{"id":11066,"date":"2025-02-17T09:09:58","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T08:09:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/?p=11066"},"modified":"2025-10-14T10:01:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T08:01:17","slug":"did-you-know-how-advanced-ant-medicine-is","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/2025\/02\/17\/did-you-know-how-advanced-ant-medicine-is\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you know how advanced ant medicine is?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n  <div id=\"page-header-817444120\" class=\"page-header-wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"page-title dark normal-title\">\n\n        <div class=\"page-title-bg\">\n      <div class=\"title-bg fill bg-fill\"\n        data-parallax-container=\".page-title\"\n        data-parallax-background\n        data-parallax=\"-\">\n      <\/div>\n      <div class=\"title-overlay fill\"><\/div>\n    <\/div>\n    \n    <div class=\"page-title-inner container align-center text-center flex-row-col medium-flex-wrap\" >\n              <div class=\"title-wrapper uppercase flex-col\">\n          <h1 class=\"entry-title mb-0\">\n            Did you know how advanced ant medicine is?          <\/h1>\n        <\/div>\n                    <div class=\"title-content flex-col\">\n        <ul class=\"nav sm-touch-scroll nav-simple nav-uppercase text-center nav-center\"><li class=\"nav-single-page hidden\"><\/li><\/ul>      <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n\n     \n<style>\n#page-header-817444120 {\n  margin-bottom: 50px;\n}\n#page-header-817444120 .normal-title {\n  background-color: rgb(25, 165, 107);\n}\n<\/style>\n  <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n\n\t<div id=\"text-1123976599\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">In this article we will review how ants cure themselves and how they treat injuries according to recent studies.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"cf0\">If you\u2019d like to support us, you can order a poster; <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Follow<\/span><span class=\"cf0\"> the link to these cool<\/span><a class=\"cf0\" href=\"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/product-category\/ant-posters-and-teaching-aids\/\"><span class=\"cf0\">\u00a0ant posters<\/span><\/a><span class=\"cf0\"> and get 10% off with the promo code <strong>antblog10<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-1123976599 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t<div id=\"text-1335329216\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><strong><span style=\"color: #00a859;\">Ant Defenses: Stomach Control and Metapleural Glands<\/span><\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-1335329216 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-63087440\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-465936497\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_696432903\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"784\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?fit=784%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?w=2318&amp;ssl=1 2318w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=784%2C400&amp;ssl=1 784w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=1177%2C600&amp;ssl=1 1177w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=768%2C392&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=1536%2C783&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=2048%2C1044&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=18%2C9&amp;ssl=1 18w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=247%2C126&amp;ssl=1 247w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084702.png?resize=510%2C260&amp;ssl=1 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 784px) 100vw, 784px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_696432903 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"col-800771209\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h3><em>METAPLEURAL GLAND<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Ants have evolved strong defenses against parasites, with the antibiotic-producing metapleural gland being one of the most important. This gland, located on the ant&#8217;s thorax near the second pair of legs, acts like a personal med lab, providing protection against infections. However, not all ant species possess this gland. So how do ants without the metapleural gland avoid disease?<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row\"  id=\"row-1232623550\">\n\n\n\t<div id=\"col-1831201135\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n<h3>\u00a0<\/h3>\n<h3><em>THE POLYRHACHIS DIVES CASE<\/em><\/h3>\n<p>Researchers studied the golden shiny ant, Polyrhachis dives, which lacks this gland. They compared it to Formica fusca and other ant species that have the gland. They found that Polyrhachis dives ants use stomach acid to improve their chances of survival when eating contaminated food. This acid also helps beneficial bacteria, like Acetobacteraceae, to thrive in their guts and prevent a considerable amount of diseases.<\/p>\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"col-951841047\" class=\"col medium-6 small-12 large-6\"  >\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"col-inner\"  >\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_76027889\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"664\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?fit=664%2C400&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-medium size-medium\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?w=2077&amp;ssl=1 2077w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=664%2C400&amp;ssl=1 664w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=996%2C600&amp;ssl=1 996w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=768%2C463&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=1536%2C925&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=2048%2C1234&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=18%2C12&amp;ssl=1 18w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=247%2C149&amp;ssl=1 247w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084721.png?resize=510%2C307&amp;ssl=1 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 664px) 100vw, 664px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_76027889 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n<\/div>\n\t<div id=\"text-2577097445\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><span style=\"color: #00a859;\"><b>Food Supplements for Ants<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-2577097445 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Just like humans take food supplements to stay healthy, ants have also developed ways to supplement their nutrition. For example, Blochmannia is a type of bacteria that lives inside the camponotini tribe of ants. These ants, which live in trees, lack certain amino acids.