Orangutan’s use of first-aid a first for animal kingdom

Scientist speculate he could have first chewed the plant and then found the juice offered pain relief when accidentally touching it to a wound.

Rakus at Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra, Indonesia.

Scientists have ­observed an orangutan applying medicinal herbs to a face wound in an apparently successful ­attempt to heal an injury, the first time such behaviour has been ­recorded.

Primates have previously been seen eating plants or rubbing them on themselves in ­behaviour scientists theorised was intended to ward off disease or discomfort.

But the apparent treatment seen by researchers in Indonesia in 2022, and reported in the journal Nature Scientific Reports on Thursday, is the first time a wild animal has been seen applying medicinal plants to a wound.

Scientists were tracking a male orangutan nicknamed Rakus at the Gunung Leuser ­National Park in Indonesia’s Aceh province when they noticed an open wound on his face.

Three days later, they spotted him chewing the leaves of a vine called Fibraurea tinctoria, which is known for its medicinal properties.

The orangutan “began chewing the leaves without swallowing them and using his fingers to apply the plant juice from his mouth directly onto his facial wound,” said the study by Indonesian and German scientists.

When flies landed on the site, Rakus “smeared the entire wound with the plant pulp”. The next day, Rakus was seen eating the vine’s leaves again, and a week later his wound had closed up, subsequently healing without any sign of infection. The study describes the ­behaviour as the “first systematically documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species known to contain biologically active substances by a wild animal”.

Researchers said it was impossible to be sure the behaviour was intentional, but the fact the juice and leaves were applied repeatedly and only to the wound suggests Rakus was trying to treat his injury. They speculate the orangutan could have stumbled across the treatment, perhaps by first chewing the plant and then finding the juice offered pain relief when accidentally touching it to a wound.

AFP