BUGGING OUT

Study: Chimps use insects to treat wounds

It has been long known chimpanzees are an evolving and smart species, but have they learned how to use their own medicine to treat wounds? One study said they have.

Chimpanzees are catching insects and placing them onto a wound, according to a study in Current Biology.

Scientists analyzed behavior in chimpanzees in the West African nation of Gabon and noted the animals treat their wounds and the wounds of others using insects.

The act was first noticed in 2019 in an adult female chimpanzee named Suzee, who placed the insect on her son. She caught an insect in the air, placed it in her mouth, “squeezed the insect” and placed it on her son’s wound, according to the study.

Researchers found chimpanzees were soothing others’ wounds not for their benefit but in act of empathy for others’ pain. Simone Pika, a biologist at the University of Osnabruck in Germany and a co-author of the study, told The New York Times they were acting with “the welfare of another being” in mind.

“With every field site, we learn more about chimps,” Pike told The Times. “They really surprise us.”

Suzee applied the insect two more times to her son’s wound. Over 15 months, the researchers studied a group of 45 central chimpanzees, an endangered species, and found the same behavior in other chimpanzees more than 19 times.

“It takes lot of trust to put an insect in an open wound,” Pika told AFP. “They seem to understand that if you do this to me with this insect, then my wound gets better. It’s amazing.”

Although the scientists couldn’t determine what insect was used, Pika said the bug might contain anti-inflammatory substances that have a comforting effect. Insects are known to have various medicinal properties, and researchers will need to do more work to detect and study the insect in question.

“It takes lot of trust to put an insect in an open wound. They seem to understand that if you do this to me with this insect, then my wound gets better. It’s amazing.”

Simone Pika Biologist at the University of Osnabruck in Germany

TOBIAS DESCHNER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES Scientists analyzed behavior in chimpanzees and noted the animals treat their wounds and the wounds of others using insects.