An orangutan made a medicine to heal itself – and it worked

An orangutan from Indonesia was observed making a medicinal paste and applying the paste to a facial wound to help it heal faster. The treatment was successful and indicates advanced self-medication.

This remarkable behavior is a clear example of active wound treatment with a plant species “known to contain biologically active substances in a wild animal,” say researchers who documented the case.

Self-medicating orangutan

It all started at the Suaq Balimbing research site in Indonesia. Rakus the orangutan had a pretty bad fight with a male rival. The fight left him with a nasty wound on his face. Three days after the injury, Rakus began picking and tearing the leaves of a so-called vine Fibraurea tinctoria.

The vine is known for its analgesic effect. It is also sometimes used as an antipyretic (reduces fever) and diuretic. It also has some anti-inflammatory and antibacterial substances. Rakus gathered the leaves and started chewing them. Rakus applied the resulting juice to his face and finally covered his wound completely with chewed leaves.

There’s no reason to believe this is anything other than self-medication, researchers say.

“Rakus’ behavior appeared to be intentional as he selectively treated his facial wound on his right flange (cheek pad) and no other body parts with the plant sap. The behavior was also repeated several times, not only with the plant sap but later also with firmer plant material until the wound was completely covered. The entire process took a significant amount of time,” says lead author Isabelle Laumer.

“The current study may thus present the first report of active wound treatment with a biologically active substance in a great ape species and provide new insights into the existence of self-medication in our closest relatives and into the evolutionary origins of wound medicine more broadly. also states the research.

The treatment worked. After just five days the wound closed and there was no infection. Moreover, Rakus was also aware that he needed more rest.

“Interestingly, Rakus also rested more than usual when he was injured. Sleep has a positive influence on wound healing, because growth hormone release, protein synthesis and cell division increase during sleep,” explains Laumer.

Just like people used to do

This behavior once again suggests that orangutans are not that far behind humans in evolutionary terms. This is the first time we have noticed this behavior, but orangutans may have been self-medicating for a long time.

In fact, researchers say this behavior is so similar to that of humans that it may have evolved in our common ancestor with orangutans.

“The treatment of human wounds was most likely first mentioned in a medical manuscript dating back to 2200 BC, which included cleaning, plastering and dressing wounds with certain wound care products,” said Caroline Schuppli, lead author of the study.

“Since forms of active wound treatment are not only human, but also occur in both African and Asian great apes, it is possible that there is a common underlying mechanism for the recognition and application of substances with medical or functional properties to wounds and that our latest common ancestor already showed similar forms of ointment behavior.”

Orangutans aren’t the only primates to do this. In the 1960s, primatologist Jane Goodall described the presence of whole leaves in the feces of chimpanzees. In the 1990s it was confirmed that this behavior had a therapeutic and anti-parasitic function.

Since then, several types of self-medication have been observed in nature.

Animals also self-medicate

Researchers commonly classify self-medication into:

• Sick behavior: Exhibits anorexia or other behavior indicative of illness.
• Avoidance behavior: Avoid things like feces, contaminated food or water.
• Prophylactic behavior: Routine consumption of foods known for their preventive health benefits.
• Therapeutic behavior: Consuming small amounts of biologically active or toxic substances with little nutritional value to treat disease or symptoms.
• Therapeutic local application: The topical application of pharmacologically active plants to treat external health problems or the use of such plants in nests as fumigants or insect repellents.

The latter is perhaps the most complex, and several animals have been observed doing this.

North American brown bears (Ursos arctos) make a paste of Osha roots (Ligusticum porteri) and saliva. They then rub their fur in this paste to ward off insect bites and soothe existing bites. It is said that the Navajo Indians learned to use this root medicinally. Bees also use resins as medicine after a fungal infection and in Gabon a chimpanzee was seen treating a wound with insects containing medicinal substances.

Rakus has now ended up in a very select group of creatures, but an important question remains: how did this behavior arise? Is it that Rakus experimented with different plants and innovated them himself, or did he learn it somewhere else?

“It is possible that wound treatment may take place Fibraurea tinctoria by the orangutans in Suaq is created by individual innovation,” says Schuppli. “Orangutans on site rarely eat the plant. However, individuals may accidentally touch their wounds while feeding on this plant and thus unintentionally apply the plant’s sap to their wounds. If Fibraurea tinctoria has powerful analgesic effects, individuals may feel immediate relief from pain, causing them to repeat the behavior several times.”

In any case, this suggests that self-medication in nature may be much more widespread and prevalent than we thought. We will likely find more human-like treatments in the coming years if we continue to closely observe our primate relatives, Laumer concludes.

The research was published in Scientific reports.