Ant queens cannibalise infected brood to contain disease spread and recycle nutrients.

Filial cannibalism, where parents eat their own offspring, is a taxonomically widespread behaviour with a multitude of potential adaptive explanations. Of these, the impact of pathogens on the expression of filial cannibalism is, in particular, poorly understood. Cannibalising young with low survival probability may enable parents to reinvest valuable resources into future reproduction.