Megaponera analis : this is the scientific name of one of the many species of African ants, also known as Matabele ant, which would have remained unknown to entomologists, if it were not for its unparalleled behavior throughout the animal kingdom. The ants of this species take care of their injured companions, and with an efficacy to envy by most modern medical treatment. Insect mortality goes from 80 percent without treatment to 10 percent after treatment.
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The incredible discovery, described on " Proceedings of the Royal Society B", is the work of Erik T. Frank, Marten Wehrhan and Karl Eduard Linsenmair of the Julius-Maximilians-University in Würzburg, Germany.
These are important treatments, considering that these ants, very widespread throughout sub-Saharan Africa, are busy robbing termites two or three times a day. In these operations, which involve between 200 and 600 ants, the target is the working termites that once killed are brought into the anthill, where they are finally eaten.
During the assaults, however, the Matabele ants must overcome the resistance of the soldier termites, who with their powerful jaws can injure or kill the enemies: often the ants can lose one or more paws in a fight.
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And here begins the amazing first aid procedure: when an ant is wounded, asks for help by secreting a chemical that stimulates its partners to bring it back to the anthill. Once the injured ant has reached its destination, the companions begin to lick their wounds intensely and for several minutes.
" Our hypothesis is that this operation cleans the wounds and that saliva leaves antimicrobial substances that reduce the risk of bacterial and fungal infections," explained Frank.
Other surprising details of the behavior of these insects have emerged from the study. It seems in fact that only ants with light wounds are rescued. Those with five legs wounded on six, for example, are not rescued. Probably this behavior reflects a drastic utilitarian principle, which avoids spending energy on individuals without hope of recovery.
But the most surprising fact is that it is not the rescuers who decide who to take and who to leave on the field, but they are the wounded ants themselves that launch different signals for this purpose. The ants wound slightly, remain still and fold the remaining legs to facilitate transport. Those wounds severely, however, are struggling.
"They simply do not cooperate with the rescuers and so they are left in the field," added Frank.
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But how do ants understand where their injured companions are? It is one of the many questions left unanswered, which will be addressed by future research. Researchers will have to clarify in particular when ants rescuers decide to stop applying saliva. And if the latter has only an infection prevention function, or even has a therapeutic activity.
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