According to a study, hygiene and health are two things that chimpanzees do not neglect, they are wiped after they do their needs, care for their wounds and even clean after they are mating.
Cimpanzei/photo: AFP
It was known in advance that chimpanzees use insects to treat their own wounds, as well as the wounds of other chimpanzees, while the Urani were seen treating their wounds with sap and chewed plants, writes The Guardian.
However, the new study by Oxford University shows new perspectives on such a chimpanze behavior, revealing that they also apply chewed plants on their wounds and suggests that health care could be more widespread than previously believed.
“We, people, like to imagine that we are unique in many different ways. And I think for a long time, I thought medical care is one of those ways we, people, are special“said Dr. Elodie Freymann, one of the study authors.
But, she added, studies, including the new work, shows that wild animals know how to take care of themselves – and use such skills on others – when they are sick or injured.
Freymann and his colleagues mentioned in Frontiers magazine in Ecology and Evolution that the study community in the Budongo Forest in Uganda, East Africa was analyzed.
The results showed that the chimpanzees often hurt the fights between them or because of the chains, and the team of researchers identified 23 cases in which the chimpanzees were treated alone, from licking wounds, leaf pressing, to the application of the leaves chewed on the respective wounds.
“Some of the plants that chimpanzees seem to apply on their own wounds have known wound healing properties and also have well -known bioactive properties related to wound healing or infectious prevention.R, “said Freymann, although she said it is not clear if the chimpanzees were aware of these attributes.
Cimpanzees were also involved in other forms of self-care, such as using leaves to delete their genital organs-or the bottom after they have their needs-as well as removing the chains.
Also, the team discovered cases in which the chimpanzees in the Sonso community helped each other – even when they had no connection between them – through actions that included removal of a chain, wound care and – in case – deleting the penis of another chimpanzee.
Dr. Caroline Schupli, from the Max Planck Institute for animal behavior in Germany, which was not involved in the study, said the research was valuable and informative and will help future researchers to identify key behaviors in the field.
Schuppli also noted that the existence of such behaviors in chimpanzees has implications for the origins of healthcare in humans.
