Ants are even more amazing than we already thought after a revealing new discovery.
The more we learn about ants, the more extraordinary we realise that they are. Researchers have now discovered that ants - specifically Camponotus floridanus - also perform lifesaving limb amputations and diagnose injuries based on their location on their bodies.
In a study published in Current Biology, the team observed ants approaching two types of leg injuries: lacerations on the femur and those lower on the leg, around the tibia. While the bugs were seen cleaning comrades’ injuries on the lower leg, they amputated legs that involved femur injuries before bacteria could spread.
This mans that ants are capable of differentiating wound types and can adapt their treatment accordingly.
The only other animal to perform a similar type of purposeful amputation? Humans. “When we’re talking about amputation behaviour, this is literally the only case in which a sophisticated and systematic amputation of an individual by another member of its species occurs in the animal kingdom,” said lead author Erik Frank.
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