Wounded orangutan seen using plant as medicine

[muriel_volestrangler]

It is the first time a creature in the wild has been recorded treating an injury with a medicinal plant.
...
They believe he was injured fighting with rival male orangutans because he made loud cries called "long calls" in the days before they saw the wound.

The team then saw Rakus chewing the stem and leaves of plant called Akar Kuning - an anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial plant that is also used locally to treat malaria and diabetes.

He repeatedly applied the liquid onto his cheek for seven minutes. Rakus then smeared the chewed leaves onto his wound until it was fully covered. He continued to feed on the plant for over 30 minutes.



https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-68942123

[Jirel]

1. Not from a reliable journal.

I would love this to be accurate. But the article reported on uncritically by BBC is in Scientific Reports. That journal publishes a LOT of garbage, even though it is supposedly peer reviewed. To give some perspective, most peer reviewed publications accept about 10-15% of the articles submitted. Scientific Reports publishes about 50% of the spaghetti thrown at its walls.

[Maraya1969]

2. Well I think it still may be true. I remember that tiger in India that got into a school and

had a lot of injuries and they just put Tumeric all over him.

Maybe the news source is not that trustworthy but that doesn't mean it never gets anything right. I want to believe this. So I am

[Crunchy Frog]

3. I know that chimpanzees have been observed using medicinal plants when they weren't feeling well.

https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/1994/Animal-Heal-Thyself

[pansypoo53219]

4. nothing new. saw it on a doc on PBS years ago.