A Wild Orangutan Used a Medicinal Plant to Treat a Wound

Scientists reported on Thursday that an orangutan was seen using medicine from a tropical plant to treat a wound. This is another example of how some animals try to heal themselves by using natural remedies they find in the wild.

Scientists watched Rakus, an animal, pick and eat leaves from a medicinal plant that people in Southeast Asia use to treat pain and inflammation. The adult male orangutan used his fingers to put plant juices on an injury on his right cheek. According to a recent study in Scientific Reports, he used a chewed plant as a makeshift bandage to cover the open wound.

It has been demonstrated in previous studies that a number of different species of great apes seek for medicinal plants in woods in order to heal themselves. However, researchers had not yet witnessed an animal treating itself in this manner.

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

Ulil Azhari, a co-author and field researcher at the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia, documented the fascinating behavior of the orangutan in the year 2022 with the intention of preserving it. Photo evidence demonstrates that the animal’s wound healed completely after a month without any complications.

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Since 1994, researchers have been watching orangutans in Gunung Leuser National Park in Indonesia; nevertheless, they had not before witnessed this behavior in these animals.

Jacobus de Roode, a biologist at Emory University who was not engaged in the study, stated that the observation in question was a single occasion. However, the majority of the time, we obtain knowledge about new behaviors by beginning with a single observation. It is quite probable that the orangutan is self-medicating, as stated by de Roode, who also mentioned that the herb was solely applied to the wound and not to any other area of the body.

Jacobus de Roode, a biologist at Emory University who was not engaged in the study, stated that the observation in question was a single occasion. However, the majority of the time, we obtain knowledge about new behaviors by beginning with a single observation.

According to Caroline Schuppli, a co-author at Max Planck, it is possible that Rakus learnt the technique from other orangutans who lived outside the park and were not subjected to the daily inspection of scientists.

Rakus was born and made his home outside of the study area when he was a little child. When the orangutan was injured, the researchers suspect it was as a result of a battle with another species. It is unknown whether Rakus had previously received treatment for any prior injuries. In the past, researchers have documented instances of other primates employing plants as a means of self-administration.

Jacobus de Roode, a biologist at Emory University who was not engaged in the study, stated that the observation in question was a single occasion. However, the majority of the time, we obtain knowledge about new behaviors by beginning with a single observation.

Orangutans from Borneo rubbed themselves with the juices of a medicinal plant, either to alleviate the discomfort they were experiencing in their bodies or to ward off parasites.

Chimpanzees have been seen in a number of different locales chewing on the shoots of plants that have a bitter taste in order to reduce the discomfort in their stomachs. Certain tough leaves are consumed in their whole by gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos in order to eliminate parasites from their stomachs.

In the event that this behavior is observed in some of our closest living relatives, what could this tell us about the origins of medicine? According to Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientific officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, a charitable organization that was not involved in the research project’s development.