Are humans the only animals that practice medicine? In this episode, two scientists share surprising observations of orangutans and chimpanzees treating wounds–their own and others’–with plants and insects. These discoveries challenge ideas about uniquely human behaviors and offer insights into animal intelligence, empathy, and the evolutionary roots of medicine.
Origin Stories is a project of The Leakey Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding human origins research and outreach. Sign up for our monthly newsletter to learn more about our work!
Videos
Rakus doing a long call after being wounded
Chimp applying insect to wound
Caroline Schuppli on Lunch Break Science
Links to learn more
Ozouga Chimpanzees (where Alessandra studies chimpanzee behavior)
Research papers
Application of insects to wounds of self and others by chimpanzees in the wild (pdf)
Credits
Origin Stories is a listener-supported show. Additional support comes from Jeanne Newman, , Camilla and George Smith, the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation, and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.
Origin Stories is produced by Ray Pang. Our editor is Audrey Quinn. Theme music by Henry Nagle. Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
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This is Origin Stories, the Leakey
Foundation podcast. I’m Meredith Johnson.
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Before we get to the episode,
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I wanted to say thank you so much for
all of your support with our matching
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fundraiser for Origin Stories.
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We were blown away by your generosity,
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and we’re thrilled to tell you that
thanks to you, we met our goal.
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So thank you to Jean Bainbridge,
Richard Blanchette, Bernadette Brenkus,
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Chinzia De Santis, Robert
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Jonas, Amie Kaufmann, Luzie Lenzner,
Cahail Mc, Kevin Miller, Charles Musiba,
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and 31 other donors who
wanted to stay anonymous.
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Today on the show we have two
stories about medicine. As humans,
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we have a vast toolkit of remedies
to help ourselves and each other when
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we’re sick or injured.
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We don’t know exactly how long
we’ve been practicing medicine or
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what medical care was like
for our ancient ancestors,
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but there’s plenty of prehistoric
evidence of individuals who
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survived accidents, blunt
force injuries, broken bones,
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and trauma of many kinds.
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The earliest evidence is from
about 1.7 million years ago,
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a Homo erectus individual
who had periodontal disease
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and infections at the jaw.
They lost all their teeth,
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but they somehow survived. How? we don’t
know, but in biological anthropology,
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when we want to understand
the roots of human behavior,
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we look to our ape cousins and it turns
out that our cousins are using medicine.
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Origin Stories Producer
Ray Pang has our stories.
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A
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few
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months
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ago
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I
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heard
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about
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a
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sumatran
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Orangutan
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named
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Rakus
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–
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who
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was
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seen
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making
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and
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smearing
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a
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peculiar
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plant
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paste
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into
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a
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fresh
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wound
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on
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his
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face.
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While
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chimps
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have
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been
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documented
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using
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plant
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medicine,
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this
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is
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the
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first
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known
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instance
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of
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an
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orangutan
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treating
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a
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wound
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with
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plants.
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To
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learn
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more
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about
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Rakus,
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I
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called
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up
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Caroline
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Schuppli
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–
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an
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evolutionary
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biologist
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at
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the
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Max
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Planck
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Institute.
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Yeah,
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rakus is one of the orangutans we have
observed for many years at our study
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site.
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Caroline’s a Leakey Foundation grantee
and director of the SUAQ Balimping
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Orangutan Research Project in Sumatra,
where she studies how orangutans learn.
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The peat swamp forest there has the
highest density of orangutans on earth,
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A typical day starts before sunrise so
they can reach the apes before they wake
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up.
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So we follow the orangutans
from their morning nests,
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so when they leave their
nest in the morning to the
point in time when they make
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a new nest in the evening.
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We have some individuals that like to
snack late into the evenings and those go
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to bed at around eight, but
mostly it’s around six or seven.
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I think most of us can relate to
an orangutan that likes to snack at
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night.
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Absolutely.
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From morning till night.
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Every two minutes they write
down the orangutans asactivities.
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How far away it is from other
individuals. If it’s eating,
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we write down what it is eating and
what species, which part of the species.
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We usually follow individuals
up to 10 days in a row,
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and then we give them
at least a month break.
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Caroline’s team was out in
the field conducting their
everyday observations when
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they saw an orangutan named Rakus doing
something they’d never seen before.
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He’s a fully flanged male now
for three years. Before that,
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he was an unflanged male.
