Self-care: Orangutan seen treating wound May 4, 2024

Rakus, an adult male orangutan, is seen with a facial wound that he appeared to treat with medicinal plants in this photo taken on June 23, 2022, in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia © - / SUAQ Foundation/AFP

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Self-care: Orangutan seen treating wound

Bangkok (AFP) - Scientists have observed an orangutan applying medicinal herbs to a wound on its face in a successful attempt to heal the wound, the first time such behavior has been recorded.

Primates have been seen eating plants or rubbing them on themselves, in behavior that scientists assume is intended to ward off disease or discomfort.

However, the apparent treatment observed by researchers in Indonesia in 2022, and reported in the journal Nature Scientific Reports on Thursday, is the first time a wild animal has been seen applying medicinal plants to a wound.

The scientists were tracking a male orangutan nicknamed Rakus in Gunung Leuser National Park in Aceh province, Indonesia when they noticed an open wound on his face.

Three days later, they saw him chewing on the leaves of a vine called Fibraurea tinctoria, known for its medicinal properties and long used in local traditional medicine.

The orangutan "started chewing the leaves without swallowing them and using his fingers to apply the juice of the plant from his mouth directly to the facial wound," said the study carried out by Indonesian and German scientists.

When flies began to land on the site, Rakus "rubbed the entire wound with the pulp of the plant until the red flesh was completely covered with the green leaf material".

The next day, Rakus was seen eating the vine leaves again and, a week later, his wound had closed and healed without any sign of infection.

The study describes the behavior as the "first systematically documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species known to contain biologically active substances by a wild animal".

The researchers said that it is impossible to be certain that the behavior was intentional, but the fact that the juice and leaves were applied repeatedly and only to the wound suggests that Rakus was trying to treat his wound.

They speculate that the orangutan could have come across the treatment, perhaps by first chewing the plant and then discovering that the juice provided pain relief by accidentally touching it to a wound.

Orangutans are known to learn skills from each other through observation, but the scientists said they had no record of similar behavior in 21 years and 28,000 hours of observation in the area.

However, Rakus had moved to the region from elsewhere, which raises the possibility that he learned the medical technique in a different community.

The observation adds to a growing body of evidence about the way primates use plants to stay healthy, including eating whole leaves with anti-parasitic properties.

Elsewhere in Indonesia, orangutans have been seen rubbing the chewed leaves of a different plant on their skin, possibly to take advantage of its anti-inflammatory properties.

In 2022, scientists reported on chimpanzees in Gabon who were seen applying insects to wounds.

© 2024 AFP

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