When we're talking about amputation behavior, this is literally the only case in which a sophisticated and systematic amputation of an individual by another member of its species occurs in the animal kingdom. The fact that the ants are able to diagnose a wound, see if it's infected or sterile, and treat it accordingly over long periods of time by other individuals-the only medical system that can rival that would be the human one.
If an infected wound is identified, the ants then treat said wound with antibiotics produced by a special gland on the side of the thorax (the metapleural gland). Those secretions are made of some 112 components, half of which have antimicrobial properties. Applying these secretions reduced the mortality rate of injured ants by 90 percent.
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