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In orangutans, males can
be flanged and unflanged.
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Flanges are these wide thick fleshy
pads that grow around a male’s face when
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they reach full adulthood.
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These pads are used to attract mates
and to amplify their loud long calls,
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a kind of hybrid signal that
means, welcome to my land,
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and no males allowed
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.
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One day.
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Shortly after he has become a flanged
male and he started to kind of claim a
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dominance position in SUAQ.
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One day we found him with a big wound in
his face or several wounds in his face.
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Ulil
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Azhari
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and
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Armas
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Safruddin
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are
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two
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field
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assistants
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who
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work
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with
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Caroline.
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They
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were
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the
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ones
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who
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first
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noticed
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Rakus
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looked
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hurt.
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They hardly ever get injured.
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They’re surprisingly good at
preventing injuries and wounds,
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but with this case,
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we had actually some signs that Rakus
was kind of challenging the current
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dominant male and claiming
a dominance position.
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And so we believed that the wound stemmed
from a fight with another flanged male.
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Just under his right eye, a large chunk
of flesh was missing from his cheek.
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The wound was a couple inches wide,
but as they kept watching him,
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they saw him do something surprising.
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And shortly after that he was
seen to chew a plant and smear
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the resulting mash of that
plant onto his wounds.
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He seemed to deliberately pick
some leaves, chew them up,
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spit the plant mush into his hand
and rub it onto his hurt cheek.
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The researchers later took a few leaves
from the plant and brought it back to
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camp.
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And we realized that this is actually
a plant that’s very well known for its
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medical properties.
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Akar Kuning – a fast growing flowering
vine that has long been used in
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traditional medicine across Indonesia
and is known to have anti-bacterial,
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anti-inflammatory,
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anti-fungal and antioxidant properties.And
the mushed up Akar Kuning leaves
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seemed to have a healing effect
on Rakus’ face. Day by day,
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the researchers watched his
wound get smaller and smaller.
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And then kind of the significance
of the events started to sink in.
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Because we hardly ever find wounded
orangutans in our study site it it’s
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difficult for us to compare this
wound healing to other wound healing,
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but from what we can tell,
from what we have observed,
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there was no signs of infection.
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Wow. What was most exciting to you
about this finding and observation?
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It was kind of an escalating
excitement because first of all,
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we hardly ever have
injured orangutans then.
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I’ve never heard of an orangutan walk
chewing up a plant and smearing it onto
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his wound and then realizing that this
is a plant with medical properties.
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It was this gradual but quite
quick increase of excitement and
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realizing that we’re onto something here.
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This was the first time a primate had
been seen using a medicinal plant that
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humans also use.
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And for Caroline as an evolutionary
biologist studying how orangutans learn,
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she wondered how did
Rakus learn to do this?
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That was of course the first
burning question for us.
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The thing that’s most interesting
for us, given our research area,
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animals can either learn something
by individual exploration,
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so figuring it out themselves or they
can learn it from other individuals.
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So that’s what we call social
learning. The question is, which one?
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But the problem with the social learning
theory is that orangutans are hardly
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ever wounded.
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So the likelihood that he observed
another individual being wounded,
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which would’ve most likely been another
flinched male with him being close by
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and observing and realizing
what he’s doing is quite low.
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So it’s unlikely that Rakus
learned this from mom.
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I wouldn’t exclude the possibility.
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It’s just given how rarely
orangutans are injured,
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especially mothers or infants,
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it’s quite unlikely that it happens
frequently enough to really be passed on
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from generation to generation.
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So in orangutans learning opportunities
are quite skewed towards the first part
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of development.
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Then they leave their mothers and they
spend around half of their time on their
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own and half of their time with
one or two other individuals.
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Even though these individuals
are significantly less
tolerant than their moms,
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so they get less time to observe these
individuals from a close distance.
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And then if they’re male and
then they become flanged,
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they even have less opportunities because
other males won’t interact with them
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anymore.
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Yeah, exactly. So as unflagged males,
especially when they arrive in a new area,
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we find loads of evidence that they seek
the presence of residents to learn from
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them. But as soon as they transition
into the flanged mail stadium,
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it’s quite a solitary life
for the rest of their lives.
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Caroline says,
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the other possibility is that Rakus
figured out the leaves have healing
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properties all on his own.
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You would assume that he somehow
realized while treating this wound or a
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previous wound that he sustained,
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that chewing up this plant
is soothing his pain or
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is helping with the healing process.
