For the first time, scientists have seen a wild animal use a plant with medicinal properties to treat a wound.
Scientists watched a wild male Sumatran orangutan chew leaves from a vine and then apply it to a wound on his cheek. That plant is used in traditional medicine to treat wounds and conditions such as dysentery, diabetes, malaria. According to the researchers, this is the first observation of a wild animal treating a wound with a plant, they write in a trade journal Scientific Reports.
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Orangutan did not get an infection
Isabelle Laumer and colleagues observed the male orangutan – which they named Rakus – in Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia in June 2022. They noticed that Rakus had a wound on his right cheek. It is not known how he contracted it, but they suspect after one fight with a peer.
A little later they saw Rakus on a vine (Fibraurea tinctoria) chewed and applied the resulting liquid to his wound. This process took about seven minutes. He then completely covered his wound with the chewed leaves.
Previous research has already shown that Fibraurea tinctoria has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and antifungal properties. And that appears to have worked to the orangutan’s advantage, as the wound did not become infected in the days after the treatment. Within five days it was closed and completely healed after a month.
Intentional treatment
Because Rakus repeatedly applied plant material to his wound, and not to other body parts, researchers say it is likely that he deliberately treated his facial wound with the vine leaves.
Isabelle Laumer and colleagues don’t know if this was Rakus’ first time treating a wound or if he learned it from other orangutans. In any case, they have not seen the behavior in other individuals in the area. But that could also be because they rarely encountered injured orangutans.
‘Special observation’
“I think this is a very special discovery, because this is the first observation of the direct use of a plant on a wound by great apes,” says primatologist Serge Wich to KIJK know. Although it is not yet entirely certain, he thinks it is likely that the orangutan did indeed use the plant as medicine. “Orangutans do not often eat this vine and applying the plant sap to the wound seems to be very much aimed at preventing any infection or at least soothing the pain.”
“These types of observations will remain rare because orangutans with a fresh wound are not often monitored by researchers. That immediately shows how special this observation is.”
Veterinarians
Self-medication is more common in the animal kingdom. For example, several monkeys are known to browse swallow without chewing. This is said to have a medicinal function, mainly combating parasites. They also sometimes eat plants that contain few nutrients, but are rich in antibacterial or anti-inflammatory substances.
However, only a few cases of wound treatment are known. Wich cites as examples chimpanzees and gorillas that eat plants with medicinal properties and then lick their wounds. And in 2022, a study came out reporting that chimpanzees wound themselves and others treat with insects. It is not yet known which insects and what exactly their use is.
Source: Scientific Reports
