Naked Science Forum

Life Sciences => Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution => Topic started by: davidk on 09/01/2019 09:38:53

Title: Do ants get lost?
Post by: davidk on 09/01/2019 09:38:53

What happens to an ant that I blow off my 3rd floor balcony into the garden?  Does it simply join another colony?

Title: Re: Do ants get lost?
Post by: evan_au on 09/01/2019 23:53:12

Most ant colonies are formed of "siblings", all descendents of the same queen.
- When ants meet, they "smell" each other by touching antennae.
- Unrelated ants trying to get into an ant colony will be quickly recognised and killed.

There are some exceptions - some ants from the Amazon have a less specific kinship recognition, and form a supercolony, with many queens. Ants will tolerate other ants within the same supercolony.
- But an incredibly vicious turf war erupts on the border between supercolonies

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_colony#Supercolonies

Title: Re: Do ants get lost?
Post by: chris on 12/01/2019 11:33:45

Hi @davidk welcome to the forum.

You might be interested in this show from 2018 where we covered a series of questions about ants, ant colonies, and ant behaviours with the help of Chris Pull from Royal Holloway.

The answers to your questions are raised in Chris's comments.
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/naked-scientists-podcast/qa-greedy-guts-useless-numbers

Chris

Title: Re: Do ants get lost?
Post by: davidk on 12/01/2019 15:45:47

Thanks Evan and Chris.  Lots of fascinating ant info.  I was thinking along the lines of a lone ant - essentially, taking an ant from its 'comfort zone' among all the familiar chemical signals of fellow ants and their pathways, and transplanting it elsewhere where none of the chemical signals are recognized.   It is sobering to realize that, as you say - ''Unrelated ants trying to get into an ant colony will be quickly recognised and killed.''  I didn't know I was sentencing them to death.

Title: Re: Do ants get lost?
Post by: chris on 13/01/2019 09:35:57

Hi David

This question concerning a different sort of social insect - a bee - might also have some relevance here:

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/if-i-move-insect-my-car-will-it-die

(As above but as part of the standalone QotW podcast)
https://www.thenakedscientists.com/podcasts/question-week/what-happens-if-bee-gets-lost