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But it must have been some quite
immediate effect that he could
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connect with the plant. And
that made him realize, okay,
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so maybe if I apply this
plant to my other wounds,
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that will make the pain go away as well.
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This is what Caroline
thinks most likely happened.
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Rakus found his way to plant medicine
through what she calls individual
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exploration.
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We don’t know how much Rakus
really understands that
applying this plant to his
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wound will make the wound heal better,
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but because the plant has
pain relieving properties,
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we think that that might be the mechanism
that makes them connect the benefits
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of applying this plant to the wounds.
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The problem with this wound healing
is that it’s not immediate, right?
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So they chew up the plant, they apply it,
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and then over the next couple of
days or weeks, the wound will heal.
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00:10:08,640 –> 00:10:11,910
But he was only applying the
plant material to the wound,
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00:10:11,910 –> 00:10:14,730
so he wasn’t smearing it
on any other body part,
249
00:10:14,730 –> 00:10:19,380
but he was really just applying it to
his wound in the face and it lasted for
250
00:10:19,380 –> 00:10:22,620
seven minutes. So it
seemed very intentional.
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00:10:23,130 –> 00:10:28,050
It’s pretty incredible to know
that they could be out here either
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00:10:28,050 –> 00:10:32,940
knowingly or unknowingly using
substances in a way that has a very
253
00:10:33,090 –> 00:10:34,560
delayed gratification.
254
00:10:35,850 –> 00:10:37,950
Yeah, that’s the
interesting thing about it,
255
00:10:38,040 –> 00:10:40,740
the delayed gratification
or the delayed effect.
256
00:10:41,160 –> 00:10:45,630
How did they connect this effect to
the action if the action is so rare and
257
00:10:45,630 –> 00:10:46,920
hardly ever performed?
258
00:10:48,690 –> 00:10:51,990
So what do you think the
implications of this finding are?
259
00:10:53,040 –> 00:10:58,040
We
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00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
have
261
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
to
262
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
think
263
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
about
264
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
what
265
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
cognitive
266
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
foundation
267
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
is
268
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
behind
269
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
this
270
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
behavior.
271
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
Since
272
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
humans
273
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
also
274
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
use
275
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
plants
276
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
to
277
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
treat
278
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
their
279
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
wounds
280
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
and
281
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
all
282
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
kinds
283
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
of
284
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
medical
285
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
conditions,
286
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
that
287
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
most
288
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
likely
289
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
the
290
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
last
291
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
common
292
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
ancestor
293
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
between
294
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
the
295
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
non
296
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
human
297
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
apes
298
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
and
299
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
the
300
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
humans
301
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
also
302
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
had
303
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
the
304
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
cognitive
305
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
foundation
306
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
that
307
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
is
308
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
needed
309
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
to
310
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
perform
311
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
these
312
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
behaviors.We
313
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
know
314
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
that
315
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
ape
316
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
relatives
317
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
can
318
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
use
319
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
these
320
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
medical
321
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
plants,
322
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
it
323
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
is
324
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
highly
325
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
likely
326
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
that
327
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
early,
328
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
very
329
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
early
330
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
humans
331
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
could
332
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
also
333
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
use
334
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
medical
335
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
plants.The
336
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
question
337
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
is,
338
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
what
339
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
is
340
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
needed
341
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
to
342
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
perform
343
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
this
344
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
behavior?
345
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
And
346
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
for
347
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
this,
348
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
I
349
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
believe
350
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
we
351
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
have
352
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
to
353
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
look
354
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
at
355
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
what
356
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
other
357
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
species
358
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
can
359
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
do
360
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
and
361
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
what
362
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
we
363
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
see
364
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
in
365
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
other
366
00:10:58,040 –> 00:10:58,040
species.
367
00:11:34,260 –> 00:11:37,110
Wow, there’s so much good
stuff that we’ve talked about.
368
00:11:38,040 –> 00:11:42,360
I just want to say thanks again for
coming on the podcast and talking with us.
369
00:11:42,540 –> 00:11:43,920
Thanks, Ray, for having me.
370
00:11:43,920 –> 00:11:48,780
It was a pleasure to talk about our
orangutans and the fancy things that they
371
00:11:48,780 –> 00:11:49,613
can do.
372
00:11:54,790 –> 00:11:59,620
This next story takes us to Luongo
National Park in Gabon and chimpanzees.
