Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?
摘要
Carpenter ants 作为预防措施对同伴截肢护疗，避免感染风险。研究由大学 Würzburg 的 Erik Frank 领导，显示此任务主要由从 brood care 转为 foraging 职位的 worker ants 完成，此过渡期通常 20 天。 关键因素是照护者与受伤 ants 的先前互动次数，包括 grooming、偶然相遇及 antennating。室内转为户外职位的 ants 在整个巢穴漫游，比其他成员连接更紧密。 研究通过全自动化追踪系统，在 Camponotus fellah 蚁群（共 660 只 ants）中监控数周，揭示巢穴空间与社会重叠决定临时任务如伤口护理。 先前研究已确认 ants 咬断受伤腿并用抗菌物质处理，本研究确认负责主要任务的 ants 群体。
荐读理由
无需护理专才，全职工蚁在室内到户外过渡期（通常20天）因空间重叠与之前互动（如 grooming）主导伤腿护理，双倍存活率；完全自动化跟踪系统精准捕捉600+只蚁群的互动，显示空间社交网络驱动临时任务。
原文
Ants: Who looks after the injured in a colony?
07/02/2026
Carpenter ants amputate the injured legs of fellow ants to minimise the risk of infection. A new study involving a Würzburg researcher shows that this task is primarily carried out by ants switching from indoor to outdoor duties.
Carpenter ants perform amputations as a preventive measure. Their motto is: Better safe than sorry when it comes to potential infections. (Image: Bart Zijlstra)
Patients in hospital generally trust the nursing staff. After all, they have undergone training and, in some cases, have several years’ professional experience.
In the case of carpenter ants, it is not nursing expertise that determines who cares for the patients: “There are no specialised ‘medics’ in the colonies. Instead, this task is carried out by worker ants that are in the process of transitioning from brood care to foraging,” says Dr Erik Frank, senior author of the study and head of an Emmy Noether research group at the Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology at the University of Würzburg. This transitional phase for the ants usually lasts 20 days.
Another crucial factor is how many previous interactions the carer has had with the injured ant, says Alba Motes-Rodrigo, co-author from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). These include social interactions such as grooming one another or encountering each other by chance in the nest and ‘antennating’ – that is, touching each other with their antennae.
Ants transitioning between indoor and outdoor duties roam throughout the entire nest and are therefore better connected than other members of their colony. The research team published their findings in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Fully automated tracking: 660 ants under close scrutiny
For the study, the team examined six colonies, each comprising 110 ants of the species Camponotus fellah, which belongs to the genus of carpenter ants and is found primarily in the Middle East. Using a fully automated tracking system, the researchers were able to precisely monitor the movements and hundreds of thousands of interactions of each ant, as well as their wound care, over a period of weeks.
“We have long known that the spatial organisation of a colony governs everyday tasks such as brood care or foraging. But our findings go even further,” explains Dr Ebi George, a co-author from the University of Lausanne. They show that the everyday spatial and social overlap between workers also determines temporary tasks such as life-saving wound care, George elaborates.
Carpenter ants: masters of amputation
In a previous study, Frank and his team had already observed how carpenter ants treat wounds: they amputate the injured legs of their fellow ants by biting them off and treating them with antimicrobial substances. Their guiding principle is always: better safe than sorry.
The ants carry out prophylactic amputations. This not only protects the colony from infection but also doubles the survival rate of the injured workers. “Back then, we were able to show how the wounds are treated. Our current study now reveals who is primarily responsible for this,” says Frank.
Original publication
Ebi Antony George, Alba Motes-Rodrigo, Laurent Keller, Erik T. Frank: “Social and Spatial Affinity Drive Wound Care in Ants”; in PNAS, 1 July 2026, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2614400123
Contact
Dr Erik Frank, Chair of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, T +49 931 31-82183, erik.frank@uni-wuerzburg.de
Press release: “Carpenter ants: better safe than sorry”
About the video: It shows one ant amputating another ant's leg. The tracking system assigns a number to each ant, making it possible to track every interaction.
Files
- Leg amputation of an injured ant 1,000 KB
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