Florida Carpenter Ants Perform Life-Saving Limb Amputations

New research reveals sophisticated medical behavior in ants, rivaling human surgical practices.

Ants assess wounds and choose between cleaning or amputating limbs based on injury location.
Femur injuries are always amputated, leading to a 90-95% survival rate for the injured ants.
Tibia injuries are only cleaned, resulting in a 75% survival rate due to faster blood flow and infection risk.
This behavior is unique in the animal kingdom, with no other species performing such systematic amputations.
Researchers are exploring if other ant species without antimicrobial glands exhibit similar behaviors.