An Orangutan Healed Himself

[Jules]

An orangutan was wounded in a fight and used local weeds to medicate himself. Pretty fascinating report on how he treated himself. He was a pretty smart fellow. If this plant is so effective, perhaps we will see more of its use for people. This would be good as long as it doesn’t destroy the natural growth.

I’m only quoting a portion of the article as I never know the rules on this. There’s a link to the article.

In June 2022, a male Sumatran orangutan named Rakus sustained a facial wound below the right eye, apparently during a fight with another male orangutan at the Suaq Balimbing research site, a protected rainforest area in Indonesia. What Rakus did three days later really caught the attention of scientists.
Researchers on Thursday described observing how Rakus appeared to treat the wound using a plant known for its pain-relieving properties and for supporting wound healing due to its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antioxidant qualities.

The orangutan chewed the plant's leaves to produce a liquid that Rakus repeatedly smeared on the wound and then applied the chewed-up plant material directly to the injury, much like a wound plaster administered by doctors, according to primatologist and cognitive biologist Isabelle Laumer of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.
Rakus also ate the plant, an evergreen vine commonly called Akar Kuning

https://www.reuters.com/science/ora...-treat-wound-intrigues-scientists-2024-05-02/

 

[OneEyedDiva]

I saw that on the news....amazing! They showed the orangutan with the large wound near the eye, then how it had healed two or three weeks later. Some animals are smarter than some people.

 

[hollydolly]

An evergreen plant Akar Kuning - scientific name Fibraurea tinctoria, added Laumer, lead author of the study published in the journal This plant is rarely eaten by orangutans in this peat swamp forest area, home to about 150 critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.

"To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species with medical properties by a wild animal," said study senior author Caroline Schuppli, an evolutionary biologist at the institute.
Rakus, believed to have been born in 1989, is a flanged male, with large cheek pads on both sides of the face - secondary male sexual characteristics. Rakus was one of the area's dominant males.

The researchers said the orangutan's wound self-treatment did not appear to be happenstance.
"His behavior appeared to be intentional. He selectively treated his facial wound on his right flange with the plant juice, and no other body parts. The behavior was repeated several times, not only plant juice but later also more-solid plant material was applied until the wound was fully covered. The entire process took a considerable amount of time," Laumer said.

The wound never showed signs of infection and closed within five days, the researchers said.

 

[911]

I wonder if that’s available in any holistic medicine stores? That would be good to carry along when going on long hikes

 

[Aunt Mavis]

Best story of the year so far. Planet of the Apes stuff.

 

[hollydolly]

This is the plant

 

[Aunt Mavis]

Once I see an ape smoking a joint he rolled then I’ll know we’re in deep trouble!

 

[hollydolly]

Oh my gosh...Diabetics look at this...

Diabetes mellitus is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by hyperglycemia caused by resistance to insulin action, inadequate insulin secretion, or excessive glucagon production.
Numerous studies have linked diabetes mellitus and oxidative stress. People with diabetes usually exhibit high oxidative stress due to persistent and chronic hyperglycemia, which impairs the activity of the antioxidant defense system and promotes the formation of free radicals.
Recently, several studies have focused on exploring natural antioxidants to improve diabetes mellitus. Fibraurea tinctoria has long been known as the native Borneo used in traditional medicine to treat diabetes.

Taxonomically, this plant is part of the Menispermaceae family, widely known for producing various alkaloids. Among them are protoberberine alkaloids such as berberine. Berberine is an isoquinoline alkaloid with many pharmacological activities.

Berberine is receiving considerable interest because of its antidiabetic and antioxidant activities, which are based on many biochemical pathways.
Therefore, this review explores the pharmacological effects of Fibraurea tinctoria and its active constituent, berberine, against oxidative stress and diabetes, emphasizing its mechanistic aspects. This review also summarizes the pharmacokinetics and toxicity of berberine and in silico studies of berberine in several diseases and its protein targets.


A Review of Fibraurea tinctoria and Its Component, Berberine, as an Antidiabetic and Antioxidant - PubMed