Humans have been practicing medicine for thousands of years. Scientists have always wondered whether other animals use medicine too. Recently, ants have been found to have medical capabilities and advanced treatment mechanics, including surgery.
For many centuries, scientists believed that humans were the only species that used medicinal treatments to help sick and injured people. However, now scientists found that some species of ants treat their fellow injured workers and even amputate their legs. This finding shows that other animals and organisms are capable of medical techniques and are also doctors in their own way.
Table of Contents:
- Diagnosis- Assessing the injuries
- Surgery and Amputations
- Implications
Diagnosis- Checking the Patients- Megaponera Analis
Megaponera Analis, a small species of ant that raids termite nests, treats wounds based on their severity. As termites fight back against the ants, many ants lose legs during the raid. However, not all injured ants are treated. This is due to the ants assessing the deadliness of the wounds and deciding if they should treat the injured ant, similar to triage performed by paramedics.
If the ant injures only one or two of its legs, then, it will send out a distress pheromone and stay still, so other ants can carry it back to the colony’s nest to treat. The ants treat the injured with microbials and the chance of the wounded living drastically increases to 80%.
However, if an ant loses four or more legs and its death is inevitable, it flails around to stop its colony mates from picking it up and makes them leave it alone to die. In this manner, the ants themselves decide whether their fellow ants should treat them or not and conserve the resources of the colony.
Surgery and Amputations- Florida Carpenter Ants
Florida carpenter ants take this one step further and amputate severely injured legs. If there is only an injury in the lower leg/tibia, another ant would only clean the wound. This is because there is not much blood supply, so it is not hazardous to the ant.
However, if there was an injury to the upper leg/femur, then the other colony ants clean the wound and chew off/amputate the injured and limp section. The femur, which has a lot of muscle, is responsible for helping the ant pump blood across. Therefore, a wound at the femur would compromise the ability to pump blood, and an infection there would be fatal for the ant. The chance of survival for the amputees is 90-95% compared to a measly 40% without an amputation.
Implications
By treating the wounds and amputating the wounded, the colony of ants is able to increase its numbers by keeping comrades who are still able to function. They are also able to maximize the survival chances for wounded and injured ants.
This discovery is very important to the scientific community due to the newfound understanding of the medical abilities of the animal kingdom.
Humans can possibly even learn new treatments from them. The world of animal medicine still has a lot to be explored. What other animals that use medical treatments are out there waiting to be discovered?
