The behavior prevents fungal pathogens from spreading through the colony Researchers call it "altruistic disease signaling" that protects the ant superorganism In a rare example of biological altruism ...

An ant colony is not just a group of insects. It is a single biological system spread across thousands or millions of bodies. This video explores how ant colonies communicate, adapt, and make ...

In a wide range of social species, when an animal is sick, it takes itself away from its group. Ant pupae are unable to move, however, so they've developed a unique mechanism that leads them to ...

Ant pupae that are fatally sick don’t hide their condition; instead, they release a special scent that warns the rest of the colony. This signal prompts worker ants to open the pupae’s cocoons and ...

For some would-be ant queens, the easiest way to take over a colony is to dupe its worker ants into committing regicide. The scientist E.O. Wilson once wrote that ants are the most warlike of all ...

The scientist E.O. Wilson once wrote that ants are the most warlike of all animals. He said clashes between ant colonies could make great military clashes seem almost small by comparison. Sometimes, ...

Scientists have documented a startling new twist in social parasitism: an invading ant queen infiltrates a colony, manipulates the workers, and persuades them to kill their own mother. After the ...

Scientists say they have for the first time unlocked how a parasitic ant uses chemical warfare to take over the nest of a different species, by tricking workers into an unlikely assassination.The ...

Biologist E.O. Wilson once wrote that "ants are the most warlike of all animals," noting that clashes between ant colonies dwarfed the human battles at Waterloo and Gettysburg. But sometimes ant ...

Experts discovered an unusual form of regicide in which a parasitic ant queen tricks workers in a colony into turning on their own mother. By Rebecca Dzombak Rebecca Dzombak previously reported on ...