IF YOU THINK animals are simple creatures who just eat, sleep and follow instinct, the last couple of years in science have been a reality check.

Recent research has revealed that animals are far more clever, more emotional and more socially sophisticated than we ever gave them credit for.

From ants performing emergency amputations to cows using tools, these discoveries suggest that complex cognition is far more widespread in the natural world than we once believed.

Perhaps the most astonishing findings come from ants. Two major studies show that some ant species don’t just “care” for injured nestmates; they make strategic, life-or-death medical decisions.

In desert ants (Cataglyphis nodus), injured workers receive wound care from other ants in the colony, but this care is far from random. Researchers found that leg injuries receive much more attention than antenna injuries. This is likely because leg wounds are bigger, bleed more and are more likely to become infected.

The ants focus mainly on preventing infection rather than treating it once it has already taken hold. However, if a leg wound is already infected, nestmates often stop caring for the injured ant, and that ant tends to leave the nest. This suggests that ants are not just thinking about the injured individual; they are assessing the risk to the whole colony.

They prioritise injuries that are most likely to be saved and reduce contact with those that could spread disease. Scientists describe this as a form of “social immunity,” where the entire colony functions like a single living organism with a shared immune system (Beydizada et al., 2024).

Ants can 'perform surgery' on each other. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

A second study on carpenter ants (Camponotus maculatus) was even more dramatic. Researchers........

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