Scientists have discovered that ants are able to remember their offenders

A new experimental study has shown that ants are able to take offense, remember the smell of attackers, react more aggressively to familiar competitors and learn from their experience.

Transfers UNN with reference to Current Biology.

Details

People do not always have the ability to forgive insults, and what’s more, they often clarify relationships with compensation for damages. Much of what is characteristic of human existence is also inherent in the world of ants. The study, published in the journal Current Biology, sheds new light on how these social insects interact with their environment and competitors.

How new evidence was obtained

Scientists conducted two stages of experiments to determine whether ants remember bad experiences with other ants and how this affects their relationships.

In the experiment, the researchers first let the test ants gain experience.

During the experiment, the researchers first allowed the ants to gain experience. Scientists placed ants in 60-second dating scenarios between nests “A” and “B”:

At first, the insects simply met with nest neighbors, later the group interacted with aggressive ants and met with a group of hostile insects. All this was repeated once for each group for five consecutive days.

Aggressive reaction to well-known competitors

The scientists studied how different groups of ants later reacted when they encountered aggressive ants. The results of the research confirmed that ants do remember their encounters: they were more hostile towards ants that smelled past unsuccessful encounters with other nests.

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However, when they were crossed again with the ants of the passive colony, the insects behaved more calmly. It should be noted: so that competing animals, which were supposed to behave passively, actually did so, scientists cut off their antennae.

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But something else is also interesting: the fact that experimental ants were more aggressive towards known competitors than unknown ones was not sufficiently obvious in all situations.

The behavior of social insects is highly variable, even in tasks as important as nest defense

At the same time, based on the analysis of the study, the scientists concluded:

The behavior of ants is formed under the influence of their specific experience. Aggressive interactions in the past led further to increased aggression, whereas encounters with passive opponents led to a calmer response.

This highlights the ants’ ability to learn and adapt based on their interactions, the scientists said.

We will remind

Billions of insects, mostly flies, migrate across the Pyrenees mountain pass between France and Spain every year, playing important roles as pollinators, pest controllers and nutrient carriers.

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