News Excerpt:

A male orangutan, on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, has been recorded on video by German and Indonesian scientists using a medicinal plant to treat a wound on his face.

More about Study on Male “orangutan”

• Rakus is a male Sumatran orangutan residing in the protected rainforest area of Suaq Balimbing, which is home to approximately 150 critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.
• During daily observations of the orangutans, biologists noticed that a male named Rakus had sustained a facial wound, most likely during a fight with a neighbouring male.
• Three days after the injury, Rakus selectively ripped off leaves from a liana plant called 'Akar Kuning' (Fibraurea tinctoria), chewed them, and repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto his facial wound before covering it with the chewed leaves.
• The Akar Kuning plant used by Rakus as a poultice is found in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. 
• It and other related plants are known for their analgesic and antipyretic effects.
• They are, in fact, used by local people in traditional medicine to treat various diseases, such as malaria.
• Analyses of plant chemical compounds show the presence of furano diterpenoids and protoberberine alkaloids, which are known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, and other biological activities of relevance to wound healing.
• Five days after self-medicating, Rakus's wound healed, and he also rested more than usual,
• Sleep positively affects wound healing as growth hormone release, protein synthesis and cell division are increased during sleep.

Self-medication in non-humans:

• Self-medication behaviour has been observed in non-human species before, including great apes like chimpanzees ingesting plants for parasite infections, rubbing plant material for sore muscles, and applying insects to wounds.
• The  treatment of a wound with a biologically active plant substance has not been documented before in great apes.
• Rakus’ place of origin is not known since male orangutans usually leave their natal area after reaching puberty and establish new home ranges.
• The scientists hypothesise that medical wound treatment may have arisen in a common ancestor shared by humans and orangutans.
• The earliest mention of humans cleaning, plastering, and bandaging wounds with certain wound care substances is found in a medical manuscript that dates back to 2200 Before Common Era.
• This possibly innovative behaviour (by Rakus) presents the first report of active wound management with a biological active substance in a great ape species.
• It provides new insights into the existence of self-medication in our closest relatives and in the evolutionary origins of wound medication more broadly,
• The researchers suggest a common underlying mechanism for recognizing and applying medicinal substances to wounds may exist, originating from our last common ancestor with great apes.

UPSC PYQ: 

Q.1 Which one of the following makes a tool with a stick to scrape insects from a hole in a tree or a log of wood? (UPSC 2023)

(a) Fishing cat

(b) Orangutan

(c) Otter

(d) Sloth bear