Scientists document the case of an orangutan that made ointment to heal a wound | News Today |

A Sumatran orangutan, wounded in the face, cured himself by applying an ointment he produced by chewing a medicinal plant. This is the first observation of such behavior in a great ape in the wild, as announced by a group of researchers in the Scientific Reports magazine.

Rakus, in his thirties, had a wound that exposed the flesh under his right eye along his nostrils, an injury “probably from a fight with another male orangutan,” andexplained Isabelle Laumer, primatologist at the Max Planck Institute and lead author of the study.

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The orangutan is part of a group of 130 congeners, all undomesticated, which are monitored in the Indonesian Gunung Leuser National Park.

Three days after his injury Rakus began chewing leaves of a vine called Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) But, instead of ingesting it, he placed the juice of the plant on his open wound, and covered it completely with the liana pulp. Five days later the wound closed and, two weeks later, she left a barely visible scar.

The Fibraurea tinctoria It is a plant endemic to the jungles of Southeast Asia. This is used by local communities to treat diseases ranging from diabetes to malaria, as well as for digestive problems. For its part, among its components are diterpenoid furans that modern science has used to develop medications with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidants, among others.

Thanks to these properties, this liana and other similar ones “are used as traditional medicines for different diseases, such as malaria,” according to the aforementioned biologist. Its about first “documented case of treatment of an injury by a wild animal with a plant species containing active biological substances”, the study highlights.

If confirmed by other observations it would complete a growing list of self-medicating behaviors by animals, especially primates. In the 1960s, primatologist Jane GoodalHe first observed that chimpanzees consumed leaves whose antiparasitic role was later revealed.

This same behavior was observed since then in bonobos and gorillaswho carefully select the plants to eat and whose knowledge would be transmitted by the females.

Coincidence or intentional behavior?

More recently, researchers observed Bornean orangutans, also in the wild, chewing the leaves of a medicinal plant before rubbing their limbs. The Dracenea cantleyi It is used by indigenous populations to treat muscle and joint pain.

The study considers that the behavior of Rakus, like that of its conspecifics in Borneo, it was intentional. A repeated, meticulous treatment of a specific body part, “which took considerable time,” according to Isabelle Laumer.

Dr. Caroline Schuppli, co-author of the study, does not exclude the possibility of an “individual innovation” of accidental origin.

Rakus could have accidentally applied the plant’s juice to his wound, right after putting his fingers in his mouth. As the plant has an analgesic effect, the monkeys “they may experience immediate relief, which would push them to repeat the operation several times”according to this head of the Development and Cognitive Evolution group at Max Planck.

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As this behavior has not been observed until now at a local level, the researcher does not exclude that it is present in Rakus’ area of ​​origin, since young orangutans leave their native region after puberty.

The fact that, like humans, primates can actively treat an injury in this way suggests that “Our last common ancestor already used similar forms of treatment with ointments”says Schuppli.