A community of chimpanzees applied insects to their open wounds, ostensibly as a form of first aid. While there has been evidence of animals using plants to self-medicate, these are the first recorded occurrences with insects.
As part of the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, researchers observed many occurrences of this behavior in a community of roughly 45 chimpanzees at the Loango National Park in Gabon.
The project's goal, coordinated by primatologist Tobias Deschner and cognitive scientist Simone Pika, is to examine the chimps' relationships and interactions, as well as how they hunt, utilize tools, communicate, and flex their cognitive skills. The research was published in the journal Current Biology on Monday.
According to the study, this behavior of one animal giving medication to another's wounds has never been seen before, and it could be an indication of helpful inclinations in chimps, akin to empathy in humans.
Alessandra Mascaro, who works at the park's Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, observed and videotaped a female chimp named Suzee tending to her kid Sia's wounded foot in November 2019. Suzee took something from between her lips and applied it to the open cut, which surprised her. Mascaro and her colleagues discovered a flying insect on Sia's wound after reviewing camera footage of the exchange.
"We had witnessed something really amazing," Pika said.
Suzee and the other 45 chimps in her colony were monitored by the researchers after the initial observation until February 2021. They observed the behavior in 22 chimpanzees in all. In 19 of the cases, chimps caught a small winged insect, pressed it between their lips, then rubbed it over their own exposed wounds using their lips or fingers before removing the insect.
The insects could also serve as the source of comfort, according to the team.
"Can you imagine when you were little and you fell, and the wound wasn't really bad on your knees," Pika suggested. "But then your mum put a little plaster on your knee and suddenly everything was better, right?"
These new chimp habits may aid in our understanding of the origins and evolution of self-medication. Although there is still considerable controversy about whether animals other than humans engage in this type of prosocial behavior, these findings provide a compelling illustration.
Although it's difficult to say whether the chimpanzees' actions are motivated by empathy, the researchers were surprised to learn that the chimps comprehended that how they heal their own wounds may be applied to others and that they helped one another even if they weren't related.
