A wild orangutan used a medicinal plant to treat a wound, scientists say

An orangutan appeared to deal with a wound with drugs from a tropical plant— the newest instance of how some animals try to appease their very own ills with cures discovered within the wild, scientists reported Thursday.

Scientists noticed Rakus pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant utilized by folks all through Southeast Asia to deal with ache and irritation. The grownup male orangutan then used his fingers to use the plant juices to an harm on the suitable cheek. Afterward, he pressed the chewed plant to cowl the open wound like a makeshift bandage, based on a new research in Scientific Reports.

Previous analysis has documented a number of species of nice apes foraging for medicines in forests to heal themselves, however scientists hadn’t but seen an animal deal with itself on this means.

“This is the first time that we have observed a wild animal applying a quite potent medicinal plant directly to a wound,” stated co-author Isabelle Laumer, a biologist on the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany.

The orangutan’s intriguing conduct was recorded in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, a co-author and area researcher on the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia. Photographs present the animal’s wound closed inside a month with none issues.

Scientists have been observing orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, however they hadn’t beforehand seen this conduct.

“It’s a single observation,” stated Emory University biologist Jacobus de Roode, who was not concerned within the research. “But often we learn about new behaviors by starting with a single observation.”

“Very likely it’s self-medication,” stated de Roode, including that the orangutan utilized the plant solely to the wound and no different physique half.

It’s attainable Rakus realized the approach from different orangutans residing exterior the park and away from scientists’ day by day scrutiny, stated co-author Caroline Schuppli at Max Planck.

Rakus was born and lived as a juvenile exterior the research space. Researchers consider the orangutan acquired damage in a combat with one other animal. It’s not recognized whether or not Rakus earlier handled different accidents.

Scientists have beforehand recorded different primates utilizing vegetation to deal with themselves.

Bornean orangutans rubbed themselves with juices from a medicinal plant, probably to scale back physique pains or push back parasites.

Chimpanzees in a number of places have been noticed chewing on the shoots of bitter-tasting vegetation to appease their stomachs. Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos swallow sure tough leaves complete to do away with abdomen parasites.

“If this behavior exists in some of our closest living relatives, what could that tell us about how medicine first evolved?” stated Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientific officer of the nonprofit Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, who had no position within the research.