Many animals, like most humans, resort to some form of medicine when feeling ill. But chimpanzees actually seem to be able to link the eating of certain plants with relief from sickness.

It has been observed that chimpanzees occasionally eat a few leaves of Aspilia plants, which are rather like sunflowers, in the early morning. Unlike their usual mode of eating, they do not gulp them down. Instead, they carefully massage the leaves in their mouths for about 15 seconds without chewing, then swallow them whole. Aspilia leaves contain thiarubrine-A, a potent drug used in tropical Africa to combat infection from bacteria, fungi and intestinal worms.

By massaging the leaves, the chimps release the drug into their systems via their mouth tissues; if they chewed and swallowed them as they do most leaves, the drug would probably be destroyed by stomach acids. Why the chimpanzees take the drug only first thing in the morning is not known for certain. Perhaps this is when the concentration of thiarubrine is at its highest, or perhaps it stimulates waking up.

Sick chimpanzees have also been seen eating plants of the vernonia and spiderwort families. They chew vernonia shoots and suck the bitter juice, as do Africans with stomach disorders. This is an antibacterial plant that helps to boost the immune system. Commelina, the spiderwort plant eaten, grows in marshy places and is an antibiotic and anticoagulant.

In North America, the Navahos say they learnt from brown bears how to use certain plants of the lovage family to get rid of parasites. They watched the bears chew, spit, then scratch the roots, which contain anti-parasitic compounds, into their fur.

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