{"id":2988,"date":"2025-10-21T13:07:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/?p=2988"},"modified":"2025-10-21T13:07:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T13:07:17","slug":"animal-medicine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/blog\/2025\/10\/21\/animal-medicine\/","title":{"rendered":"Animal Medicine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ theme_builder_area=”post_content” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_column _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” type=”4_4″ theme_builder_area=”post_content”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” theme_builder_area=”post_content” hover_enabled=”0″ sticky_enabled=”0″]

There are many things in the world that are commonly viewed as being uniquely human, certain tools and behaviors that are only seen in the world because humans have a unique ability to investigate and harness the world around us to a level far beyond other animals. Despite this, many of the things we would associate with humans are seen in other animals in some form, such as the tool use demonstrated by many animals and the complex social systems seen in groups of elephants, some primates, and marine mammals like dolphins. One of the most notable examples of this, however, is the use of substances with medicinal properties by some animals and primates in particular to treat diseases and even injuries. Animal self-medication provides insight into the ability of animals to understand the utility of items in their environments to promote their survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June 2022, a flanged male Sumatran orangutan named Rakus in the Suaq Balimbing research area in South Aceh, Indonesia, was observed by Laumer et al. (2024) with a facial wound that is believed to have been sustained during a fight with another male orangutan. Several days later, he was observed chewing on the leaves of the <\/span>Fibraurea tinctoria<\/span><\/i> plant. <\/span>F. tinctoria<\/span><\/i> is used in traditional medicines to treat multiple conditions and contains furanoditerpenoids, chemicals reported to have antibiotic properties. Rakus was observed to chew the leaves of the plant and apply the paste to the wound on his face, covering the injury completely. Over the following days, the wound was never observed to develop an infection and healed fully in the following month. This event was the first observed case of intentional wound care using a plant known to have medicinal properties by a wild animal, though it is not the only case of medicinal behavior observed in animals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Chimpanzees are also known to perform actions that may indicate intent to treat injuries or diseases. Freymann et al. (2024) observed chimpanzees consuming bark, pith, dead wood, and leaves from species with poor nutritious value. Notably, these plants are also used in traditional medicines as treatments for a variety of ailments including vomiting, parasitic infections, and asthma. Over the course of 116 days of observation, researchers found that chimpanzees would consume these plants more frequently while suffering from respiratory problems, injuries, endoparasite infections, and other conditions. They also noticed that the plant species consumed were influenced by the conditions the individual was experiencing at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

The researchers later collected samples of 9 species of plants based on the observed behaviors of the chimpanzees as well as 5 species historically reported to have been consumed by chimpanzees. They tested extracts from these plants for anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activity. Many of the plant extracts tested possessed anti-inflammatory COX-2 inhibition activity and some inhibited the growth of bacterial cultures.<\/span><\/p>\n

The demonstration of self-medicating behavior in wild primates gives us greater awareness of the degree of knowledge and understanding animals have of the utility of the items in their environments. In some ways it forces us to consider the uniqueness of the things that we consider to make us human. Analysis of the plants used by animals as medicines may be useful in identifying new medicines that can be used to treat increasingly common and threatening multidrug resistant bacteria. In all, these discoveries offer greater understanding of the world around us and possibly, opportunities for medical innovations.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Laumer, I. B., Rahman, A., Rahmaeti, T., Azhari, U., Hermansyah, Atmoko, S. S. U., & Schuppli, C. (2024). Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 8932. <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1038\/s41598-024-58988-7<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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Elodie Freymann, Carvalho, S., Garbe, L. A., Dinda Dwi Ghazhelia, Hobaiter, C., Huffman, M. A., Geresomu Muhumuza, Schulz, L., Sempebwa, D., Wald, F., Yikii, E. R., Klaus Zuberb\u00fchler, & Schultz, F. (2024). Pharmacological and behavioral investigation of putative self-medicative plants in Budongo chimpanzee diets. PLoS ONE, 19(6), e0305219\u2013e0305219. <\/span>https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.0305219<\/span><\/a><\/p>[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are many things in the world that are commonly viewed as being uniquely human, certain tools and behaviors that are only seen in the world because humans have a unique ability to investigate and harness the world around us to a level far beyond other animals. Despite this, many of the things we would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":2991,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foraging","category-learning","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3035,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2988\/revisions\/3035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/animaltales.kenyoncip.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}