How ants amputate an infected nestmates leg

Ants perform amputations on injured nestmates, just like human doctors. A study led by Erik Frank shows this happens in Florida carpenter ants. When an ant's upper leg is infected, other ants chew the whole leg off. This slows the spread of bacteria through the body. But they only amputate upper leg wounds, not lower leg wounds. Lower leg infections spread too fast for the amputation to help. Ants with an amputated upper leg survive about ninety percent of the time. Without amputation, fewer than forty percent survive. For lower leg wounds, cleaning works better. This is the first known animal to perform such surgeries on its own kind.

License: TypeCram Original