When male Sumatran orangutans let out a long call, they’re usually trying to grab female attention. But the sounds — a booming blend of roars and grunts — can end up attracting unwanted attention from other males, too. Things can get tense. Which is likely how Rakus, an adult male orangutan frequently seen in Gunung Leuser National Park in South Aceh, Indonesia, acquired a face wound in June 2022.
What followed was a never-before-observed example of a wild animal treating its own wound with a substance showing medical properties, detailed in a new paper published Thursday in Nature.
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