As it turns out, chimpanzees make pretty good doctors. For decades, scientists have been studying what chimpanzees do when they fall ill. This search has led to the identification of medicinal behaviour, which often involves the ingestion of plants with chemical or physical properties that can help the animal’s recovery.

My team’s recent study in the Budongo Forest of western Uganda found its chimpanzees show a range of healthcare behaviour – one of which, applying chewed botanical material to wounds, had never before been documented in chimpanzees.

Previous studies have shown that wild chimpanzees appear to treat their wounds and maintain sexual hygiene using medicinal plants found in their environment. What’s more, they treat other group members, even ones who are unrelated to them.

In 2022, a study in Gabon, west Africa found that wild chimpanzees catch and apply insects to their wounds as well as the wounds of non-kin community members. A previous study had reported that chimpanzees in the Kibale Forest of Uganda occasionally dab the wounds of unrelated group members with leaves.

Now our research, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, shows the chimpanzees of the Budongo Forest engaging in topical healthcare, both on themselves and others.