Ants perform limb amputations on injured comrades to save their lives

WASHINGTON: Limb amputations are performed by surgeons when a traumatic injury such as a wound from war or a vehicle accident causes major tissue destruction or in instances of serious infection or disease. But humans are not alone in doing such procedures.
New research shows that some ants perform limb amputations on injured comrades to improve their survival chances. The behavior was documented in Florida carpenter ants — scientific name Camponotus floridanus — a reddish-brown species more than half an inch (1.5 cm) long inhabiting parts of the southeastern United States.