An orangutan is the first animal to see a wound healed with a medicinal plant

Rakus is a male Sumatran orangutan who He suffered a wound under one eye and on which a plant with known medicinal properties was applied.a behavior that is the first time it has been observed in a wild animal.

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The orangutan that lives in the Suaq Balimbing research area, in Gunung Leuser National Park (Indonesia), ate and repeatedly applied sap of a climbing plant, the Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tictoria), in the wound, which was also covered with chewed leaves, according to a study published today in Scientific Reports.

Akar Kuning is a species of liana known for its analgesic and antipyretic effects. In traditional medicine it is used to treat wounds and conditions such as dysentery, diabetes and malaria.

Rakus’ behavior was observed and followed, in June 2022, by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior (Germany) and Universitas Nasional (Indonesia).

“Rakus’s behavior seemed to be intentional“, since he selectively treated only the facial wound with the juice of the plant, It was also repeated several times, said Isabelle Laumer, of the Max Planck Institute and one of the signatories of the study.

This suggests that medical treatment of wounds may have arisen in a common ancestor shared by humans and orangutans, indicates, in a statement, the Max Planck Institute.

Before this study Wild primate species had been observed swallowing, chewing or rubbing plants with medicinal properties, but not applying them to fresh wounds.

Since this behavior had not been observed before, it may be that wound treatment with Fibraurea tinctoria has been absent until now in the behavioral repertoire of the Suaq orangutan population, since like all adult males in the area, the orangutan does not He was born there and his origin is unknown.

Therefore, “it is possible that the behavior is displayed by more individuals from its natal population outside of the Suaq research area“, considered.

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