Ian Redmond talks to Primate Podcast guest Dr Elodie Freymann who researches how wild chimpanzees use plants as medicine.
Elodie spent 9 months observing chimpanzees in Uganda to gather behavioral and pharmacological information on these medicinal plants, specifically on their ingestion of tree barks which are also taken as medicine by local human communities. This has implications for the discovery of novel human medicines in an age of growing antibiotic resistance and for the conservation of rapidly disappearing chimp forest habitats.
Find out more about Elodie's work at https://www.anthro.ox.ac.uk/people/dr-elodie-freymann