Speed Reading — Medicinal Plants - Level 4 — 500 wpm

Now do this put-the-text-back-together activity.


This is the text (if you need help).

Humans have used plants as medicine since prehistory. Scientists have now found that chimpanzees use plants to heal themselves. Researchers conducted a study of chimpanzee behaviour in a forest in Uganda. The researchers observed a male chimp with an injured hand looking for a fern. The fern may have reduced the swelling in its hand. Another chimp with an infection ate the bark of a tree. This may have helped to cure the animal.

The researchers say there is a correlation between the chimpanzees' ills and the healing properties in plants. The researchers tested the plants the chimpanzees ate. They found that 88 per cent of them had anti-bacterial properties. A researcher said: "Results suggest that Budongo chimpanzees consume several [plants] with potent medicinal properties." She said the research may lead to a greater use of medicinal plants in our lives.

Back to the medicinal plants lesson.

More Activities