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Ants can carry out life-saving amputations on injured nest mates, study shows

Research on carpenter ants provides first example of a non-human animal severing limbs to curb infections

And surprisingly, the insects appear to tailor the treatment they give to the location of injury.. “The ants are able to diagnose, to some extent, the wounds and treat them accordingly to maximise the survival of the injured,” said Dr Erik Frank, from the University of Lausanne and the first author of the research. Writing in the journal Current Biology, Frank and colleagues report how they cut Florida carpenter ants ( Camponotus floridanus) on their right hind limb, then observed the responses of their nest mates for a week. However, their survival rates greatly improved if the injured ants were either returned to their colonies – suggesting the treatments provided by their nest mates were beneficial – or the infected limb was amputated by researchers, although this only brought benefits for thigh wounds.

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