Providing first aid is not only reserved for people, chimpanzees also take care of each other when needed. The American Elodie Freymann et al. Did two groups of chimpanzees studied in the Budongo-Ur forest in Uganda. There they saw that the monkeys treated each other’s wounds by licking it, pressing their fingers, or applying medicinal plants.
Anyone who wants to understand something of human behavior would do well to study our evolutionary family members, evolutionary biologists agree. That our most related animal species, the chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) provides each other, can mean that this behavior has a biological origin, the researchers say. After all, as people and chimpanzee show similar care behavior, it is likely that this behavior already existed with their joint ancestor.
For example, it was striking about the observations in Uganda that the monkeys not only provided their close relatives, but also non-related members of their group. According to the researchers, this may indicate that this care behavior is based on empathy or altruism, because the monkeys themselves did not immediately benefit.
The scientists observed the chimpanzees in two periods of four months. They then combined their observations with earlier observations in the same area, creating a dataset that covered thirty years. The researchers describe their findings and their interpretations in the scientific journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.
The biologists also saw how the wild chimpanzees used ‘medicines’ in their care provision. The helping monkey pulled a leaf from a tree or bush, chewed on it and then applied the fiddle to the wound of the other monkey. Upon closer inspection by the researchers, at least four of the six plant species used appeared to have a proven pharmacological effect. Anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and analgesic plants in particular were popular with the monkeys.
Read also
