While we used to read about the history of medicine or surgery, most of the times it used to start with this book called the Sushruta Samhita! One of the things mentioned in this legendary book was the use of ants in suturing!
We used to feel that it is a wonder that this could be done! Or may be imagination!
Recently while listening to the book by Robert Sapolsky called A Primate’s Memoir; the author describes an incident involving the army ants!
Now having an encounter with a couple of them is ok but if a swarm gets you then you are in trouble! The issue is that once they bite you, they will not let go! Which is of course dangerous but the tribes of Africa understood this nature of the ants and have modified their behaviour for their benefit! Wound Suturing!
Using ant jaws as sutures is a traditional first-aid technique used historically by indigenous cultures in Africa and South America. It involves using large-jawed ants (like army or leaf-cutter ants) to act as natural surgical staples.
What they do is that the edges of the cut are held tightly together and then a live ant is held by the body and its jaws are positioned perpendicular to the wound!
The ant instinctively bites down, clamping the flesh between its large mandibles! Then comes the twist! The ant’s body is carefully twisted or snapped off, leaving only the head and the locked jaws in place!
The process is repeated so that additional ants are used along the length of the wound as needed!
Finally once the wound has healed, the ant heads naturally fall off or are gently removed!
Only species with exceptionally strong mandibles and a locking mechanism are suitable. The most common are the Army Ants: (e.g., Eciton in South America, Dorylus/Driver ants in Africa), the Weaver Ants: (e.g., Oecophylla in India and Southeast Asia) and the Bullet Ants: Used in certain tropical regions!
This method dates back centuries. It was first famously recorded in the ancient Indian medical text, the Atharva Veda (circa 1000 BC) and Sushruta Samhita, and was primarily a quick, life-saving measure to stop bleeding in remote areas!
In modern contexts, it is not recommended if medical supplies are available. The ants themselves or their mandibles can introduce bacteria into the skin, increasing the risk of infection!
So the next time you visit a tribal area in Africa and see a chief with some ants in his bag; that may simply be his Suturing set!
And he may be an Expert ‘ant surgeon’!
Expert in music also is M. S. Viswanathan!
Now stop dropping sugary stuff all around if you aren’t planning to learn suturing and sleep!
Shubh ratri…
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