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Ants rule -

It is estimated that ants make up 15–20% of all terrestrial animal biomass. And in tropical regions, they make up 25% or more!

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Disease prevention -

Ants live in large colonies, and in small spaces. But despite this, they are quite effective at preventing epidemics.

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Disease prevention -

So much so that sick colonies are rarely found in nature.

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Social distance -

A 2018 study found that colonies of garden ants changed their behavior when exposed to a pathogen.

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Social distance -

The study observed changes in the two groups of ants: the workers that work inside the nest, and those that forage outside the nest.

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Social distance -

Researchers exposed 11 colonies to infectious spores. In all colonies, the ants began to interact less with ants from the other groups and more with one another.

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Social distance -

The lack of interaction between the groups actually prevented the spread of the infectious spores.

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Social distance -

But there’s more! The ants also protected “high-value” individuals in the colony: the queen and younger worker ants.

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Social distance -

This behavior leads to less exposure to the spores and consequently a higher survival rate.

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Social distance -

A heightened immune response was also observed as more ants were subject to low levels of exposure to the spores.

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Low levels of exposure lead to herd immunity -

This is similar to how humans respond to a vaccine.

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Cleaning and grooming -

A study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology described how ants clean and sanitize one another.

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Cleaning and grooming -

Another study, published by researchers in Austria also found that ants actually adjusted sanitary care based on other ants' level of infection.

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Sanitizing -

They found that ants groom themselves before entering the nest.

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Sanitizing -

But they also groom each other to remove potentially infectious particles from each other’s bodies. This is known as "allogrooming."

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Sanitizing -

When they did this to a nest-mate that was exposed to more than one pathogen, the ants increased the use of their own antimicrobial poison and reduced physical contact.

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Remedy -

Many ant species produce a poison, called formic acid, within their venom glands.

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Remedy -

The study found that ants left with low levels of spores on their bodies developed higher immunity.

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Natural remedy -

Wood ants also collect tree resin and place it near the brood (made up of eggs, larvae, and pupae). They likely do so because resin has antimicrobial properties.

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Combo -

A study suggests that these ants also mix formic acid and the resin in their nests, creating an even more potent anti-fungal remedy.

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Protection -

Researchers at IST Austria found that invasive garden ants sprayed their living quarters with formic acid.

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Protection -

That same study found that cocoons containing pupae (note: not all ants produce cocoons) placed in the nest were resistant to this usually poisonous substance.

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Protection -

"When we use harmful cleaning products, we protect ourselves with gloves," said researcher Sylvia Cremer. "The cocoon has a similar function to protective gloves."

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But not all tactics are applicable to humans -

Ants’ tactics can be more extreme. For instance, they may poison their young and kick them out of the nest if they’re infected.

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Antspiration -

“You can learn some things from animals, even though it's very different for humans,” says Nathalie Stroeymeyt, a researcher at the University of Bristol.

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Antspiration -

“There's some general principles that are effective, which have been selected for, that you can sort of take inspiration from,” Stroeymeyt adds.

See also: Red fire ants and health: the alarming rise in hospital cases

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