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Chimpanzees seek out medicinal plants to treat injuries and illnesses, study finds
London — Chimpanzees in the wild use medicinal plants to treat their injuries or illnesses, according to a study from the University of Oxford that researchers say is the most in-depth analysis to date.
Scientists monitored 51 chimpanzees from two communities in Uganda’s Budongo Central Forest Reserve to see how they behaved when they were healthy and when they were not. The chimpanzee groups were already used to the presence of humans.
The scientists observed sick or injured animals eating certain plant items that were not part of their normal diet. They collected samples of those plants to test for pharmacological properties.
Analysts at the Neubrandenburg University of Applied Sciences in Germany examined the samples and found that 88% of them inhibited bacterial growth and 33% had anti-inflammatory properties.
Dr. Elodie Freymann/University of Oxford/PLOS ONE
One chimpanzee with an injured hand was observed seeking out and eating leaves of a fern that was found to have potential anti-inflammatory effects. Scientists concluded this may have helped to reduce pain and swelling.
Another chimpanzee with a parasitic infection was seen consuming the bark of a cat-thorn tree, which other members of its group had never been observed eating before. Testing showed the bark has both anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties.
“To study wild chimpanzee self-medication you have to act like a detective — gathering multidisciplinary evidence to piece together a case,” said lead study author Dr. Elodie Freymann, with the University of Oxford’s School of Anthropology & Museum Ethnography. “After spending months in the field collecting behavioral clues that led us to specific plant species, it was thrilling to analyze the pharmacological results and discover that many of these plants exhibited high levels of bioactivity.”
The study’s authors noted that with chronic inflammatory disease and antibiotic resistant bacteria becoming increasingly urgent global challenges for human beings, the medicinal plants used by the chimps could aid in the development of valuable new medicines.
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Bela Karolyi, the charismatic if polarizing gymnastics coach who turned young women into champions and the United States into an international power, has died. He was 82.
A spokesperson for USA Gymnastics confirmed to CBS News by email that Karolyi died Friday. No cause of death was given.
Karolyi and wife Martha trained multiple Olympic gold medalists and world champions in the U.S. and Romania, including Nadia Comaneci and Mary Lou Retton.
Ron Jenkins/Fort Worth Star-Telegram/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
“A big impact and influence on my life,” Comaneci, who was just 14 when Karolyi coached her to gold for Romania at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, posted on Instagram.
The Karolyis defected to the United States in 1981 and over the next 30-plus years became a guiding force in American gymnastics, though not without controversy. Bela helped guide Retton — all of 16 — to the Olympic all-around title at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and memorably helped an injured Kerri Strug off the floor at the 1996 Games in Atlanta after Strug’s vault secured the team gold for the Americans.
Karolyi briefly became the national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics women’s elite program in 1999 and incorporated a semi-centralized system that eventually turned the Americans into the sport’s gold standard. It did not come without a cost. He was pushed out after the 2000 Olympics after several athletes spoke out about his tactics.
It would not be the last time Karolyi was accused of grandstanding and pushing his athletes too far physically and mentally.
During the height of the Larry Nassar scandal in the late 2010s — when the disgraced former USA Gymnastics team doctor was effectively given a life sentence after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting gymnasts and other athletes with his hands under the guise of medical treatment — over a dozen former gymnasts came forward saying the Karolyis were part of a system that created an oppressive culture that allowed Nassar’s behavior to run unchecked for years.
Still, some of Karolyi’s most famous students were always among his staunchest defenders. When Strug got married, she and Karolyi took a photo recreating their famous scene from the 1996 Olympics, when he carried her onto the medals podium after she vaulted on a badly sprained ankle.
Despite losing his boxing match to Jake Paul, Mike Tyson in a social media post Saturday said he had “no regrets” to getting “in ring one last time.”
The boxing legend was defeated by social media star Jake Paul in a highly anticipated fight on Friday night with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders.
Netflix said Saturday that 60 million households worldwide tuned in to watch the match. The two fighters went eight full rounds, with each round two minutes long. Paul defeated Tyson by unanimous decision and the 27-year-old upset boxer and 58-year-old former heavyweight champion hugged afterward.
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, and Tyson was expected to take around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
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Tyson said on his social media that “this is one of those situations when you lost but still won. I’m grateful for last night.”
The fight almost didn’t happen after Tyson experienced an ulcer flare-up while on a plane in March. He addressed his illness Saturday, writing that he “almost died in June.” He said he had eight blood transfusions and “lost half my blood and 25lbs in hospital and had to fight to get healthy to fight so I won.”
Tyson retired from boxing in 2005 after a 20-year career. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“To have my children see me stand toe to toe and finish 8 rounds with a talented fighter half my age in front of a packed Dallas Cowboy stadium is an experience that no man has the right to ask for. Thank you,” he said.
Alex Sundby and
contributed to this report.
