SOFIA PETKAR: ‘Orangutans may have secret medical knowledge that most humans don’t know about, after great apes were filmed turning plants into ointment to soothe their aches and pains. A study found the animals chewing plants into lather then using this paste on their limbs. The plants are also used by the orangutan’s indigenous human neighbours in the forest. The bizarre discovery, spotted during more than 20,000 hours of filming by the Borneo Nature Foundation, has researchers wondering if apes may know of medicinal plants that could be used by humans.
In the clips, apes were spotted using their own herbal medicines in the Sabangau Forest in Central Kalimantan, Indonesian Borneo. Scientists witnessed the apes chewing the leaves into lather, then methodically rubbing it into their upper arm or legs for between 15 and 45 minutes. They never swallowed the leaves and the remaining pulp was always spat out’. SOURCE…
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