Wounded orangutan seen using plant as medicine
Wounded orangutan seen using plant as medicine
It is the first time a creature in the wild has been seen using a medicinal plant to treat a wound.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A Sumatran orangutan in Indonesia has self-medicated using a paste made from plants to heal a large wound on his cheek, say scientists.
After researchers saw Rakus applying the plant poultice to his face, the wound closed up and healed in a month.
We are more similar than we are different," said biologist Dr Isabella Laumer at the Max Planck institute in Germany and lead author of the research.
A research team in the Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia spotted Rakus with a large wound on his cheek in June 2022.
The scientists concluded that Rakus knew he was applying medicine because orangutans very rarely eat this particular plant and because of the length of the treatment.
The entire process lasted really a considerable amount of time - that's why we think that he intentionally applied it," explains Dr Laumer.
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