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Frank ET, Buffat D, Liberti J, Aibekova L, Economo EP, Keller L. Wound-dependent leg amputations to combat infections in an ant society. Curr Biol 2024; 34:3273-3278.e3. [PMID: 38959879 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.06.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2023] [Revised: 05/21/2024] [Accepted: 06/07/2024] [Indexed: 07/05/2024]
Abstract
Open wounds pose major infection and mortality risks in animals.1,2 To reduce these risks, many animal species apply antimicrobial compounds on their wounds.1,2,3,4 Ant societies use antimicrobial secretions from the metapleural gland to combat pathogens,5,6,7,8,9,10 but this gland has been lost over evolutionary time in several genera, including Camponotus.11 To understand how infected wounds are handled without the use of antimicrobial secretions from the metapleural gland, we conducted behavioral and microbiological experiments in Camponotus floridanus. When we experimentally injured a worker's leg at the femur, nestmates amputated the injured limb by biting the base (trochanter) of the leg until it was severed, thereby significantly increasing survival compared to ants that did not receive amputations. However, when the experimental injury was more distal (at the tibia), nestmates did not amputate the leg and instead directed more wound care to the injury site. Experimental amputations also failed to improve survival in ants with infected tibia injuries unless the leg was amputated immediately after pathogen exposure. Micro-CT scans revealed that the muscles likely responsible for leg hemolymph circulation are predominantly in the femur. Thus, it is likely that femur injuries, by attenuating hemolymph flow, provide sufficient time for workers to perform amputations before pathogen spread. Overall, this study provides the first example of the use of amputations to treat infected individuals in a non-human animal and demonstrates that ants can adapt their type of treatment depending on the location of wounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik T Frank
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg. Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Dany Buffat
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Joanito Liberti
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Lazzat Aibekova
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son 904-0495, Japan
| | - Evan P Economo
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna-son 904-0495, Japan
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Social Evolution Unit, Cornuit 8, BP 855, 1885 Chesières, Switzerland.
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Laumer IB, Rahman A, Rahmaeti T, Azhari U, Hermansyah, Atmoko SSU, Schuppli C. Active self-treatment of a facial wound with a biologically active plant by a male Sumatran orangutan. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8932. [PMID: 38698007 PMCID: PMC11066025 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-58988-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Accepted: 04/05/2024] [Indexed: 05/05/2024] Open
Abstract
Although self-medication in non-human animals is often difficult to document systematically due to the difficulty of predicting its occurrence, there is widespread evidence of such behaviors as whole leaf swallowing, bitter pith chewing, and fur rubbing in African great apes, orangutans, white handed gibbons, and several other species of monkeys in Africa, Central and South America and Madagascar. To the best of our knowledge, there is only one report of active wound treatment in non-human animals, namely in chimpanzees. We observed a male Sumatran orangutan (Pongo abelii) who sustained a facial wound. Three days after the injury he selectively ripped off leaves of a liana with the common name Akar Kuning (Fibraurea tinctoria), chewed on them, and then repeatedly applied the resulting juice onto the facial wound. As a last step, he fully covered the wound with the chewed leaves. Found in tropical forests of Southeast Asia, this and related liana species are known for their analgesic, antipyretic, and diuretic effects and are used in traditional medicine to treat various diseases, such as dysentery, diabetes, and malaria. Previous analyses of plant chemical compounds show the presence of furanoditerpenoids and protoberberine alkaloids, which are known to have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, and other biological activities of relevance to wound healing. This possibly innovative behavior presents the first systematically documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species know to contain biologically active substances by a wild animal and provides new insights into the origins of human wound care.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isabelle B Laumer
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany.