373
00:12:00,340 –> 00:12:03,700
As I said before, chimps have been
known to use plants on wounds.
374
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,700
Alessandra is a PhD student at the
University of Osnabruck and back in 2019,
375
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,700
she was conducting field research on the
Recambo community – a group of around
376
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,700
35 chimpanzees.
377
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,700
She was studying how group members dealt
with wounds when she recorded a video
378
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,700
of Susie – an adult female
chimpanzee – her adolescent son Sia,
379
00:12:03,700 –> 00:12:03,993
and her young daughter Sassandra.
380
00:12:35,050 –> 00:12:38,950
So I recorded this
video in November, 2019,
381
00:12:38,950 –> 00:12:42,520
and this is my first observation
of insect application to wounds.
382
00:12:43,270 –> 00:12:45,730
The three family members
are all close together.
383
00:12:46,240 –> 00:12:49,960
Sia appears to have a wound on
his foot. Susie looks concerned.
384
00:12:50,980 –> 00:12:52,390
Susie catches a fly.
385
00:12:53,680 –> 00:12:58,030
She places the fly between her lips and
we can see little Sassandra close to her
386
00:12:58,030 –> 00:13:00,130
attempting to get what Susie has.
387
00:13:00,610 –> 00:13:04,270
And Susie then approaches the
foot of her adolescent son, Sia,
388
00:13:06,190 –> 00:13:11,170
and she applies the fly on a
wound that Sia had just on his
389
00:13:11,170 –> 00:13:12,003
foot.
390
00:13:14,080 –> 00:13:17,950
And we can see Susie taking back
the fly and reapplying it again.
391
00:13:18,160 –> 00:13:21,220
As she does this, Susie
gets some more spectators.
392
00:13:21,670 –> 00:13:22,780
And the cool stuff.
393
00:13:22,810 –> 00:13:27,310
When I noticed that something cool was
going on is because there is this female
394
00:13:27,310 –> 00:13:30,850
chimpanzee, her name is
Joy, and the baby Jumbo,
395
00:13:31,000 –> 00:13:35,470
she came to observe. And
usually in chimpanzees,
396
00:13:35,470 –> 00:13:37,270
when there is something cool going on,
397
00:13:37,270 –> 00:13:41,050
you notice it immediately because if
there are group members around somebody or
398
00:13:41,050 –> 00:13:45,370
somebody else, they are coming
and they look what’s going on.
399
00:13:46,000 –> 00:13:49,720
So your mind must have just been
400
00:13:50,800 –> 00:13:53,410
exploding, like what’s going on here?
401
00:13:54,430 –> 00:13:58,960
Did you realize in the moment that they
were catching flies or catching flying
402
00:13:58,960 –> 00:13:59,590
insects?
403
00:13:59,590 –> 00:14:03,970
How could you expect chimpanzees catching
insects and putting them into the
404
00:14:03,970 –> 00:14:07,960
wounds? It’s like chances zero and funny,
405
00:14:08,080 –> 00:14:11,080
when I came back to camp
and they observed the video,
406
00:14:11,170 –> 00:14:14,080
I don’t know how many times I
watched it, but so many anyway,
407
00:14:14,680 –> 00:14:19,240
and I asked to the guys, the eco
guides, working with us like,
408
00:14:19,240 –> 00:14:20,680
guys, what do you think?
409
00:14:20,740 –> 00:14:24,790
Do you think it’s possible that she caught
something and put it into the wound?
410
00:14:25,330 –> 00:14:29,320
And they were like, well,
it looks like that. But no,
411
00:14:29,440 –> 00:14:31,570
it’s impossible. Impossible.
412
00:14:32,530 –> 00:14:34,420
When something cool happens in the field,
413
00:14:34,810 –> 00:14:39,640
you never know if you’ll see it next
week, four years from now or never again.
414
00:14:40,660 –> 00:14:41,530
In this case,
415
00:14:41,830 –> 00:14:45,250
they had to continue following the chimps
with the hope it might happen again.
416
00:14:46,090 –> 00:14:48,010
In our case, I was very,
417
00:14:48,010 –> 00:14:52,730
very lucky because then after
observing Susie tending to Sia’s
418
00:14:52,730 –> 00:14:54,980
wounds, not even 10 days later,
419
00:14:55,370 –> 00:14:58,940
one of the dominant males
of the group, Freddy,
420
00:14:59,690 –> 00:15:01,520
very well known for his big belly.
