Orangutan successfully self-treated a large facial wound through plant medicine

It is the first time that humankind has observed a wild animal self-medicating using the leaves of a plant which he chewed for a long time and then placed the paste onto the large facial wound which was acquired during a fight with a rival. The plant he used is called Akar Kuning. It is an anti-inflammatory and antibacterial plant which local people use to treat malaria and diabetes.

Photos: Armas and the BBC.

This large facial wound had closed within five days which is remarkable. He chewed the stem and leaves of the plant for around 30 minutes. He applied the resultant liquid on to his cheeks for seven minutes and then smeared the chewed leaves in the form of a paste onto his gaping facial wound under his right eye.

The wound had totally healed after a month. The orangutan's name is Rakus. The way he behaved strongly indicated to scientists that he was applying the medicine to heal his wounds. Orangutans rarely eat this particular plant.

Dr. Laumer said: "He repeatedly applied the paste, and he later also applied more solid plant matter. The entire process lasted really a considerable time. That's why we think that he intentionally applied it."

It is known that the great apes use medicine to try to heal themselves. Jane Goodall, the 1960s biologist who is very well known, saw whole leaves in chimpanzee faeces indicating that they had been eaten for medicinal purposes. Other scientists have observed orangutans swallowing leaves which were known to have medicinal qualities.

But as mentioned it is the first time that a wild animal has been seen applying self-made medicine to a wound and successfully killing himself.

They even think that it might have been the first time that this individual had tried this kind of treatment. Perhaps he had learned watching others or perhaps they had told him how to do it.

Perhaps he found out that it worked by accident in touching his wound with his finger that had just had the plant on it. He discovered that the effect was pain relief which made him apply it again and again. That is another theory. My personal theory would be that it is a form of treatment which orangutans in his group know about and they have passed on the knowledge each to the other.

The researchers will observe other orangutans to see if they have the same knowledge in treating themselves for disease or wounds. They expect to discover even more behaviours of a similar quality and more abilities which are very human-like.

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Dogs and toddlers understand humans pointing to objects but apes don't

The video tells you all about the intelligence of dogs. This video is long but I have started it when the expert demonstrates how dogs are able to understand what to do when a human points at an object. Toddlers also understand this. Dogs are like toddlers in this aspect of instinctive intelligence but apes fail the test.

Dogs understand the meaning of pointing unlike apes and cats but like 2-year-old toddlers.

The video starts with a section about the most intelligent dog in the world (believed) as he can memorise and understand over 1000 words describing different objects that he'll fetch on command.

It is an interesting section too. More interesting to me though is the general assessment that dogs understand pointing which is an ability only fairly recently observed. 

"When his father points [the toddler] makes an inference. When kids his age start understanding pointing it is right when the foundations of what leads to language and culture start to develop."

The dog successful completes the same test. 

"That's really hard for a lot of animals. That's what really special about dogs. They are similar to human toddlers."

It seems that the cat cannot pass this test. In general the consensus of experts is that dogs are more intelligent that cats but the comparison might be unfair.

This is because dogs are more domesticated than cats. They have lived side by side with humans for perhaps up to 30,000 years. For cats it is 10,000 years. 

Perhaps dogs understand humans better than cats and therefore understand the meaning of pointing to an object from which they can make an inference that there is some significance to the action of pointing such as there is something underneath a cup.

It is very tricky to compare cat and dog intelligence for other reason. They have evolved to be good at different things. Dogs are pack animals and are attuned to group living. Cats are essentially solitary and have evolved to live a life alone and survive alone. They are great survivors hence their nine lives badge.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Are wild cats smarter than domestic cats?

The question is a difficult one to answer because we're not really comparing apples with apples as the intelligence of wild cats has evolved in the wild to deal with the challenges that they face in that specific environment whereas cat domestication over the past 10,000 years has resulted in the domestic cat evolving their own intelligence to deal with living within the human environment. There are difficulties in making a comparison. 

However, have always thought that the wild cats should be smarter than domestic cat because they are challenged every hour of every day of their lives. They must meet these challenges and surmount them to survive. That requires brainpower which means the brain is more exercised and elastic.

They are liable to be smarter than the pampered domestic cat living in a comfortable home where practically everything is done for them. This can detune the brain, make it more passive and less exercised. You know what they say about human dementia. If you exercise the brain when you are elderly you can stave off dementia because the brain needs exercising just like the muscles.

To summarise, it is difficult to compare wild cat intelligence with domestic cat intelligence because they live in two different environments and have different challenges and have evolved in different ways. However, a study recently published asked whether domestic animals in general are more stupid than their wild relatives.

Study

What they did was to look at many previous studies related to this topic. They analysed them and came up with a conclusion. In all, they reviewed 88 studies comparing the intelligence of domesticated and wild animals.

The conclusion was that in 30% of the studies they found that wild animals were indeed smarter than domestic animals. But countering that finding they found that in another 30% of the studies the scientists had concluded that domestic animals were smarter than wild animals. Of the remaining 40% the scientists found that both domestic and wild animals had a similar cognitive performance i.e. intelligence.

This study which is the first of its kind, came up with an inconclusive answer. Neither the domestic cat nor the wild cat is smarter than the other. The obvious conclusion of that is that they have a similar level of intelligence.

I still tend to disagree with it and this study concerned animals in general whereas I am focusing on domestic and wild cats. There may be a difference here because domestic cats are particularly pampered in good homes whereas not all domestic animals are such as livestock.

Therefore, it is probably slightly inaccurate to use this study to conclusively state that domestic cats are of a similar intelligence to their wild cat counterpart.

I'm going to stick with my original thoughts that domestic cats have been dumbed down slightly, in general, over about 10,000 years of domestication.

Living with exotic cats - F1 hybrids and wild cats

Interestingly, when people adopt by which I mean purchase a wild cat hybrid or they purchase a wild cat as a pet, such as a serval or caracal, they say that it is like living with a domestic cat on crack or on steroids. It seems to them that the cat is too hyper, too energetic, to wild and indeed to intelligent.

This is anecdotal evidence but the high filial hybrids such as the F1 Savannah and F1 Bengal cat also behave somewhat like the wild cats as exotic pets. They are very challenging to live with by comparison to the more placid and laid-back regular domestic cat.

And I think this is a reflection of the animals' intelligence. If they are hyperactive and demanding, it means that their brain is working harder. They demand more stimulation. They demand more challenges. This is a brain which seeks challenges and therefore on that basis I conclude the brain is smarter than that of a domestic cat.

The study title: "Are domesticated animals dumber than their wild relatives? A comprehensive review on the domestication effects on animal cognitive performance."

Purebreds

I also have a theory that with the sometimes-heavy inbreeding of purebred cats can affect their intelligence. I'm sure this is a plausible suggestion which can probably be supported with scientific evidence. Inbreeding not only compromises the immune system and the general anatomy and physiology of a domestic cat but can also dumb down the cat I believe. So, it might be arguable to state that some purebred cats are definitely dumber than wild cats. I think that would be quite a firm conclusion.

Two types of dog: who's the smarter or braver?

 The video says it all:

Comment: it seems to me that the dog who crossed the stream in the water is braver/bolder but less smart than the dog who finds the more elegant and safer route which took longer.

There are other issues. The stream-crossing dog may have been unaware of the bridge while the bridge taker knew about it.

Neither followed their leader/caregiver and used the fallen tree. Why, I wonder? Maybe it looked unsafe. The dog has an instinct to make these decisions.