Natures wonders: warring ants protect the wounded (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, February 15, 2018, 13:48 (2471 days ago) @ David Turell

After a fight the less wounded are brought back to the nest for care:

https://www.livescience.com/61752-war-ants-treat-wounds.html?utm_source=ls-newsletter&a...

"A species of warmongering sub-Saharan ant not only rescues its battle-wounded soldiers but also treats their injuries.

"This strikingly unusual behavior raises the survival rate for injured ants from a mere 20 percent to 90 percent, according to new research.

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"M. analis is a nondescript-looking species that lives in colonies of several hundred to over a thousand ants. They're skilled raiders, sending out columns of several hundred ants to attack termite nests and drag termite corpses back to their own nests for a feast. These raids, however, often come with a cost: ants with lost or crushed limbs, or even ants limping home with tenacious termites clinging to their bodies.

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"They found that in the vast majority of cases, severely injured ants were left to die on the battlefield. This version of ant triage wasn't at the behest of the rescuers, Frank said; instead, ants with five missing limbs flailed, rotated and generally refused to cooperate with their rescuers. Ants with two lost limbs, on the other hand, curled up into easy-to-carry balls and let themselves be taken home.

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"Once back at the nest, healthy ants would attend to the wounded, licking their injuries for sometimes up to minutes at a time. Ants that were prevented from getting this treatment had an 80-percent chance of dying within 24 hours, the researchers found, whereas ants that were cared for had only a 10-percent chance of death.

"To find out what was killing the injured, untreated ants, the researchers relocated some to a sterile environment and found that only 20 percent died, indicating that infections are probably the biggest risk for injured ants.

"'This seems to strongly suggest that the treatment inside the nest prevents an infection inside the wound," Frank said.

"Any uninjured ant seems capable of providing the licking treatment — there's no indication of dedicated ant "medics," Frank said — but it's not yet clear whether the treatment prevents infections or actively treats them.

"Either way, the behavior is exciting to see because it's extremely rare to observe any individual animal treating another's wounds in any species, Frank said. It's especially counterintuitive in ants, because the tendency is to think that ant individuals are easily replaced cogs in the machinery of the colony, he said. But in M. analis, colonies aren't that large, and only a dozen or so baby ants are born each day, Frank said."

Comment: These ants really work as a societal organization. As a warring group it is likely learned behavior.