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In an article published this Thursday, May 2 in the journal “Nature Scientific Reports,” German researchers explain having seen an orangutan apply a medicinal plant to a wound. A first.
What does an orangutan do when it has a wound on its cheek? He treats her with a medicinal plant, of course! Isabelle Laumer, primatologist from the Max Planck Institute in Konstanz (Germany), observed this behavior with her team in June 2022 in Sumatra, Indonesia. She describes a case, a first according to her, in an article published this Thursday, May 2 in Nature Scientific Reports. On June 22, 2022, she spotted a wound on the right cheek of an orangutan, named Rakus by researchers. Rakus must fight with other males to rise in hierarchy. It leaves traces. In this case, under the right eye.
In the following days, Isabelle Laumer continued to observe Rakus. The orangutan is seen chewing a vine, called Akar badi, which is not part of the species’ usual diet. In fact, it is only on the menu during 0.3% of the 390,000 meals observed. Besides, Rakus doesn’t really eat this vine. He extracts the juice from the leaves with his mouth to apply it to his wound with his fingers. Then he covers everything with the dough he has chewed. Rakus created a bandage, then. And effective, at that. “Observations over the following days showed no signs of wound infection, and by June 30 the facial wound was already closed. On July 19, 2022, the wound appeared to have completely healed and only a slight scar remained. writes the researcher.
“Antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antifungal…”
The Akar badi, or Fibraurea tinctoria for purists, is not
