The Azteca alfari ants fiercely protect the Cecropia trees, which provide them with food and shelter (Credit: Donna Conlon/ stri.si.edu)

Ants are known to undergo extreme measures to save their own. Past studies have shown the industrious insects carrying wounded comrades back to the nest to heal and even exploding and sacrificing themselves to save their colonies from predators. Now, a team of young researchers in Panama has found an empathetic ant species that rapidly repair any damage to its host tree.