There's good evidence that chimpanzees in the wild are playing doctor with the medicinal plants around them Many of the plants had anti-inflammatory or anti-bacterial properties The findings could even point to effective new drugs for use in people FRIDAY, June 21, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- They aren't exactly ready to open a jungle clinic, but new research suggests wild chimpanzees are practicing a kind of medicine. Fifty-one chimps living in two communities in Uganda appear to select edible plants specifically for their medicinal qualities, reports a team led by of the University of Oxford in the UK. The chimpanzees appeared to add certain plants to their diet when battling a sickness that they didn't normally consume when healthy.
Freymann's team suspected this might be a kind of self-medication, so they tested the pharmacologic properties of these plants in the lab. Reporting June 20 in the journal , they found that 88% of the 13 trees and herbs the chimps sought out when ill contained anti-bacterial properties, while 33% were anti-inflammatory. For example, "dead wood from a tree in the Dogbane family ( ) showed the strongest antibacterial activity and also had anti-inflammatory properties, suggesting that it could be used to treat wounds," according to an Oxford news release on the study.
The bark and resin of the mahogany tree and leaves from a species of fern ( ) also had strong anti-inflammatory properties, Freymann's group found. In fact, one male chimpanzee with an .