421
00:15:03,500 –> 00:15:07,430
He got really badly injured
to his arm, and then voila!
422
00:15:07,430 –> 00:15:09,950
It happened again.
423
00:15:11,210 –> 00:15:12,810
Because they knew what
they were looking for.
424
00:15:13,400 –> 00:15:15,980
They were able to record the
interaction more closely.
425
00:15:16,940 –> 00:15:21,740
This second video is much clearer and
shows big bellied Freddy catching insects
426
00:15:21,830 –> 00:15:23,270
and putting them in his wounds.
427
00:15:24,320 –> 00:15:28,760
So how frequently do the
428
00:15:28,760 –> 00:15:31,370
chimps in your community get injured?
429
00:15:31,910 –> 00:15:36,530
Rekambo, chimpanzees get injured
quite often, mainly due to
430
00:15:38,150 –> 00:15:38,900
intergroup conflicts.
431
00:15:38,900 –> 00:15:43,700
So meaning that basically are males
that they discuss about females,
432
00:15:43,700 –> 00:15:45,170
they discuss about wounds,
433
00:15:45,260 –> 00:15:50,030
or in some rare occasions they can
be injured by the prey they tend to
434
00:15:50,120 –> 00:15:54,050
kill. So these kind of situations,
435
00:15:54,050 –> 00:15:58,430
they might inflict quite big
wounds like big open legs,
436
00:15:58,430 –> 00:16:00,440
forearms the back,
437
00:16:00,590 –> 00:16:05,510
the back back is one of the most
important places for them to
438
00:16:05,510 –> 00:16:06,343
be injured.
439
00:16:06,830 –> 00:16:07,820
Wow.
440
00:16:08,510 –> 00:16:12,440
They are crazy. What I observe every day,
441
00:16:12,440 –> 00:16:16,760
it’s individuals taking care of the wound
of others that being frequently leaves
442
00:16:16,760 –> 00:16:21,050
supplying insect to the wounds of others,
which at first it appears like, okay,
443
00:16:21,080 –> 00:16:22,880
maybe this is not so common,
444
00:16:22,880 –> 00:16:27,710
but I can say after 24
months of observation,
445
00:16:28,550 –> 00:16:31,490
this is really, really very common.
446
00:16:32,630 –> 00:16:36,050
Chimps treating each other’s wounds
with insects is groundbreaking for many
447
00:16:36,050 –> 00:16:39,440
reasons. First, they’re
using insects as medicine,
448
00:16:39,560 –> 00:16:41,120
which is oddly complicated.
449
00:16:41,660 –> 00:16:45,590
But the deeper implications
of this research lie in the
fact that the chimps are
450
00:16:45,590 –> 00:16:49,730
caring for each other. They’re potentially
displaying pro-social behavior,
451
00:16:49,940 –> 00:16:54,710
which is defined as actions intended
to help others or society without a
452
00:16:54,710 –> 00:16:56,540
direct and immediate benefit to oneself.
453
00:16:57,260 –> 00:17:00,200
Not all species are
demonstrably pro-Social.
454
00:17:00,530 –> 00:17:03,920
Definitively, yes. In humans,
in chimpanzees, we are not sure,
455
00:17:04,370 –> 00:17:07,730
and this makes this study very unique.
456
00:17:08,330 –> 00:17:12,020
Usually when researchers test for
pro-social tendencies in animals,
457
00:17:12,200 –> 00:17:16,550
they look at whether the animals
share their food and on that metric,
458
00:17:16,940 –> 00:17:18,560
chimps are not pro-social.
459
00:17:19,310 –> 00:17:21,560
Chimpanzees. They don’t
like sharing their food.
460
00:17:21,560 –> 00:17:23,390
Not even Italians really like it.
461
00:17:24,080 –> 00:17:29,030
But Alessandra’s research shows
462
00:17:29,030 –> 00:17:29,863
chimps do help each other, even
non-family members in other ways.
463
00:17:30,110 –> 00:17:33,380
So if they are friends, for
example, and one of the two,
464
00:17:33,380 –> 00:17:38,060
see the other friends like licking
the tiny wound. Then also the other,
465
00:17:38,390 –> 00:17:41,120
they got interested in that.
