This is the second article I am writing about ants and I was amazed at what I read. Here you can find the first article. This research is documented, and my reaction was that why are we so selfish and why do we not look beyond our own well-being? We should be inspired by this ground breaking study and take care of not only our loved ones but of humanity.

Study conducted by Christie Wilcox in National Geographic, February 13,2018.

Matabele ants nurse each other back to health, after battle with a surprisingly high success rate. They are native to sub-Saharan Africa, and lay siege to termite colonies where they eat by the hundreds, braving the potentially life-threatening bites of large soldier termites, that defend them. They carry their wounded home after a raid. Back in the nest, ants take turns caring for their wounded comrades, gently holding their hurt limbs in place with their mandibles and front legs while intensely “licking” the wound for up to four minutes at a time. They carefully examine their injured comrades probing them with their antennae more than twice as often as healthy nest mates. Observation revealed that 80 percent of experimentally injured ants died within twenty-four hours if kept by themselves. But if cared for by their nest mates even for an hour, only a tenth died. A sterile environment reduced infections, and licking behavior prevented infection and death.

Aim Hrim Klim

Photo by Thomas Kinto on Unsplash