Chimpanzees are practising first aid--and not just on themselves
Chimpanzees are practising first aid—and not just on themselves
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Elodie Freymann (Image: Austen Deery)
May 14, 2025
Coco Veldkamp
Deep in Uganda’s Budongo Forest, researchers were amazed when they saw a chimpanzee chew a leafy plant, then gently press the pulp into the open wound of a genetically unrelated companion.
While scientists have previously observed chimpanzees treating their own injuries, this study adds compelling evidence that they also treat others, even those they aren’t related to. The findings, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, suggest that medicinal wound care may be more widespread and socially complex in chimpanzees than previously understood.
“Our research helps illuminate the evolutionary roots of human medicine and healthcare systems,” says lead author Dr Elodie Freymann from the University of Oxford. “By documenting how chimpanzees identify and utilise medicinal plants and provide care to others, we gain insight into the cognitive and social foundations of human healthcare behaviours.”
Freymann and her colleagues observed two chimpanzee communities—Sonso and Waibira—over four months. They drew on video evidence, logbooks containing decades of observational data, and a survey of other scientists who had witnessed chimpanzees treating illness or injury over the last 30 years.
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“These behaviours add to the evidence from other sites that chimpanzees appear to recognise need or suffering in others and take deliberate action to alleviate it, even when there’s no direct genetic advantage,” says Freymann.
More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/chimpanzees-are-practising-first-aid/