An orangutan watched a facial wound heal with medicinal plants for the first time

The Sumatran orangutan has been seen using a medicinal plant To heal a facial wound at an Indonesian research site in a first step for non-humans.

The male applied a paste made from the poultice plant to his cheek, which eventually closed the large wound, according to research published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports Journal. A month later, he made a full recovery in what the paper’s authors said was the first documented case of an animal healing itself with a plant.

In June 2022, researchers noticed that a monkey named Rakus had suffered a facial wound at the Suaq Balimbing research site in Gunung Leuser National Park. Three days later, they saw him chewing liana leaves that he had torn off, then repeatedly applying the resulting juice to his injury for seven minutes, covering it completely. Then continue feeding the plant for another 30 minutes.

The scientists concluded that Rakos knew the procedure would heal him because orangutans rarely eat poultices, due to the plant’s precise placement on the wound and the amount of time it took.

“They are our closest relatives and this once again points to the similarities we share with them. We are more alike than we are different,” said biologist and lead author Isabella Loomer. BBC. “I think in the next few years we will discover more behaviors and abilities that are very similar to humans.”

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Rakos was injured while fighting another orangutan

The researchers said they had never observed anything like this in 21 years of observing the creatures. But they acknowledged that this may be due to the fact that they rarely encounter injured orangutans at a market.

Researchers believe Rakos suffered a facial injury during physical altercations with other males.