Chimpanzees use insects to treat their own wounds
Scientists recorded this behavior in chimps in Gabon, Africa, noticing that they not only use insects to treat their own cuts but also help look after other injured chimpanzees too.
Experts say other animals don’t care for each other in this way.
The project began in 2019 when an adult female chimpanzee named Suzee was observed looking at a cut on the foot of her young son.
Suzee then suddenly caught an insect out of the air, put it in her mouth, squeezed it, and then put it on her son’s wound.
It all took place at Gabon’s Loango National Park, where researchers are studying a group of 45 central chimpanzees – an endangered species.
Over the following 15 months, scientists saw chimpanzees use the same treatment on themselves at least 19 times.
They also saw injured chimpanzees being treated in the same way by one or several fellow apes.
The wounds, sometimes several centimeters wide, can come from fights between members of the same or a rival group of chimps.
Far from saying no to the treatment, the bruised chimpanzees were happy to be looked after.
The post Chimpanzees use insects to treat their own wounds appeared first on The Khaama Press News Agency.