{"id":41216,"date":"2024-05-02T15:37:04","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/02\/this-orangutan-used-a-medicinal-plant-on-his-face-wound\/"},"modified":"2024-05-02T15:37:04","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T15:37:04","slug":"this-orangutan-used-a-medicinal-plant-on-his-face-wound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/02\/this-orangutan-used-a-medicinal-plant-on-his-face-wound\/","title":{"rendered":"This orangutan used a medicinal plant on his face wound"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With their bright eyes and prominent beards and mustaches, it\u2019s easy to see how orangutans got their name; \u201corang\u201d is Malay for person, while \u201chutan\u201d means forest. Their similarity to humans doesn\u2019t stop there. Researchers have observed a male orangutan treat a wound on his face with a plant that\u2019s also used in human medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s the first time any wild animal has been seen caring for a wound using a natural substance with known medicinal properties<\/a>, researchers report May 2 in Scientific Reports<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On June 25, 2022, field biologist Ulil Azhari was observing a Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii<\/em>) named Rakus in the Suaq Balimbing research area of Indonesia\u2019s Gunung Leuser National Park. The area is home to about 150 of the apes, and researchers have been studying them since 1994. Azhari watched as Rakus chewed up a liana plant, locally known as Akar Kuning, and rubbed the resulting paste onto an open wound he suffered on his right cheek several days prior, likely from a fight with another male. After applying the past several times over about seven minutes, Rakus then smeared intact liana pulp over his injury, almost like a bandage.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A day after Rakus applied his self-made treatment, he was again spotted munching on Fibraurea tinctoria<\/i> leaves. About five days after applying the plant paste, the wound had completely closed, and it showed no signs of infection.<\/span>Saidi Agam<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria<\/em>) is used by the local people in traditional medicine and has a long list of known medicinal properties, including being an antibacterial and anti-inflammatory treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Isabelle Laumer, a cognitive biologist at the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany and member of the Suaq Project studying orangutans, read the notes from the observation and \u201cwas immediately getting very excited,\u201d she says. \u201cHe only treated this wound and not any other body part. And this was done repeatedly.\u201d Rakus\u2019 intentionality, and the fact that his wound was closed just five days after the observation \u2014 and never became infected \u2014 convinced her that he was purposefully using the liana plant to treat his nasty gash.<\/p>\n\n\n