Orangutan Observed Treating Face Wound with Plant, First Documented Case

A male orangutan has scientists going bananas -- 'cause the primate treated his face wound with a medicinal plant ... which seems to have been intentional, a first for scientists to observe.

The primate hails from Indonesia -- its name is Rakus, BTW -- and researchers say it got into a fight back in 2022 ... which left him with a particularly bad face wound in the form of a bad gash near his right eye.

Officials followed Rakus around for the next few days and observed some bizarre behavior for an ape ... seeing the orangutan chewing up a particular liana plant -- which is not normal food for this species. As it turns out ... the plant ended up having healing powers.

Scientists say, on at least one occasion, Rakus took some of the chewed paste and applied it to his cut ... apparently using the plant as a treatment for the cut and doing so purposely. If accurate, it marks the first time an animal's been spotted applying medicine to a skin wound.

Seems like Rakus found the miracle cure BTW ... 'cause the wound never got infected and closed up in about a month!

What scientists don't yet know ... whether this is something Rakus stumbled upon accidentally -- or if it's cultural/learned behavior all orangutans are taught/inherently know as instinct.

Researchers have seen animals using medicine before, FWIW ... but never as intentionally as this instance seems to be. A group of orangutans in Borneo in 2008 were spotted rubbing a paste on themselves also used by locals to combat joint pain -- but there was no clear reason why those apes were doing so at the time. In other words ... it appeared to be random.