Ants Observed Healing Wounded Trees in Bizarre, Never-Before-Seen Behavior

[Judi Lynn]

BY HANNAH OSBORNE ON 1/6/22 AT 10:59 AM EST

Ants have been seen heThe trunk is like an ant apartment, with more floors added as the tree grows. Inside there are passages, allowing the ants to move around, with small openings letting them go outside. In exchange for their home, the ants defend the Cecropia leaves from herbivores.aling wounded trees in Panama—behavior that is believed to have never been observed before.

When holes were drilled into Cecropia tree trunks, the ants emerged from their homes to patch up the wounds, significantly reducing the size of the holes within 2 1/2 hours and leaving them completely healed within 24 hours.

Details of this newly discovered behavior were published in the Journal of Hymenoptera Research. Azteca ants and Cecropia trees are known to have a symbiotic relationship, with the ants using the trees as their homes.

Wcislo had been tending to the tree as a project. I watched as the clay ball tore gaping holes in the trunk near the top of a small Cecropia tree that I was keeping as a pet during the pandemic, and wondered if the queen ant was injured," he told Newsweek. "I feared my Cecropia-Azteca association suffered a mortal wound. I was flabbergasted the next day when we learned the holes were all patched up."

More:
https://www.newsweek.com/azteca-ants-cecropia-trees-heal-wounds-symbiotic-panama-1666351?piano_t=1



Cecropia tree







Sloths happy at home in Crecopia trees

[UpInArms]

1. Very cool

the sloths look so content ... makes me sort of wish I was a sloth

[tblue37]

2. Now, this looks slothful!

[UpInArms]

3. That pose made me wish

that was me

[cstanleytech]

4. Were the holes made perhaps where the ants might have had passages? If so then its not exactly

new as I have seen fire ants swarm to repair holes made in their nests and they are not healing the ground.

[Judi Lynn]

5. Students in Panama Discover Ants That Can Fix Damaged Trees Within 24 Hours!

By Miguel Brown Jan 07, 2022 11:34 PM EST



TAKOMA PARK, MD - MAY 17: Carpenter ants tear apart the carcass of a Magicicada periodical
cicada after it emerged from its nymph stage shell on May 17, 2021 in Takoma Park, Maryland.
Animals and other insects will feast on the billions of periodical cicadas -- members of Brood X --
that are set to emerge in the eastern United States after living underground for 17 years to molt,
mate and die within a matter of weeks.

(Photo : Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)


Ants initially originated on Earth between 140 and 168 million years ago, during the Jurassic era, when dinosaurs ruled the planet and plant life consisted of cone- and spore-bearing species like pines and ferns.

They are social insects that live in groups. The colony, also known as a formicary, consists of one or more egg-laying queens and many female "worker" ants that care for her, build, and maintain the nest, seek food, and care for the young. In comparison to its size, the ant is one of the world's most powerful organisms.

A single ant can carry 50 times its mass, and they will even cooperate to move larger things as a collective.

The Unintentional Discoveries of High School Students in Panama
Alex Wcislo, a high school student, shot a 9 mm ball of clay through a Cecropia tree, leaving a clean hole, but he did not anticipate the holes to be entirely mended before 24 hours. Wcislo and five of his student friends continued their studies by drilling holes in additional trees to observe how they would be patched up.

More:
https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/48821/20220107/ants-damaged-trees-24-hours.htm