Chimpanzees filmed applying treatments to wounds for first time

Medicine not just for humans and domesticated animals, as wild chimps appear to use treatments for injuries

Chimpanzees have been recorded applying insects to their wounds and to those of others for the first time, in what is thought to be a form of medical treatment.

Some species are known to self-medicate in various ways, such as dolphins getting high on puffer fish toxins, elephants eating certain leaves to induce labour, and dogs and cats ingesting grass to induce vomiting.

However, animals using specific treatments on other members of their species has not been seen before.

Scientists have said the behaviour, spotted in chimpanzees in Gabon, west Africa, shows a “prosocial behaviour” – actions which benefit other individuals and groups – which is closely associated with human empathy.

It was first seen by a volunteer at the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, where wild chimps live in the Loango National Park, on the Atlantic coast of southwest Gabon.

Alessandra Mascaro observed a chimpanzee named Suzee inspecting a wound on the foot of her adolescent son, Sia. Suzee then caught an insect out of the air, put it in her mouth, took it out again and applied it to her son’s wound.

The researchers at the project said they have been studying this group of chimps for over seven years, but hadn’t witnessed behaviour like this before.

Ms Mascaro took a video of the interaction between mother and son and showed it to her supervisors, Tobias Deschner, a primatologist with the project, and Simone Pika, a cognitive biologist at Osnabrück University in Germany.

“In the video, you can see that Suzee is first looking at the foot of her son, and then it’s as if she is thinking, ‘What could I do?’ and then she looks up, sees the insect, and catches it for her son,’” said Ms Mascaro.

The team at the project then started to monitor the chimpanzees for this type of wound-tending behaviour, and documented 76 cases of the group applying insects to wounds on themselves and others over the next 15 months.

Professor Pika said the act of applying an insect to another’s wounds was a clear example of prosocial behaviour.

“This is, for me, especially breathtaking because so many people doubt prosocial abilities in other animals,” she said. “Suddenly we have a species where we really see individuals caring for others.”

A female chimpanzee known as Roxy is seen applying an insect to a wound on the face of an male chimpanzee named Thea (Tobias Deschner)

The researchers said the team doesn’t know exactly which insects the chimpanzees are using or what their medicinal properties are.

“Humans use many species of insect as remedies against sickness – there have been studies showing that insects can have antibiotic, antiviral, and anthelmintic functions,” Professor Pika said.

The researchers have also suggested the insects might have soothing properties that could provide pain relief.

The team at the project now aims to identify the insects being used by the chimpanzees and to document who is applying insects to whom.

“Studying great apes in their natural environments is crucial to shed light on our own cognitive evolution,” said Dr Deschner. “We need to still put much more effort into studying and protecting them and also protecting their natural habitats.”

The research is published in the journal Current Biology.