According to a new study in Scientific Reports, a Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia has self-medicated using a paste made from plants to heal a large wound on his cheek.
- It is the first time a creature in the wild has been recorded treating an injury with a medicinal plant.
- It is also the latest example of how some animals attempt to soothe their own ills with remedies found in the wild.
- Scientists observed Rakus pluck and chew up leaves of a medicinal plant used by people throughout Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation.
- The adult male orangutan then used his fingers to apply the plant juices to an injury on the right cheek. Afterward, he pressed the chewed plant to cover the open wound like a makeshift bandage.
- The orangutan’s intriguing behavior was recorded in 2022 by Ulil Azhari, a co-author and field researcher at the Suaq Project in Medan, Indonesia.
- Photographs show the animal’s wound closed within a month without any problems. Bornean orangutans rubbed themselves with juices from a medicinal plant, possibly to reduce body pains or chase away parasites.
