Scientists discover wild orangutans use medicinal plants to heal wounds
In a remarkable revelation, scientists reported that a wild orangutan appeared to have used a medicinal plant to treat its wounds – showing another example of how some animals find Look for natural remedies to heal yourself. The findings, announced Thursday, highlight a new aspect of animal behavior and medicinal plant use.
Researchers observed an adult male orangutan named Rakus chewing the leaves of a tropical plant traditionally used in Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation. After chewing the leaves, Rakus applied the sap directly to the wound on his right cheek. He then used the chewed plant material as a makeshift bandage, according to a study published in Scientific Reports.
Although previous studies have documented large primates foraging for medicinal plants in the wild, this is the first case of an animal applying this method directly to a wound. “This is the first time we have observed a wild animal applying it directly,” said Isabelle Laumer, co-author of the study and a biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Konstanz, Germany. A powerful medicinal plant for wounds.”
The orangutan’s novel behavior was documented in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, co-author and field researcher with the Suaq Research Project in Medan, Indonesia. Photos show Rakus’s wound healing in within a month without complications. Although researchers have studied orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, this type of behavior has never been observed before.
Jacobus de Roode, a biologist at Emory University who was not involved in the study, described the observation as unique. “This is a rare finding, but often new behaviors are discovered from just a single observation,” he said. De Roode suggested that Rakus’ actions may indicate self-medication, noting that the orangutan only applied the plant to the wound and not to other parts of the body.
Co-author Caroline Schuppli at Max Planck proposed that Rakus may have learned this technique from other orangutans outside the park, where he had less human supervision. Rakus was born and raised outside the study area and is believed to have been injured in a fight with another animal. It is unclear whether Rakus previously used medicinal plants to treat other injuries.
Other primates have also been observed using plants to self-medicate. Bornean orangutans have been seen applying plant juices to their bodies, possibly to relieve muscle pain or ward off parasites. Chimpanzees have been observed chewing bitter plant buds to soothe stomach problems, while gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos eat certain leaves to eliminate intestinal parasites.
Tara Stoinski, President and Chief Science Officer of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Foundation, who was not involved in the study, commented: “If this behavior is present in some of our closest living relatives, it can provide insights into the development of early medicine.”
