Animals Have Doctors (And They Might Save Our Medicine)

📄 Printable lesson for teachers & homeschoolers (reading passage, video guide, graphing, answer key): https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/P... An orangutan healed his own wound with a plant. Ants perform surgery. Dolphins line up at coral "clinics". Animals already have doctors, and what they know could help save our failing medicine. Have you ever seen an animal heal itself? Tell us in the comments, and tell us where you're watching from. ▶ Watch next: Super El Niño Is Here: What Happens to Your Winter? CHAPTERS 0:00 Trailer 0:43 The patient: an orangutan heals himself 1:55 It's not a what-if 2:58 The first doctors 3:47 The forest pharmacy 4:47 The coral clinic 5:39 Parents as doctors 6:45 The smallest nurses 7:51 The operating room 8:58 The bigger picture 9:52 The difference is us SOURCES Laumer et al., Scientific Reports (2024), orangutan Rakus: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159... Freymann et al., PLOS ONE (2024), Budongo chimpanzees: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/art... Mascaro et al., Current Biology (2022), insects on wounds: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... Morlock et al., iScience (2022), dolphins and corals: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... de Roode et al. (2010), monarch butterflies: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... Suárez-Rodríguez & Macías Garcia, J. Avian Biology (2017), house finches: https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wil... Frank et al., Nature Communications (2023), Matabele ants: https://www.nature.com/articles/s4146... Frank et al., Current Biology (2024), ant amputations: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases... GRAM, The Lancet (2024), antibiotic resistance: https://www.healthdata.org/news-event... Huffman, Mahale (1987): https://www.wrc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/en/memb... WWF, Sumatran orangutan: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species... Phys.org (Sept 2026), bats: https://phys.org/news/2026-09-medicat... Estimates and forecasts are labeled on screen. MUSIC (Uppbeat) Powerful Rise — Abbynoise The Great Wonder — Roger Gabalda In the Deep Sea — Hartzmann Faded Remnants — Albert Behar Operation Frostfall — Simon Folwar Light — Ilya Kuznetsov FOOTAGE Stock footage from Pexels and Pixabay. Every filmmaker is credited in the pinned comment. Sound effects from Pixabay.