Watch: Chimpanzee mother applies insect on son’s wound

Researchers have observed chimpanzees in Gabon, West Africa applying insects to their own and other chimp’s wounds.

In a study published on February 7, 2022, in the journal Current Biology, scientists argue that this behaviour is evidence that chimpanzees have the capacity for pro-social behaviours that have been linked with empathy in humans.

In November 2019, a volunteer at the Ozunga chimpanzee project observed a chimpanzee named Suzee inspecting a wound on the foot of her adolescent son, catching an insect out of the air, putting it into her mouth, and then applying it onto the wound. 

Researchers of the Ozouga Chimpanzee Project had been studying this group of chimpanzees in Loango National Park for 7 years but hadn’t witnessed behaviour like this before. 

In the video, Suzee is first looking at the foot of her son, and then it’s as if she is thinking, ‘What could I do?’ and then she looks up, sees the insect, and catches it for her son, Mascaro says. 

The Ozouga team monitored the chimpanzees over the next 15 months and observed 76 cases of applying insects to wounds on themselves and others.

It is not the first time that animals have been documented self-medicating. Researchers have found out that bears, elephants, and bees do it too. 

But insect applications on their own and other chimp’s wounds have never been observed before.

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The researchers don’t yet know about the medicinal properties of the insects used. “Humans use many species of insect as remedies against sickness—there have been studies showing that insects can have antibiotic, antiviral, and anthelmintic functions,” says a member of the research team.

“Studying great apes in their natural environments is crucial to shed light on our cognitive evolution,” they added.