Echoes of Ourselves: Chimpanzee First Aid Unveils Deep Roots of Care, Culture, and Complex Societies

A remarkable observation from the depths of Uganda’s Budongo Forest is prompting scientists and laypeople alike to reconsider the capabilities of one of our closest living relatives. A new study, published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, reveals that chimpanzees don’t just use medicinal plants for their own ailments; they actively administer first aid to others in their group, even those to whom they are not closely related. While such animal self-medication is fascinating, this act of tending to another’s wounds with specific plant matter opens a profound window into the rich cognitive and social lives of these apes, challenging long-held notions of human uniqueness and pointing to the deep evolutionary origins of care, empathy, and perhaps even rudimentary forms of culture.  

The research, which combined three decades of archival observations with eight months of new field data, documented numerous instances of chimpanzees applying chewed leaves or other plant substances to their own injuries. More strikingly, it detailed seven cases of chimpanzees providing such care to others. In one instance from 2008, a male chimp meticulously freed an unrelated female from a hunter’s snare; in another from 2012, a male chimp was observed sucking the wound of an unrelated male. These aren’t just charming anecdotes; they are scientifically documented behaviors that force us to look again at what it means to be an intelligent, social being.

Beyond Instinct: The Empathetic and Altruistic Ape

For a long time, complex empathy and altruism—especially care directed towards non-kin—were considered hallmarks of humanity. However, as Elodie Freymann of the University of Oxford, the study’s lead author, suggests, this research adds to the growing evidence that animals are “capable of identifying others in need and then addressing those specific needs.” Indeed, decades of research by primatologists like Frans de Waal have shown that chimpanzees and bonobos exhibit comforting behaviors, reconcile after conflicts, and respond to the distress of others in ways that mirror human empathy. These findings suggest that the roots of empathy and altruism run far deeper in the evolutionary tree than previously acknowledged, perhaps dating back to our last common ancestor with chimpanzees, some five to seven million years ago.  

The “Classroom of the Wild”: Social Learning and Hints of Chimpanzee Culture

The Budongo study also raises intriguing questions about how these first-aid behaviors spread. Is it instinct, or is it learned? Researchers witnessed a young chimp observing an adult applying chewed bark to a wound, and another report described a juvenile chimp helping its mother tend to an injury after having seen her do it for herself. This hints at the possibility of what Freymann calls a “medicinal culture”—knowledge and practices passed down through social learning.  

This idea aligns with a wealth of other research demonstrating sophisticated social learning and local traditions in different chimpanzee communities. For instance, specific techniques for tool use—like termite “fishing” with prepared sticks or cracking nuts with stone hammers and anvils—vary from one chimpanzee group to another and are acquired by younger individuals observing their elders. Even forms of gestural communication can differ by region. A landmark study published in March 2024 in Nature Human Behaviour further bolstered this, finding that chimpanzees can learn complex, multi-step tool-use sequences by observation, and that they are unable to innovate independently. This strongly suggests a capacity for cumulative cultural evolution, a trait once thought to be exclusively human, where knowledge and skills are refined and built upon over generations.  

Echoes of Our Own Past: Complex Societies and Evolutionary Parallels

If chimpanzees can learn and transmit medicinal practices and complex tool use, and if they exhibit empathy and altruism, it strongly supports the perspective that humans are “FAR from being the only species on this planet with adequate cognitions and socialization” to build intricate societies. Indeed, long-term studies of chimpanzee communities reveal deeply complex social lives characterized by:

• Intricate Social Networks: Chimpanzees form long-lasting bonds, friendships, and alliances. They groom each other to maintain these bonds and navigate social tensions.  
• Sophisticated Hierarchies: Dominance hierarchies exist, but they are often not based on brute strength alone. Achieving and maintaining a high rank can involve complex social maneuvering, coalition-building with allies, and astute political “strategizing.” While not “elections” in the human sense, the way leaders emerge and maintain their positions often depends on a degree of group acceptance or strategic support from key individuals.  
• Cooperation and Collective Action: Chimpanzees cooperate in hunting, defending their territory, and raising young. These behaviors point to the deep evolutionary foundations of human cooperation.  

The study of such primate behaviors provides invaluable insights into our own evolutionary journey. The roots of human medicine, for example, are increasingly seen as connected to the self-medicative practices observed in great apes (a field known as zoopharmacognosy). Similarly, the foundations of human social complexity, our capacity for empathy, and our drive to care for others likely build upon ancient primate predispositions.

Re-evaluating Our Place and Theirs

As Alessandra Mascaro, a primatologist not involved in the Budongo study, noted, “we are just scratching the surface” in fully understanding these complex behaviors and how they evolved. Each new discovery, like chimpanzees playing doctor for their companions, chips away at the artificial wall often erected between human capabilities and those of other intelligent, social species.  

This growing body of research doesn’t diminish human uniqueness; rather, it enriches our understanding of life’s interconnectedness and the shared evolutionary heritage that links us to beings like the chimpanzees of Budongo Forest. It calls for a deeper respect for these animals, not just as objects of study, but as sentient beings with rich inner lives and complex societies. Recognizing their intelligence and social depth also underscores the critical importance of their conservation and the protection of their habitats from threats like the snares that cause the very injuries these chimps were observed treating. The more we learn, the clearer it becomes that the story of cognition, care, and culture is far broader and more ancient than our own species.