Orangutan is seen for the first time using medicinal plants to treat wounds, says research – World

One Sumatran orangutanwhich suffered a facial injuryhe cured himself by applying a healing agent prepared by himself by chewing a medicinal plant. The case is the first observation of behavior of this type in a great primate living in the wild, reported the magazine Scientific Reports, this Thursday (2).

Rakus, around 30 years old, had an open wound below his right eye, along his nasal passages, an injury caused “probably by a fight with another male orangutan”, explained Isabelle Laumer, primatologist at the Max Planck Institute and lead author of the study.

The orangutan is part of a group of 130 congeners, all wild, subject to observation in the Indonesian national park of Gunung Leuser.

Three days after suffering the injury, Rakus began chew leaves of a vine called Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) but, instead of ingesting it, he put the juice of the plant on the open wound and covered it completely with the pulp of the vine.

Five days later, the wound closed and after two weeks, it left only an apparent scar.

The medicine used is part of the traditional pharmacopoeia region, from China to Southeast Asia.

Thanks to its antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, this vine and others similar to it “are used as traditional medicines for different diseases, such as malaria”, according to the aforementioned biologist.

This is the first “documented case of treatment of an injury by a wild animal with a plant species that contains active biological substances”, highlighted the study.

If confirmed by other observations, this case would join a growing list of behavior animal self-medicationespecially primates.

In the 1960s, primatologist Jane Goodall first observed that chimpanzees consumed leaves whose antiparasitic function was later revealed.

This same behavior has since been observed in bonobos and gorillas, which carefully select the plants to ingest and whose knowledge is passed on to the females.

COINCIDENCE OR INTENTIONAL BEHAVIOR?

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

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

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

Rakus could have accidentally applied the juice of the plant to the wound, right after putting his fingers in his mouth. As the plant has an analgesic effect, the apes “can feel immediate relief, which would lead them to repeat the operation several times”, according to the person in charge of the Development and Cognitive Evolution group at Max Planck.

As this behavior has not been observed so far at a local level, the researcher does not exclude that it is present in Rakus’ region of origin, as young orangutans leave their native area 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 ointment treatment,” says Schuppli.