Orangutan Self-Medicates with Traditional Medicine for Wound Healing: The Groundbreaking Discovery of Intentional Behavior in Wild Animals

In June 2022, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Animal Behavior and Universitas Nasional observed an orangutan male named Rakus in the Suaq Balimbing research area in Indonesia. Rakus, a Pongo abelii from Sumatra, was seen applying a plant known for its medicinal properties to his wound under his eye. This behavior, which has never been seen before in a wild animal, involved Rakus eating and repeatedly applying the sap of the climbing plant Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) to his wound and covering it with chewed leaves.

The juice of Akar Kuning is known for its analgesic and antipyretic effects and is used in traditional medicine to treat wounds and various conditions like dysentery, diabetes, and malaria. Researchers noted that Rakus intentionally treated his facial wound with the plant’s juice, suggesting a shared common ancestor between humans and orangutans in terms of medical treatment for wounds. Previously, wild primate species were observed consuming or chewing plants with medicinal properties but not applying them to fresh wounds.

Rakus sustained his wound on his face likely from a fight with another male orangutan. Three days after the injury, he selectively chewed Akar Kuning leaves and applied the juice to his wound while continuing this behavior for several minutes. The wound healed within five days completely cured in a month. This behavior raises questions about intentional self-medication in non-human animals and how it arises.

The researchers suggested that this unique behavior could have been absent in the behavioral repertoire of the Suaq orangutan population until Rakus demonstrated it. Since Rakus was not born in the research area, it is possible that this behavior could be shown by other individuals from his natal population outside the research area. This groundbreaking discovery provides insights into self-medication among great apes species and evolutionary origins of wound treatment behaviors.

In conclusion, Rakus’ use of Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria) as a natural remedy for his facial injury provides evidence of intentional self-medication among non-human animals. His unique behavior raises questions about how these behaviors arise and their evolutionary origins among great apes species such as humans’ closest relatives: orangutans.