Ant armies employ a system of battlefield evacuation and emergency medicine similar to that used by humans, researchers have discovered.

Groundbreaking new observations of mass raids on termite colonies revealed the open wounds of injured ants are swiftly tended to by comrades in a bid to save them for future attacks.

Described in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the behaviour is the first such example discovered anywhere in the animal kingdom.

Entomologists studied more than 200 raids carried out by 16 Matabele ant colonies in Cote d’Ivoire as well as in laboratories.

They witnessed savage battles as 600-strong ant armies carried out coordinated raids on termite settlements in order to drag the insects away for food.