Nature

Researchers Discover Wild Chimpanzees Use Insects To Treat Their Wounds

Researchers have discovered that wild chimpanzees appear to use insects to treat wounds on their bodies.

Chimpanzees at the coastal Loango National Park in western Gabon have been observed using a small, winged insect that they apply to their wounds in what appears to be a type of self-medication.

The chimpanzee community is the first to be observed apparently using insects instead of plants to treat injuries.

Self-application of an insect by an adult Chimpanzee male in Libreville in Gabon. (Alessandra Mascaro, Ozouga CP/Newsflash)

It all began in November 2019 when Alessandra Mascaro, who is part of the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project at Loango National Park, observed a female chimp called Suzee apparently using a winged insect to treat the injured foot of her son, who is called Sia.

Simone Pika, from Osnabrueck University in Lower Saxony in north-western Germany said: “We had witnessed something really amazing.”

The experts then continued to monitor Suzee and approximately 45 other chimpanzees in the community for over a year, until February 2021.

Self-application of an insect by an adult Chimpanzee male in Libreville in Gabon. (Alessandra Mascaro, Ozouga CP/Newsflash)

They observed 22 chimpanzees exhibiting the behaviour, and in 19 of the cases, the animals would catch a winged insect that they would first press between their lips and then rub onto the exposed wound using either their lips or their fingers.

They would then discard the used insect.

The researchers have now published their findings, but they are still unsure as to why the chimpanzees do this and how the treatment, if that is what it is, works.

Self-application of an insect by an adult Chimpanzee male in Libreville in Gabon. (Alessandra Mascaro, Ozouga CP/Newsflash)

Pika said: “What is intriguing me at the moment is, which insect species are they catching? And do they understand what they’re doing?”

She added: “You can find many amazing substances in insects which are antibiotic, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal. They can have a soothing effect or help you to decrease the inflammation.”

It is also possible that the chimpanzees are using the insects as a placebo source of comfort, with Pika saying: “Can you imagine when you were little and you fell, and the wound wasn’t really bad on your knees. But then your mum put a little plaster on your knee and suddenly everything was better, right?”

Allo-application of an insect from an adult female, Suzee, to a wound of her adolescent son, Sia in Libreville in Gabon. (Alessandra Mascaro, Ozouga CP/Newsflash)

The experts also saw chimpanzees ‘treating’ other chimpanzees using the same method.

She said that this behaviour, if confirmed, could help humans understand how self-medication originated and how it evolved.

It is also currently being debated whether or not animals other than human beings take part in activities such as this, but Pika believes that these findings lend credence to the theory.

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