Ants Can Tell When They Are Going To Die

Dawid Moron and his colleagues at Jagiellonian University in Poland have carried out a set of laboratory experiments showing that ants have the ability to gauge the end of their lifespan and to use their assessment of imminent mortality to take bigger risks with their ageing lives.

It is well established that worker ants tend to take greater risks as they get older. Scientists have shown that this behavioural trait benefits the colony because certain risky activities, such as foraging far from the nest, are best done by ants coming to the end of their useful lives – it doesn't pay to put young workers in high-risk jobs.

As a result, younger ants tend to do housekeeping chores around the nest, which is inherently safer than travelling further afield.

Source: The Independent
Tags: Ant | Lifespan