Responses
This was cool and insightful to read thanks for commenting this. It made me think of a few more ways this could play out
No problem! The study was actually interesting to read, so I was glad to share what I found
I did read a short article, which you can find on google for free (only ten pages long with short paragraphs) that was pretty interesting in regards to ants living after losing various limbs. Also drowning. And being starved...and attempted poisoning....
[Actually, it's interesting but also morbid, if you think too much on the fact that someone was out there basically maiming and torturing ants for "science". Like, who tf just wakes up one day and decides to assassinate ants in every *slowest* way possible???]
ANYWAY, take it with a grain of salt since the study was from the early 1900's with references to other studies from the late 1800's, and things could be disproven but:
Given the right conditions (usually in a controlled environment) and a specific subspecies of ant, Decapitated ants can live 5 to 41 days and ants missing abdomens can live for 5 to 14 days?
It's weird that decapitated ants live longer than ones missing only their abdomen...
TL;DR:
If this is true, I'm guessing our MC and his crew would need to crush the organs like the heart and brain to ensure the Queen actually dies sooner than later, and not just sever limbs.