| | - Arif Rahman
- Department of Biology, Graduate Program, Faculty of Biology and Agriculture, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, 12520, Indonesia
| | - Tri Rahmaeti
- Department of Biology, Graduate Program, Faculty of Biology and Agriculture, Universitas Nasional, Jakarta, 12520, Indonesia
| | | | - Hermansyah
- Yayasan Ekosistem Lestari (YEL), Medan, Indonesia
| | | | - Caroline Schuppli
- Development and Evolution of Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Konstanz, Germany
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Vaidyanathan G. 'Orangutan, heal thyself': First wild animal seen using medicinal plant. Nature 2024; 629:737. [PMID: 38698232 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-024-01289-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/05/2024]
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Frank ET, Kesner L, Liberti J, Helleu Q, LeBoeuf AC, Dascalu A, Sponsler DB, Azuma F, Economo EP, Waridel P, Engel P, Schmitt T, Keller L. Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society. Nat Commun 2023; 14:8446. [PMID: 38158416 PMCID: PMC10756881 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43885-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 01/03/2024] Open
Abstract
Infected wounds pose a major mortality risk in animals. Injuries are common in the ant Megaponera analis, which raids pugnacious prey. Here we show that M. analis can determine when wounds are infected and treat them accordingly. By applying a variety of antimicrobial compounds and proteins secreted from the metapleural gland to infected wounds, workers reduce the mortality of infected individuals by 90%. Chemical analyses showed that wound infection is associated with specific changes in the cuticular hydrocarbon profile, thereby likely allowing nestmates to diagnose the infection state of injured individuals and apply the appropriate antimicrobial treatment. This study demonstrates that M. analis ant societies use antimicrobial compounds produced in the metapleural glands to treat infected wounds and reduce nestmate mortality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik T Frank
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-97074, Würzburg, Germany.
| | - Lucie Kesner
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Joanito Liberti
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Quentin Helleu
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Structure et Instabilité des Génomes, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, CNRS UMR 7196, INSERM U1154, 43 rue Cuvier, F-75005, Paris, France
| | - Adria C LeBoeuf
- Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, CH-1700, Fribourg, Switzerland
| | - Andrei Dascalu
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Douglas B Sponsler
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Fumika Azuma
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, 904-0495, Japan
| | - Evan P Economo
- Biodiversity and Biocomplexity Unit, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, Onna, 904-0495, Japan
- Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, USA
| | - Patrice Waridel
- Protein Analysis Facility, Génopode, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Philipp Engel
- Department of Fundamental Microbiology, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Schmitt
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, D-97074, Würzburg, Germany
| | - Laurent Keller
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, Biophore, University of Lausanne, CH-1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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Theara G, Ruíz Macedo J, Zárate Gómez R, Heymann E, Dolotovskaya S. Fur rubbing in <i>Plecturocebus cupreus</i> – an incidence of self-medication? Primate Biol 2022; 9:7-10. [PMID: 35620359 PMCID: PMC9128366 DOI: 10.5194/pb-9-7-2022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract. Fur rubbing, i.e. rubbing a substance or an object into
the pelage, has been described in numerous Neotropical primate species,
including species of titi monkeys, but it seems to be a rare behaviour. Here we describe a fur rubbing event in a wild coppery titi monkey
(Plecturocebus cupreus) with Psychotria sp. (Rubiaceae) leaves observed and videotaped during a field study on vigilance behaviour between September–December 2019 in the Peruvian
Amazon. Plants of the genus Psychotria contain a great diversity of secondary metabolites and are often used in traditional medicine. We suggest that the fur rubbing was an act of self-medication. This is the first record of fur rubbing in coppery titi monkeys in almost 4400 h of observation accumulated over more than 20 years.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gurjit K. Theara
- Sociobiology/Anthropology, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Kellnerweg 6, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | | | - Ricardo Zárate Gómez
- Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), Av. A. Quiñones km 2,5, Iquitos, Peru
| | - Eckhard W. Heymann
- Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sofya Dolotovskaya
- Verhaltensökologie & Soziobiologie, Deutsches Primatenzentrum – Leibniz-Institut für Primatenforschung, Kellnerweg 4, 37077 Göttingen, Germany
- Laboratory of Comparative Ethology and Biocommunication, Severtsov
Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow,
Russia
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