A orangutan appeared to treat a wound with a medicine extracted from a tropical plant, The latest example of how some animals try to alleviate their own ailments with remedies found in nature, scientists reported Thursday.
The scientists observed Rakus plucking and chewing leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation. Then the adult male orangutan He used his fingers to apply the juices of the plant to a wound on the right cheek. She then pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound as if it were a makeshift bandage, according to a new study published in Scientific Reports.
Previous research has documented several species of great apes seeking medicine in forests to heal themselves, but Scientists had not yet seen an animal treat itself this way.
“This is the first time we have observed a wild animal applying a fairly potent medicinal plant directly to a wound,” said the co-author. Isabelle Laumera biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany.
The orangutan’s intriguing behavior was recorded in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, co-author and field researcher of the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia. The photographs show that the animal’s wound closed after a month without any problems.
Scientists have been observing orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, but they had not seen this behavior before.
“It’s a single observation,” said Emory University biologist Jacobus de Roode, who was not involved in the study. “But we often learn about new behaviors starting with a single observation.”
“It is very likely that it is self-medication”said de Roode, adding that the orangutan applied the plant only to the wound and to no other part of the body.
Rakus may has learned the technique from other orangutans who live outside the park and away from the daily scrutiny of scientists, said the co-author Caroline Schuppli by Max Planck.
Rakus was born and lived as a young man outside the study area. Researchers believe the orangutan was injured in a fight with another animal. It is not known if Rakus previously treated other injuries.
Scientists have previously recorded that other primates used plants to treat themselves for different ailments and ailments.
Bornean orangutans rubbed themselves with the juices of a medicinal plant, possibly to reduce body pain or scare away parasites.
Chimpanzees have been observed in multiple places chewing bitter-tasting plant shoots to calm their stomachs. Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos swallow certain rough leaves whole to get rid of stomach parasites.
“If this behavior exists in some of our closest living relatives, what might it tell us about how medicine first evolved?” said Tara Stoinskipresident and chief scientific officer of the nonprofit Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, who was not involved in the study.
(With information from AP)
