The Italian chimpanzee scholar tells how they treat their young with leaves and insects

The use of antibiotics on wounds at risk of infection is not unique to humans: even chimpanzees are capable of it. This is what an Italian biologist noted, Alessandra Mascaro, during his long observation of chimpanzees in the Loango National Park, in Gabon (Africa). By recording the activities of a group of 45 primates, from November 2019 to February 2021, the researchers involved in the study (published in Current Biology) observed 19 cases in which a chimpanzee that had caused a wound carried out what appears to be a practice of self-medication, applying on the wound of the insects grabbed in flight, after having held them in the mouth for a few seconds.