Scientists say the wild orangutan used a medicinal plant to treat its own wound

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WASHINGTON (AP) An orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant, the latest example of how some animals are trying to soothe their own ailments with remedies found in nature, scientists reported Thursday.

The scientists observed Rakus plucking and chewing leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation. The adult male orangutan then used his fingers to apply the plant’s juices to a lesion on his right cheek. Then, he pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound like a makeshift bandage, according to a new study in Scientific Reports.

Previous research has documented several species of great apes seeking medicine in forests to heal themselves, but scientists had yet to see an animal treat itself in this way.

This is the first time we’ve observed a wild animal applying a fairly potent medicinal plant directly to a wound, said co-author Isabelle Laumer, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany.

The orangutan’s intriguing behavior was recorded in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, co-author and field researcher at the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia. The photographs show the injured animals confined within a month without any problems.

Scientists have been observing orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, but had not seen this behavior before.

It’s a single observation,” said Emory University biologist Jacobus de Roode, who was not involved in the study. But we often learn about new behaviors starting with a single observation.

“Most likely self-medication, de Roode said, adding that the orangutan applied the plant only to the wound and no other part of the body.

Rakus may have learned the technique from other orangutans who live outside the park and away from the daily scrutiny of scientists, said co-author Caroline Schuppli of Max Planck.

Rakus was born and lived as a youth outside the study area. Researchers believe the orangutan was injured in a fight with another animal. It is not known if Rakus previously treated other injuries.

Scientists have previously recorded other primates using plants to treat themselves.

Orangutans in Borneo rubbed themselves with the juices of a medicinal plant, possibly to reduce body pains or expel parasites.

Chimpanzees have been observed in multiple locations chewing the bitter-tasting plant buds to settle their stomachs. Gorillas, chimpanzees and bonobos swallow certain rough leaves whole to get rid of stomach parasites.

If this behavior exists in some of our closest living relatives, what might it tell us about how medicine evolved? said Tara Stoinski, president and chief scientific officer of the nonprofit Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, who had no role in the study.