466
00:17:41,600 –> 00:17:44,540
Just like how if you fall off
your bike and get scraped up,
467
00:17:44,720 –> 00:17:48,380
a nearby friend might see
you with a bloody knee and
check to see if you’re okay
468
00:17:48,650 –> 00:17:52,830
or need a bandaid. Chimps do the
same, and no matter who gets injured,
469
00:17:53,010 –> 00:17:56,970
when one chimp is being treated by
another, there are always onlookers.
470
00:17:57,360 –> 00:17:59,280
A kind of medical theater, if you will.
471
00:18:02,370 –> 00:18:06,720
Watching in chimpanzees is
a very important moment.
472
00:18:07,140 –> 00:18:10,260
This is how they learn
is the same as in humans.
473
00:18:10,290 –> 00:18:13,740
When something cool is happening
or we want to learn something,
474
00:18:14,130 –> 00:18:16,980
watching is one of the
best ways of doing it.
475
00:18:17,190 –> 00:18:20,040
And when then they start imitating others,
476
00:18:20,220 –> 00:18:24,780
they start maybe sometimes selecting
the wrong insects and they put
477
00:18:25,740 –> 00:18:28,470
not the right one into the wounds,
478
00:18:29,490 –> 00:18:33,030
or sometimes they put it on
stuff that is not the wound.
479
00:18:33,420 –> 00:18:37,680
And then slowly you notice an
increasing in frequency of the behavior,
480
00:18:37,680 –> 00:18:41,040
and also it becomes extremely precise.
481
00:18:41,790 –> 00:18:44,310
But sometimes they do
more than just watch.
482
00:18:44,730 –> 00:18:49,110
Alessandra witnessed young chimps actively
get involved in the healing processes
483
00:18:49,110 –> 00:18:50,310
of their injured friends.
484
00:18:50,400 –> 00:18:54,740
Basically when there is blood or dirt,
485
00:18:56,090 –> 00:19:00,270
they take some leaves and then they just
clean with the leaves or then adopt the
486
00:19:00,270 –> 00:19:04,770
leaves against the surface
like a clean towel.
487
00:19:04,920 –> 00:19:05,760
Interesting.
488
00:19:06,270 –> 00:19:11,010
So what does this kind of care say
about how they relate to each other?
489
00:19:12,990 –> 00:19:14,820
We do know the chimpanzees.
490
00:19:15,150 –> 00:19:19,530
They show behaviors mainly led by
491
00:19:19,530 –> 00:19:24,120
empathy. So for example, we
have apart from wound tending,
492
00:19:24,240 –> 00:19:26,130
we have reports of chimpanzees,
493
00:19:26,130 –> 00:19:31,050
rescue companions from drowning or in very
494
00:19:31,050 –> 00:19:32,610
well known as well in Tai,
495
00:19:32,610 –> 00:19:36,330
we have many reports of this
specific chimpanzee Freddy,
496
00:19:36,390 –> 00:19:38,040
and he was
497
00:19:39,600 –> 00:19:44,310
mostly adopting orphans and it was so
great you had these alpha chimpanzees with
498
00:19:44,310 –> 00:19:46,740
everything that was happening around him,
499
00:19:46,950 –> 00:19:51,660
like with babies on his
back, and that is amazing.
500
00:19:51,900 –> 00:19:56,160
So what this can tell
us, socially speaking,
501
00:19:56,160 –> 00:20:00,690
I think we can also delve a little
bit more about the cognitive abilities
502
00:20:01,050 –> 00:20:05,610
and also this new ground that we are
503
00:20:05,610 –> 00:20:08,370
starting to define as medical cognition.
504
00:20:08,670 –> 00:20:13,620
So that is something extremely
interesting because we
505
00:20:13,800 –> 00:20:17,880
now realize that, okay,
animals use medicines.
506
00:20:17,970 –> 00:20:19,350
This is very well known,
507
00:20:19,650 –> 00:20:24,510
but what happened when they use
medicine to treat somebody else,
508
00:20:24,660 –> 00:20:29,190
which is so far was thought to
be something exclusive only to
509
00:20:29,190 –> 00:20:34,050
humans. We are currently investigating
this idea of chimpanzees.
510
00:20:34,380 –> 00:20:36,450
They are treating patients. So.
511
00:20:38,040 –> 00:20:42,930
How do these findings cause
you to rethink notions of
512
00:20:43,290 –> 00:20:44,760
human uniqueness?
