Animals have been known to eat certain plants to alleviate stomach discomfort, but scientists had never seen one apply a makeshift bandage to heal a wound before.
An orangutan appeared to treat a wound with medicine from a tropical plant – the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild.
“This is the first time that we have observed a wild animal applying a quite potent medicinal plant directly to a wound,” said co-author Isabelle Laumer, a biologist at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behaviour in Konstanz, Germany. Scientists have been observing orangutans in Indonesia’s Gunung Leuser National Park since 1994, but they hadn’t previously seen this behaviour.
Rakus’ wound is barely visible. Two months earlier, researchers observed him apply chewed and applying leaves from a plant used by humans to treat pain and inflammation and to kill bacteria, to the wound.“Very likely it’s self-medication,” said de Roode, adding that the orangutan applied the plant only to the wound and no other body part.
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