When our species was formed, virtually all the other animal species that exist today were already inhabiting the Earth. Therefore, the human species (Homo sapiens L.) learned a lot from Nature and other animals. We copy other animals in the food we eat and also in the use of many of the medicinal plants that we still utilize today. The earliest human ancestors were herbivores, later gatherers and hunters and, after the domestication of animals and plants, farmers and shepherds. In addition to the edible plants we have always used, there are known documents on medicinal plants for over five thousand years, such as the documented Chinese medical systems and Indian ayurvedic medicine. Before the manufacturing of drugs by the pharmaceutical industry, which is not older than a century-and-a-half, the diseases were treated directly with “remedies” made of plants or animals.

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CHAM / NOVA FCSH | UAc
Padrão dos Descobrimentos / EGEAC