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blochmannia lives in their stomachs and helps provide the necessary nutrients. Although researchers don&#8217;t know exactly how it works yet, these bacteria and others help ants with their basic nutritional needs.<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"text-2064165824\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><span style=\"color: #00a859;\"><b>Ants and Antibiotics<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-2064165824 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>South American leaf cutter ants live in symbiosis with bacteria that form a biofilm on their bodies. This biofilm protects the ants&#8217; fungus gardens from parasites, which are crucial for ant survival. Recent studies suggest these bacteria also protect young worker ants from infection. The biofilm, which looks like white dust on their exoskeletons, is always present, so the ants don&#8217;t need to go to a drugstore for protection!<\/p>\n\t<div class=\"img has-hover x md-x lg-x y md-y lg-y\" id=\"image_219740657\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"img-inner dark\" >\n\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1020\" height=\"537\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?fit=1020%2C537&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-large size-large\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?w=2449&amp;ssl=1 2449w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=760%2C400&amp;ssl=1 760w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=1140%2C600&amp;ssl=1 1140w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=768%2C404&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=1536%2C808&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=2048%2C1078&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=18%2C9&amp;ssl=1 18w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=247%2C130&amp;ssl=1 247w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Screenshot-2025-02-17-084804.png?resize=510%2C268&amp;ssl=1 510w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1020px) 100vw, 1020px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<style>\n#image_219740657 {\n  width: 100%;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"gap-933999382\" class=\"gap-element clearfix\" style=\"display:block; height:auto;\">\n\t\t\n<style>\n#gap-933999382 {\n  padding-top: 30px;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t<div id=\"text-835361476\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><span style=\"color: #00a859;\"><b>Ant Ointment<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-835361476 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Megaponera analis, an African ant species, is known for hunting termites. During battles with termites, ants can get injured. If an ant needs help, it stays calm and uses pheromones to signal for assistance. If the injury is too severe, the ant avoids help and moves frantically in the battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Biologist Erik Frank observed that when an ant receives medevac, its sisters touch the wounds with their feet, applying an antimicrobial substance produced by the metapleural gland. This treatment leads to a 90% survival rate, demonstrating that ants value life and provide medical attention similar to humans.<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"text-1845850455\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><span style=\"color: #00a859;\"><b>Ant Amputation<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-1845850455 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Florida carpenter ants can perform amputations with a high survival rate of 70% to 95%. They clean and cut the injured leg at the best possible point. In comparison, ants that do not receive amputation or treatment have a much lower survival rate of 15% to 40%. These ants might have been the first surgeons on Earth!<\/p>\n\t<div id=\"text-204394419\" class=\"text\">\n\t\t\n\n<h2><span style=\"color: #00a859;\"><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\n<style>\n#text-204394419 {\n  text-align: center;\n}\n<\/style>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\n<p>Ants have developed a variety of fascinating and effective methods to protect themselves and ensure their survival. From using stomach acid and beneficial bacteria to living in symbiosis with antibiotic-producing bacteria, ants have proven to be remarkable creatures. They even perform medical procedures like wound treatment and amputation. Ants continue to amaze us with their ingenuity and resilience.<\/p>\n<p>Let me know what you think in the comments! If you enjoyed this article, don&#8217;t forget to like and check out our video.<\/p>\n<div class=\"video video-fit mb\" style=\"padding-top:56.25%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"How do ants heal themselves? Recent discoveries about ant medicine.\" width=\"1020\" height=\"574\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/O_P6t6FdPN4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In this article we will review how ants cure themselves and how they treat injuries according to recent studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24784,"featured_media":11073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[539],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ant-history"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/antcube.shop\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/Medecine-in-the-ant-world_THUMBNAIL-article.png?fit=2449%2C1289&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24784"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11066"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12607,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11066\/revisions\/12607"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/antcube.shop\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}