Did I just attend an ant funeral?

First off the guy who said ants aren't carnivores should know that ants will eat nearly ANY form of "food" that is edible (basically anything organic that they get nutrients out of). I dare you to put a spare rib next to that ant nest and I can bet you in a day there will be ants swarming around it. Any way back to the question, the real reason the ants carry their dead around is to "clean up" they don't want dead bodies piling around the nest because it may reduce efficiency of getting in and out of the nest. Notice your brother mass murdered a large number of the worker ants. If these dead bodies were left right outside the nest they might block the main exit. Also dead ant bodies collect bacteria and fungus that could contaminate other ants and kill them (it could even cause an outbreak in the nest and just wipe them out). After the ants gather the dead bodies they will go back into the nest and put the dead ants in a reserved "burial ground" they will just pile the dead bodies in a little hollow and out of there way. This isn't really what you'd call a funeral just "house chores". The ants only do this for the good of the colony and ultimately the queen,so its kinda sad that they don't give a care about there own fellow workers who stayed with them through all the tough times. I guess the "leave no soldier behind" thing has a deeper meaning for ants. Ant motto: "Leave no soldier behind......cause dead bodies are nasty"

actually ants are not carnivore ( animals that doesn't eat meat or there own kind ) so they carry them down their home and carry it to the queen.

i like flooding their nest with a hose