First Orangutan ‘Ragus’ Caught Treating Wound With Medicinal Plant | Orangutan | Animals | Wild State | Scientists | | the world

A Sumatran orangutan healed itself by applying a paste made from chewing gum to a wound on its face. Medicinal plant. This is the first observation of such behavior in a great ape in the wild, the journal Scientific Reports reported Thursday.

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Ragus had a wound in his thirties that exposed the flesh under his right eye on his nostril. “Maybe in a fight with another male orangutan”Isabel Lamar, principal at the Max Planck Institute and lead author of the study, explained.

Three days after the wound, Rakus began chewing the leaves of the vine Agar Kuning (Fibrauria tinctoria), but instead of consuming it, he applied the sap of the plant to the open wound and covered it completely with the pulp of the vine. The wound closed after five days, and after two weeks, it left a barely visible scar.

A drug used as part of traditional medicine in the region from China to Southeast Asia. Thanks to their antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, this liana and others like it are “used as traditional medicines for various diseases such as malaria,” says the aforementioned biologist.

This is the first “Documented Case of Wild Animal Wound Treatment with Plant Species Containing Biologically Active Ingredients”Exemplifies the study.

If confirmed by other observations, it would complete the growing list of self-medication behaviors in animals, especially primates.

In the 1960s, the primatologist Jane Goodall Chimpanzees were first found to ingest the leaves, whose antiparasitic role was later revealed.

The same behavior has been observed in bonobos and gorillas, which carefully select plants to consume and their knowledge is passed on by females.

Accidental or intentional behavior?

More recently, researchers observed Bornean orangutans in the wild chewing the leaves of a medicinal plant before rubbing their limbs. Tracinia Candli is used by tribal people to treat muscle and joint pain.

The study assumes that Ragus’ behavior, like that of its counterparts in Borneo, was deliberate. Continuous and precise treatment of a specific body part, “It took a considerable amount of time.” According to Isabel Lamar.

Dr Caroline Shubley, co-author of the study, did not rule out the possibility of a “personal discovery” of accidental origin.

Ragus may have applied the sap of the plant to his wound immediately after accidentally putting his fingers in his mouth. Because the plant has an analgesic effect, the monkeys “can experience immediate relief, which prompts them to repeat the operation several times,” says the head of the Cognitive Development and Evolution Group at Max Planck.

As this behavior has not yet been observed at a local level, the researcher does not rule out its presence in Ragus’ native region, as young orangutans leave their home territory after puberty.

With information from AFP

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