ants know how to perform amputations

This is the discovery of researchers from the University of Würzburg in Germany. On videos of ants, these scientists were able to discover scenes worthy of emergency services.

Saving lives through surgery is not a privilege reserved for humans. German scientists have been able to observe this behavior in ants. These insects, just over a centimeter long, are, in fact, capable of performing amputations.

A team of biologists from the University of Würzburg in Germany was surprised to observe on videos of ants, scenes worthy of an emergency service. An ant with an injured leg lets itself be examined by its fellow ants. Some of them methodically clean the wound with their saliva and sometimes perform a quick and precise amputation by biting. These researchers have established that the method is effective, since the survival rate of amputated ants or those whose wound has been cleaned varies between 75% and 95%, compared to only 15 to 40% survival for those that are away from the colony and are not treated by the others.

This is the only case of methodical amputation observed to date in the animal kingdom, explain the authors of this study published on Tuesday, July 2, in the journal Current biology. Each time, the care is perfectly adapted to the risk of spreading an infection, depending on whether the wound is dirty or sterile, and depending on its location on the tibia or the femur.

This is not the first time that self-medication in animals has surprised us. Last May, another scene had intrigued scientists. An orangutan living in a park in Indonesia, and deeply injured under the eye, had treated himself with a homemade bandage. He had applied a plant that he had previously chewed as a poultice. He had applied it directly to the wound, and in two weeks, he was cured. This is no coincidence, the selected plant actually has antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, which are also known in traditional Chinese medicine.

To acquire medical knowledge, there is clearly a part of innateness and behaviors transmitted from generation to generation in animals. Studies show that several dozen animal species are thus capable of practicing self-medication. Beyond primates, there are dogs or cats that eat certain herbs for their digestive comfort, birds that place antiparasitic herbs in their nest to protect their offspring, or elephants that can consume certain plants to facilitate childbirth. We have every interest in being curious about these behaviors, because nearly 50% of the therapeutic arsenal used today in human medicine comes from nature. With the observation of wild animals, we are clearly in a good school.