How Gorillas And Traditional Healers May Inspire Breakthroughs in Medicine
NDTV
Wild great apes often consume medicinal plants that can treat their ailments. The same plants are often used by local people in traditional medicine.
Scientists believe that gorillas could offer insights into future drug discoveries through their self-medicating behaviour, according to a new study. Four potentially medicinal tropical plants that are used by local healers have been found by researchers in Gabon through their investigation of the plants that wild gorillas eat. These plants are abundant in antioxidants and antimicrobials, and one of them may be able to fight superbugs according to laboratory experiments.
The study was conducted by Leresche Even Doneilly Oyaba Yinda from the Interdisciplinary Medical Research Centre of Franceville in Gabon and colleagues, and it was published on September 11 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.
As per a release, to investigate, researchers observed the behaviour of western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) in Moukalaba-Doudou National Park in Gabon and recorded the plants they ate. Next, they interviewed 27 people living in the nearby village of Doussala, including traditional healers and herbalists, about the plants that were used in local traditional medicine.
