Die Affenapotheke – Medizin aus dem Urwald

How different might the pharmaceutical system be if we turned to the jungle and the bonobo chimpanzees for medical advice? Precisely because of their highly developed intelligence, Barbara Fruth, a zoologist from the University of Munich, has devoted herself to researching their eating habits and their self -treatment. She co -founded a research base along with her husband in the middle of the Congo rainforest in 2002 where, thanks to an agreement with the locals on the prohibition of hunting, she is helping protect the territory inhabited by the bonobo chimpanzees. An international team of scientists collects samples of the chimps' stool and vine fruit but also various other plants contained in their diet. Analysing the individual components of the diet and the behaviour of sick chimpanzees contributes to the development of new medicine. The development of medicine from natural resources is a very lengthy process, however, and has received limited interest from pharmaceutical companies. It is nevertheless still worth observing natural systems and learning from animals who are so similar to humans. (Academia Film Olomouc)