513
00:20:46,410 –> 00:20:50,470
Pro socially speaking personally,
I don’t think that we are unique.
514
00:20:50,470 –> 00:20:54,640
I understand as well that
it might be difficult to
515
00:20:54,640 –> 00:20:58,690
test, but I think that many of us,
516
00:20:58,690 –> 00:21:00,310
we have dogs.
517
00:21:00,700 –> 00:21:03,700
We know that they feel for us,
518
00:21:04,360 –> 00:21:09,100
it’s just difficult to scientifically
prove it. So how do we prove it?
519
00:21:09,130 –> 00:21:11,890
Now I have a really
good way of proving it.
520
00:21:11,890 –> 00:21:15,460
I go in the wild and I
observe something very cool
521
00:21:16,990 –> 00:21:21,430
without manipulating
the variables involved.
522
00:21:21,490 –> 00:21:25,030
They just behave as they
want. And me, I document it.
523
00:21:25,270 –> 00:21:29,500
So what does this say about
how our ancestors might’ve
524
00:21:29,890 –> 00:21:31,510
cared for one another?
525
00:21:31,600 –> 00:21:36,160
We have reports of caring
in pre early humans
526
00:21:36,160 –> 00:21:38,380
already from pre-Neanderthals,
527
00:21:38,380 –> 00:21:42,820
so I’m really not surprised
of observing it in
528
00:21:42,820 –> 00:21:43,450
chimpanzees.
529
00:21:43,450 –> 00:21:48,370
And what this might say is that caring
for others is older than we thought.
530
00:21:50,170 –> 00:21:55,030
What I hope this new research tool to say
531
00:21:55,030 –> 00:22:00,010
to us is maybe to provide
us some extra information
532
00:22:00,010 –> 00:22:02,680
about the medicines they use,
533
00:22:02,680 –> 00:22:06,160
which is something that you cannot
find at all in the fossil records.
534
00:22:06,310 –> 00:22:10,390
You have no idea about which kind
of medicines they were using,
535
00:22:10,390 –> 00:22:12,190
which kind of knowledge did they have?
536
00:22:12,310 –> 00:22:17,260
That’s so cool. There’s so many
exciting pathways to follow.
537
00:22:17,590 –> 00:22:18,423
I agree.
538
00:22:18,490 –> 00:22:22,840
Thank you so much for
coming on Origin Stories and
539
00:22:24,010 –> 00:22:26,020
sharing this incredible story with us.
540
00:22:26,680 –> 00:22:27,513
Thanks to you.
541
00:22:34,390 –> 00:22:37,030
Thanks to Alessandra and
Caroline for sharing their work.
542
00:22:37,960 –> 00:22:42,220
Check your show notes to learn more and
see videos of Suzee catching flies and
543
00:22:42,220 –> 00:22:43,870
Rakus yelling into the forest.
544
00:22:44,410 –> 00:22:48,100
And thank you again to all of you who
helped us meet our quadruple match goal.
545
00:22:48,670 –> 00:22:50,320
We’re so grateful for your support.
546
00:22:52,210 –> 00:22:54,610
Origin Stories is a project
of the Leakey Foundation,
547
00:22:54,940 –> 00:22:59,290
a nonprofit dedicated to funding human
origins research and sharing discoveries.
548
00:22:59,830 –> 00:23:02,620
Learn more about the Leakey
Foundation or donate to support our
549
00:23:02,620 –> 00:23:05,410
work at leakyfoundation.org.
550
00:23:06,250 –> 00:23:10,450
Support for Origin Stories comes from
listeners like you with additional support
551
00:23:10,450 –> 00:23:13,660
from the Ann and Gordon Getty
Foundation, Camilla and George Smith,
552
00:23:14,140 –> 00:23:17,530
Jeanne Newman, and the Joan and
Arnold Travis Education Fund.
553
00:23:18,430 –> 00:23:20,950
This episode was produced by me, Ray Pang,
554
00:23:20,950 –> 00:23:22,660
with production help
from Meredith Johnson.
555
00:23:23,260 –> 00:23:26,710
Our editors Audrey Quinn and
Meredith Johnson is our host.
556
00:23:27,400 –> 00:23:28,930
Theme music by Henry Nagle.
557
00:23:29,260 –> 00:23:31,780
And additional music by Blue
Dot Sessions and Lee Roservere.
558
00:23:33,310 –> 00:23:34,060
Thanks for listening.