Researchers observed a wild Sumatran orangutan applying the chewed-up leaves of a medicinal plant to a facial wound. It’s the first report of wound treatment with a biologically active plant in the wild. The behavior, which may have reduced pain and inflammation and supported wound healing, may have evolved in a common ancestor shared by humans and great apes.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Orangutan Treats His Wound with a Medicinal Plant.

Like humans, mongooses and termites also go to war with their own kind. What clues can these model species provide about the evolution and consequences of inter-group conflict, and the conditions that promote peace?

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: What Can Humans Learn From Animal Warfare?

What does it mean if snakes pass a self-recognition test, and how might that ability relate to their social lives?

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Snakes, Self-Recognition, and Sociality.

Researchers from Nationwide Children’s Hospital show that three key features of a virtual reality intervention (game realism, fun, and engagement) influence self-reported pain scores during burn dressing changes. The findings provide insight into the potential mechanisms through which virtual reality affects pain perception.

Read more about the study here: What Features Make Virtual Reality Effective for Pain Relief?

Humans understand that certain words “stand for” certain objects, and this understanding is assumed to depend on the formation of mental representations of words. This is called referential understanding, and it’s been argued that it is uniquely human.

Now, a new study shows that dogs may understand certain object words in a similar way. Brain recordings from dogs suggest that they, like humans, activate mental representations in their minds when they hear those words. The results provide the first neural evidence for object word knowledge in a nonhuman animal.

Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Dogs Understand Some Words “Stand For” Objects.