Medical Care and Hygiene among Chimpanzees Much More Widespread than Thought

Primatologists have documented and analyzed both previously reported and newly observed instances of self-directed and other-directed wound care, snare removal, and putatively medicinal hygiene behaviors in the Sonso and Waibira chimpanzee communities of the Budongo Forest in Uganda. They’ve observed self-directed wound care behaviors such as wound licking, leaf-dabbing, pressing fingers to wounds, and the application of chewed plant material to wounds, as well as a successful self-directed snare removal. They’ve also documented self-directed hygiene behaviors including postcoital genital leaf wiping and post-defecation leaf wiping.

Primatologists have documented and analyzed both previously reported and newly observed instances of self-directed and other-directed wound care, snare removal, and putatively medicinal hygiene behaviors in the Sonso and Waibira chimpanzee communities of the Budongo Forest in Uganda. They’ve observed self-directed wound care behaviors such as wound licking, leaf-dabbing, pressing fingers to wounds, and the application of chewed plant material to wounds, as well as a successful self-directed snare removal. They’ve also documented self-directed hygiene behaviors including postcoital genital leaf wiping and post-defecation leaf wiping.