Chimps 'seek out' medicinal plants to heal injuries, infections: Study

Chimpanzees sought out and ate medicinal plants to treat their injuries, according to a study.

While wild chimpanzees are known to consume a variety of plant matter, researchers said it can be hard to figure out if they intentionally seek out medicinal plants to heal their ailments, or "passively" consume plants that happen to be medicinal.

The study is published in the journal PLoS ONE.

At the Budongo Central Forest Reserve in Uganda, the researchers, including those at the University of Oxford, UK, observed the behaviours and health of 51 wild chimpanzees, belonging to two habituated communities.

The researchers observed a male chimpanzee with an injured hand seek out and eat the leaves of a fern, which may have helped to reduce pain and swelling. They also recorded another chimpanzee with a parasitic infection consuming the bark of a cat-thorn tree (Scutia myrtina).

The team also tested the plant extracts of tree and herb species in the reserve, which they suspected were being