Chimps Perform First Aid
Chimps are remarkably smart and can adapt well to situations. Recently, scientists have noticed that chimps are giving first aid, such as dabbing medicinal plants onto other chimps’ wounds. However, scientists noticed this pattern in the early 1990s. After thirty years of examination in Uganda’s Budongo Forest has been shown that chimps regularly give each other first aid, according to Eloise Freymann of the University of Oxford. Indeed, it seems that the chimps understand empathy and they look out for each other.
According to Christine Webb, a primatologist at Harvard University, medicinal qualities are not uniquely associated with humans, but rather “our deep evolutionary heritage.” In all the 34 incidents of self–care reported by Freymann and her colleagues, the most common was licking wounds and dabbing them with leaves. According to researchers, saliva and plants can prevent infection. Also, Freymann and her colleagues observed that the chimps not only helped family members and kin, but also unrelated chimps. For example, an unrelated male chimp saved a female chimp from a human set trap, saving her life.
Christine Webb says, “The fact that chimpanzees treat not only themselves but also others suggests a level of social awareness that is too often underestimated. It hints at an empathic sensitivity that we typically reserve for our own species.”
Scientists also think that young chimps learn from older chimps. In 2021, a chimp named Kirabo treated the wound on his knee while a youngster looked on. However, not all the chimps get the same care as others. Freymann says, “If chimps sometimes know how to help others get out of snares, for example, why aren’t they helping all chimps get out?” It seems that the chimps are selective about who they help and therefore, not all chimps get a helping hand.
However, chimps showing this level of empathy to others is truly amazing, especially since we humans didn’t expect that beings other than ourselves possess medicinal qualities.
Great work 🙂
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Sources: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/wild-chimpanzees-first-aid-health-care
