Ants-warriors heal their wounded

The war of the ants continues. In a series of lethal raids that run day and night, the African Mt. Mattelle ants come out of their fortified nests and begin to attack their prey. In this case, however, there are strong phalanxes of termites , which are usually concentrated around eating places. Many ants fail to return alive to their anthill. Others suffer severe injuries, often even with detached limbs from the powerful thermites' jaws. And now, for the first time, a team has observed behavior that has never been recorded in animals - how the ants deal with their wounded soldiers.

It turns out that wounded ants receive "medical" attention from their brothers. It's not quite like human medicine, but it does manage to work and sometimes even remarkable. The wounded heroes are subjected to intense licking by their "doctors," which may take several minutes to an hour. And despite the microscopic languages ​​of doctors, the procedure has an incredible effect. Scientists from the team at Würzburg University in Germany found that about 90% of wounded ants recover after treatment. And of the wounded who were not served, four out of five are dying.

source:www.obekti.bg