For the first time, a research team can prove that chimpanzees take care of themselves medically. But whether the remedies relieve pain or accelerate healing remains a mystery for the time being
Aesculapius did not only have human students: Apparently, chimpanzees also took part in the healing lessons of the Greek deity. This emerges from the observations made by researchers from the universities of Osnabrück and Leipzig, which they have been able to collect in recent years in the Loango National Park in the Central African state of Gabon.
The team led by primatologist Tobias Deschner and cognitive biologist Simone Pika observed a community of around 45 chimpanzees. They discovered that chimpanzees use remedies to treat wounds: the primates catch insects, crush them, and smear the “ointment” on open wounds – presumably to relieve pain or speed healing. The researchers’ observations have now been published in the journal Current Biology.
The group noticed Suzee as the first healer. While the chimpanzee mother was inspecting her son’s wound, she suddenly caught an insect out of the air with her hand, crushed it between her lips and spread the resulting insect pulp with her fingertip on her offspring’s wound. Without complaining, the little one endured the procedure three times in a row: obviously the medical treatment gave him relief.
Over a period of 15 months, the primate researchers found this treatment practice confirmed 22 times. In most cases, chimpanzees applied the insect puree to themselves – but at least three times a Dr. Chimp in action. It is the first time that the practice of healing has been observed in the animal kingdom.
You know it from dogs or cats that eat grass to be able to throw up: an instinctive way of using medication. Bears and elephants are also known to eat certain plants to cure stomach ailments. However, it has not yet been observed that one elephant treats the other medically.
Other animals also take care of their own kind or family members, but none as diligently as chimpanzees. For them, social behavior is essential for survival: only in a well-organized group do they stand a chance against leopards or surround, tear apart and eat smaller monkeys. Because injured chimpanzees are hardly an option, they have to be cured as quickly as possible: the selective advantage of a primate gang with a family doctor. “We learned something new about the chimpanzees on each of our visits,” enthuses Simone Pika, who is also a co-author of the study: “They are full of surprises.”
What the research team has so far been denied: the type of insect that the chimpanzee doctors use. So far, they haven’t been able to get hold of any of the ointment or identify the insect used, Pika admits. It is now urgent to catch up. Only then can it be determined whether the insect actually contains a pain-relieving or healing-promoting substance – which in turn will be of interest to the pharmaceutical companies.
Someone should help the chimpanzees apply for a patent: otherwise they will not only be snatched away from their living space and their source of food, but also their healing knowledge.
