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Related: About this forumChimps observed medicating themselves -- and others -- with insects for the first time
At the Loango National Park in Gabon, adult chimpanzee Suzee is shown inspecting a day-old wound on the foot of her adolescent son, Sia.
Then she abruptly sits up, grabs an insect from a nearby branch and pops it in her mouth. She takes Sias foot and applies the insect to the wound, repeating the process of extraction and application twice as her daughter looks on.
It was a moment, captured on video in 2019, which a group of researchers say marks the first time such behavior was observed and studied in chimpanzees. The incident prompted the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project to begin further monitoring. Now they say that over the course of 15 months, their researchers have observed 19 instances of chimpanzees applying insects to wounds on themselves and three times to the wounds of others.
Then she abruptly sits up, grabs an insect from a nearby branch and pops it in her mouth. She takes Sias foot and applies the insect to the wound, repeating the process of extraction and application twice as her daughter looks on.
It was a moment, captured on video in 2019, which a group of researchers say marks the first time such behavior was observed and studied in chimpanzees. The incident prompted the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project to begin further monitoring. Now they say that over the course of 15 months, their researchers have observed 19 instances of chimpanzees applying insects to wounds on themselves and three times to the wounds of others.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/07/chimpanzee-gabon-medicine-insect/
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Chimps observed medicating themselves -- and others -- with insects for the first time (Original Post)
jmbar2
Feb 2022
OP
elleng
(130,134 posts)1. WOWOWOW!!!
jmbar2
(4,832 posts)2. I thought so too!
I'm wondering if they have identified the type of insects or know anything about the medicinal properties. If there are such properties, it would show the ability to make cause and effect observations over time, and to transmit that knowledge to others.
The more I learn about animal intelligence, the more humbled I feel as a human.
Watching osprey adults rehabbing their nest here every spring is something else!