Certain ant species exhibit wound care and rescue behav­iours towards injured nestmates, thereby enhanc­ing their survival and sustain­ing the colony's workforce. Despite these benefits, it remains unclear how ecolog­i­cal and evolu­tion­ary factors have shaped these social behav­iours. By using inter­dis­ci­pli­nary methods from behav­iour and theoret­i­cal biology, we aim to eluci­date the causes and conse­quences under­ly­ing the evolu­tion of wound care and rescue behaviours.

The ubiqui­tous nature of helping behav­iours in social animals, from insects to primates, raises the questions of how they benefit the group, and which factors facil­i­tate their appear­ance. One example of helping behav­iours is recently discov­ered wound care and rescue behav­iour in ants. Hunting ants typically suffer open wounds and injuries from their inter­ac­tions with the prey. Without treat­ment, mortal­ity caused by wound infec­tions is about 90%. However, injured workers are treated by nestmates and rescued from immedi­ate danger, increas­ing their survival.

Theoret­i­cal models predict that behav­iours enhanc­ing colony size and fitness should be widespread, yet wound care and rescue behav­iour are only rarely observed. By study­ing these behav­iours in other species, like the neotrop­i­cal army ants of the genus Eciton, we may shed light on the ecolog­i­cal and evolu­tion­ary drivers shaping these behav­iours. To under­stand how the differ­ent ecology shapes these behav­iours, we will focus on under­stand­ing the varia­tion between popula­tions and species differ­ing in prey special­i­sa­tion, colony size, worker size, and forag­ing strategies.

With this study, we want to eluci­date new ways of how social groups maintain their group size, how individ­u­als effec­tively treat deadly infec­tions while coping with poten­tial antibi­otic resis­tance, and, ultimately, the factors leading to the evolu­tion of helping behav­iours in the animal kingdom.