Apparently several species of ants are promising research subjects in cancer research and other healthcare related research. Maybe that is why these were sought out.
I wonder if it was this species, also found in Ivory Coast? Or was it a particular species they were looking for?
“The Matabele ants (Megaponera analis), which are widespread south of the Sahara, have a narrow diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because termite soldiers defend their conspecifics – and use their powerful mandibles to do so. It is therefore common for the ants to be injured while hunting.
If the wounds become infected, there is a significant survival risk. However, Matabele ants have developed a sophisticated healthcare system: they can distinguish between non-infected and infected wounds and treat the latter efficiently with antibiotics they produce themselves. This is reported by a team led by Dr Erik Frank from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg and Professor Laurent Keller from the University of Lausanne in the journal Nature Communications.”
That’s one amazing adaption of nature. I hope they don’t have a useless Obama-type ant come in and screw everything up.
“You didn’t build this hill.”