Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates: Study
- Ants injured high in the leg received amputations from nestmates
- Lower leg injuries, infected or not, were only treated via licking
- Ants are the first non-human animals to diagnose and treat injuries differently
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(NewsNation) — New research revealed ants assess each other’s injuries, opting to either treat wounds or purposefully amputate a leg altogether to increase chances of survival.
The study published in the journal Current Biology claims the tiny insects’ actions are the first non-human animal example of amputations to treat injuries, showing “ants can adapt their type of treatment depending on the location of wounds.”
Thirteen of 17 ants whose legs were injured on the femur or thigh received both wound care and amputation at the hip joint.
“Nest mates would begin licking the wound before moving up the injured limb with their mouthparts until they reached the trochanter,” the researchers wrote. “The nest mates then proceeded to repeatedly bite the injured leg until it was cut off.”
Nine ants who were cut on their tibia — or lower leg — received only licking wound care instead. Those same results were consistent even when the ants had infected wounds.
Infection and isolation increased the insects’ chances of death, while those returned with injuries to their nestmates saw higher chances of recovery.
Why opt for amputation? Researchers believe it’s likely that femur injuries give the other ants more time to amputate before infection can spread through blood flow, in turn upping their chance of survival.
