey-sized handful.

Mature fruits contain about 11 mg of iron per 100 grams, beta-sisterol (an anti-inflammatory agent), linoleic acid (a fatty acid), sesquiterpenoids (cyperone, solavetivone), tetraterpenoids (zeaxanthin, physalin), and betaine (0.1%).

Goji berries contain polysaccharides which fortify the immune system. A polysaccharide found in this fruit has been found to be a powerful secretagogue (a substance that stimulates the secretion of rejuvenate human growth hormone by the pituitary gland).

Goji berries have been traditionally regarded as a longevity, strength-building, and sexual potency food of the highest order. In several study groups with elderly people the berry was given once a day for 3 weeks, many beneficial results were experienced and 67% of the patients T cell transformation functions tripled and the activity of the patients white cell interleukin-2 doubled. In addition, the results showed that all the patients spirit and optimism increased significantly, appetite improved in 95% of the patients, 95% of the patients slept better, and 35% of the patients partially recovered their sexual function.

These Goji berries grow in protected valleys in million year old soil in wild and cultivated areas. The plants grow like bushes with vines that reach over 15 feet. The berries are never touched by hand as they will oxidize and turn black if touched while fresh. They are shaken onto mats, then dried in the shade. My only complaint with the goji berries from rawfoods.com is that about half a dozen berries in each of two 8 oz bags had mold. I don’t know if I just got a bad batch or if there are always a few moldy berries, but because of that experience, I do sort them before feeding them to monkeys.

Because they are dried and easy to handle, and tasty but low in sugar, goji berries make good training snacks. Macaques, guenons, capuchins and others will readily eat these dried berries.  Because they are small and dried, they are excellent to use for outdoor foraging set-ups or for scatter feeding on concrete.

Goji berries come in 8-oz. & 2.5-pound bags, sun-dried, certified organic and are available on the Internet from sites such as www.rawfood.com. If the berries are dried in the right way, they still contain enzymes and are therefore referred to as “raw”.

If you soak them for your monkey use bottled water and save the water, which is rich in nutrients, to use for soaking dry chow. 

For information on wolf berries, similar to goji berries but harder to find and more expensive, read on.

 

What Are Oriental Wolfberries? Oriental, or Chinese, Wolfberries (Lyceum barbarum), similar to Goji Berries from Tibet, grow in the Ningxia Province of northwestern China (inner Mongolia). Because of their extraordinary nutrient value, rich red color, and pleasant, full-bodied taste, the Chinese have been growing this alkaline fruit for thousands of years. To preserve the fruit, it is naturally dried and similar to a dry raisin in texture. Chinese Wolfberries have played a role in Chinese medicine for thousands of years. Monkeys react in the same way as they do to goji berries. If they eat goji’s they eat wolf berries equally well. Both berries naturally add a red clay color to the stool as well.

Wolfberries are renowned for their incredible antioxidant content. On an ORAC antioxidant test, these wolfberries scored 133, second only to Nature’s First Law Bee Pollen, which scored 287. The main active component of the wolfberry is the antioxidant, immune-boosting, non-sweet sugar called Lycium Barbarum Polysaccharide (LBP). The richness of LBP compared to sweet sugars in these particular wolfberries makes this food friendly to those on sugar-restricted diets, such as monkeys with diabetes.

Wolfberries are best known for their amazing levels of beta-carotene and amino acids. Wolfberries contain between 26,000 and 28,000 IU/100g beta-carotene (higher than carrots); they also contain an amazing 19 amino acids including all 8 essential amino acids (making them a source of complete protein!) and 21 trace minerals.

Some of the Benefits of Wolfberries include:

·   Boosts immune function

·   Increases youthfulness

·   Increases alkalinity

·   Strengthens the liver

·   Improves eyesight

·   Improves blood quality.

Wolfberries are not for treating disease as such; their main health benefit is to nourish the body - to support the body in healing itself.

There is also anecdotal evidence that wolfberries increase longevity because they are high in antioxidant carotenoids and in sesquiterpenoids (which stimulate the glandular production of Human Growth Hormone), two of the most significant factors in longevity science. The Chinese hold a strong belief that this fruit can significantly extend life.

Suggested Usage:

Ancient people used wolfberries to make tea, soup, wine, or simply chewed them like raisins. The recommended serving of wolfberries is a small monkey-sized handful. Wolfberries are classified into four grades according to size: Supreme, First, Second, and Third Grades. Wolfberries at www.rawfood.com are classified as Supreme, which have the biggest size and the most nutrients. I found only two with mold in an entire bottle but for that reason they still should be examined before feeding to monkeys.

 

For adult squirrel monkey Pip, left, the debate doesn't last long. He picks the blueberries every time. If the goji berries are served alone, he walks away. But 9 month old patas monkey Bhuti, right, doesn’t care, since she likes the goji or wolf berries, (both red in color) very well.

 

Unlike Pip who picks out the blueberries, Bhuti picks out the red berries, eats them dried or soaked and can’t seem to get enough of them.