WildLife Group
of the SAVA
‘Ribwort’ (Plantago lanceolata)
diarrhoea in a captive Black Rhino
Dr Dave Zimmerman
Senior Veterinarian
SANParks
During April 2019, a 19 year old black rhino bull
(Munu), presented with an acute, severe, projectile
diarrhoea. The bull had previously been relocated to
the holding facility in January, due to a permanent
bilateral blindness and was awaiting approval of
donation to a recipient facility. He had thus settled
into the routine of management of the holding facility
and was consuming a bale of lucerne per day with ad
lib browse. On the day concerned, his faeces appeared
normal in the morning, and by the afternoon, he
had developed a severe projectile diarrhoea. It was
advised telephonically that the lucerne be removed
until he could be examined the following morning.
The genus Plantago contain mucilages. In particular,
Plantago ovata seeds contain the well known
mucilages, psyllium and ispaghula, which are used
in the manufacture of bulk laxatives 3 . Mucilages are
hydrophilic polysaccharides, which are produced by
On examination the following day, he appeared to
be bright, alert and his faeces were still soft but not
watery as experienced the day before. The bull was
showing no signs of abdominal discomfort (colic) and
was eating browse as normal.
On closer examination of the lucerne in storage, up to
a quarter of each bale was comprised of a long leafed
plant, which was subsequently identified as the herb
Plantago lanceolata commonly known as Ribwort
Plaintain or ‘Tongblaar’ in Afrikaans.
Plantago lanceolata is a perennial herb commonly
found in lawns and grasslands in temperate areas,
which prospers in low nutrient soils and is considered
to be a minor forage plant in Europe 1 . This species
is commonly used in Persian traditional medicine to
reduce gastrointestinal inflammation, and has been
noted to have antihelminthic activity in animals, and
at higher doses have laxative effect 2 .
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Figure 1: Contaminated bale of lucerne with a high pecentage of the
herb/weed: Ribwort Plaintain (Plantago lanceolata)
Figure 2: Close-up of the leafy component of the Ribwort Plaintain in
the bales of lucerne