Army Ant Adoption

Soldier Army Ants Image: Daniel Kronauer/Harvard University

In army ant colonies everything begins and ends with the queen. The queen produces eggs that develop into soldiers or workers. The worker ants forage for food and take care of the queen's brood, while the soldier ants defend the colony. When the queen dies, the colony vanishes. Researchers from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology and the University of Copenhagen have determined what happens to army ant colony members once the queen is gone.

It appears that individual ants from most queenless colonies are incorporated into nearby colonies rather than killed. Of the ten queenless colonies studied, seven were adopted into other colonies. One colony remained on its own and produced a small number of winged males with the ability to venture off to find young queens.

Learn more about this discovery:

• Orphan Army Ants Adopted Harvard University

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