A team of German and Indonesian scientists witnessed male orangutan Rakus carefully treating a facial wound with leaves of the Fibraurea tinctoria plant. Known locally as akar kuning, this plant is used in traditional Indonesian medicine for its medicinal properties.
He chewed the leaves, applied the resulting juice to the wound, and then covered the wound with all the leaves. Researchers recorded this behavior repeatedly over a period of time and suggested it was intentional.
Self-treatment turned out to be successful. The wound did not become infected and healed completely within a month. Although researchers aren’t sure if this behavior is common among orangutans, evidence suggests Rakus may have learned it elsewhere. It was not native to the study area, where the plant is rarely consumed by orangutans.
More research is needed to determine whether this is an isolated incident or a more common practice among orangutans.
Source: Ferra
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