Ants Act Heroically In Death

We don’t usually think of ants as heroic creatures, but these insects behave surprisingly selfless when faced with impending death. When an ant from the species Temnothorax unifasciatus sense they are sick and close to death, they leave their friends and family to die alone far away from the nest. Researchers initially thought this might be due to a fungus controlling their actions, but discovered the truth was exactly the opposite in a recent study.

Professor Jurgen Heinze and PhD student Bartosz Walter infected ants in a large group to see if the abandonment of the colony was due to brain control from a fungus or something else altogether. They were interested in discovering why ants in the wild had been reported leaving their families when they were near death. The researchers infected the ants with a fungus that can control their brain, but exposed the ants to CO2 to kill off the fungus before it could fully take over. Ants that were not under the control of the fungus but knew they were still near death would leave the nest to die alone. And these ants are not forced out by other worker ants, but rather leave voluntarily. The researchers believe that the ants do this so they don’t risk infecting the rest of the colony. This is a truly altruistic act, bringing to light a more caring and almost human side of these insects.

Have you ever witnessed this behavior? How does it change your opinion of these bugs?