Photo: ROB ELLIOTT / Getty Images
For: Real America News Updated 08 Feb 2022, 18: 24 pm EST
Apes not only heal their wounds but also that of others
, as verified for the first time by a group of researchers, who consider it proof that are capable of behaviors related to empathy and could be a potential case of medication, with the use of insects.
Scientists from the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project, in Gabon, have been studying a group of these animals in the Loango National Park for seven years and publish this discovery in Current Biology.
The first time they observed this behavior was in 2019, when a chimpanzee named Suzee was inspecting a wound on her teenage boy’s foot, after which she picked up an insect out of the air, popped it into her mouth and applied it to the damaged place.
“In the video you can see that Suzee first looks at her son’s foot, and then or is it like she’s thinking, ‘What could I do?’ and then he looks up, sees the insect and catches it for his son”, indicated one of the authors of the study Alessandra Mascaro, who recorded the images.
Capable of behaviors related to empathy
Scientists consider that This behavior of healing the wounds of other specimens is “proof that chimpanzees have the ability to perform prosocial behaviors that have been related to empathy in human beings”.
The team began to monitor to chimpanzees in search of this type of behavior of attention to wounds and in 15 following months documented 76 cases in which the group applied insects to the wounds of themselves and others.
On one occasion, an adult male, Littlegrey, had There was a deep gaping wound on his shin and Carol, an adult female, who had been grooming him, suddenly reached out to catch an insect, Lara Southern recounted.
“What caught my attention the most was that she gave it to Littlegrey, he applied it to the wound and later Carol and two other adult chimpanzees also touched the wound and moved the insect over it. The three unrelated chimpanzees appeared to perform these behaviors solely for the benefit of their group member”
Applying an insect to the wounds of another is “a clear example of prosocial behavior, that is, behavior that acts for the benefit of others” not only from oneself, assured Simone Pika of the University of Osnabrück. “Suddenly we have a species in which we really see individuals who care about others.”
It is not the first time that it has been observed that nonhuman animals self-medicate. Our two closest living relatives, chimpanzees and bonobos, swallow leaves of plants with anthelmintic properties and chew other bitters that kill intestinal parasites, what is striking is that they have never been seen to do so with the others.
Furthermore, the external application of animal matter on open wounds had never been documented. The team now wants to investigate “the possible beneficial consequences of such surprising behavior,” said primatologist Tobias Deschner.
Now, the scientists are going to identify which insects they use and document who applies it to whom. “Studying great apes in their natural environments is crucial to shedding light on our own cognitive evolution,” Pika said.
“Our study shows that there is still much to explore and discover about our closest living relatives, and therefore we must continue to make much more efforts to protect them in their natural habitat, “said Deschner.
Read more:
They ask to reopen the case of a Latina sentenced to death in Texas accused of murdering blows to his daughter 2019Kamala Harris’s husband is evacuated from a school in Washington due to a bomb threat52695441Georgia Sheriff’s Office Agent Jailed on Child Cruelty and Sexual Abuse Charges