Ant Suturing

by Chris Bodenner

Since my early childhood I've been fascinated by ants. The latest reason:

In Africa and South America large ants or beetles are put along the closed “lips of a wound” so that their mandibles clamp down at the edge. When ants along the edge have sufficiently stapled the gash closed, the surgeon twists the bodies from the clamped heads and lets that sucker heal. Once they’ve clamped, there’s little you can do to unclamp these demons.

Another blog examines the practice in ancient texts.