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> The ants carry out prophylactic amputations. This not only protects the colony from infection but also doubles the survival rate of the injured workers. To keep everybody around you healthy makes the probability of caching a disease lower for yourself, too. Grooming behaviour in primates helps in the same way. And it is so important that it is linked to all kinds of mental rewards. To let disease run amok in your o…
> The ants carry out prophylactic amputations. This not only protects the colony from infection but also doubles the survival rate of the injured workers. To keep everybody around you healthy makes the probability of caching a disease lower for yourself, too. Grooming behaviour in primates helps in the same way. And it is so important that it is linked to all kinds of mental rewards. To let disease run amok in your o…
They can look altruistic at the individual level while still being completely aligned with self-preservation at the group level
If you're interested in ants (and even if you're not) I highly recommend the book Journey to the Ants by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson.
I’m surprised they don’t just eject the injured worker from the colony. I wonder if there are specific tasks the amputated ant then goes on to do, or if they resume their former duties at a lower speed.
I think in this case forcibly ejecting the injured ant could lead to more injuries of otherwise healthy ants.
[1]: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098220...
I’m surprised they don’t just eject the injured worker from the colony. I wonder if there are specific tasks the amputated ant then goes on to do, or if they resume their former duties at a lower speed.
I'm going to hazard a speculative answer with poor evidence: love. The ants love one another, as shown by their child-rearing, grooming, playing, the "antennating" mentioned in the article, collective defense, and deliberate handling of their dead. We don't understand their language, but I have a certain faith that ants experience a very similar kinship for their sisters as we. If they were strictly-rational robots t…
I’m surprised they don’t just eject the injured worker from the colony. I wonder if there are specific tasks the amputated ant then goes on to do, or if they resume their former duties at a lower speed.
That could imply that maybe ants have some sort of disability benefits for those who have lost limbs.
Fascinating stuff, I wonder if nature is reusing the "care" neuro-circuitry or if it's some other mechanism. Brood care and fellow care seem to be related by that thread. Would love to see those ants fMRIs at each stage.
Isn't fMRI resolution similar in size to 1 ant?
I’m surprised they don’t just eject the injured worker from the colony. I wonder if there are specific tasks the amputated ant then goes on to do, or if they resume their former duties at a lower speed.
That could imply that maybe ants have some sort of disability benefits for those who have lost limbs.
Eusocial Security?
Surgery, antimicrobials, farming crops, animal husbandry... humans are late to the game.