Sick young ants release a smell to tell worker ants to destroy them to protect the colony from infection, scientists said Tuesday, adding that queens do not seem to commit this act of self-sacrifice.

Scientists describe the behavior as "altruistic signalling," a form of social immunity in eusocial insects Getty A new research study finds infected ant pupae emit a chemical signal that prompts ...

Imagine being so dedicated to your family that you would ask them to kill you to keep everyone else safe. It sounds unbelievable, but that is exactly what baby ants do when they are infected by a ...

Ant colonies operate as tightly coordinated "superorganisms" with individual ants working together, much like the cells of a body, to ensure their collective health. Researchers at the Institute of ...

Ant species that evolved thinner shells traded individual armor protection for increases in colony size, enabling improved food gathering, task organization and defense, according to researchers from ...

Some baby ants don’t ask for help when they contract deadly infections — they ask to be killed. Terminally ill worker ant pupae actively emit a “find me and destroy me” chemical signal, prompting ...

As individuals, driver ants are small and relatively insignificant creatures. But as a colony, they transform into a huge and ...

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 ...

The classic thought experiment about a horse-sized duck and a hundred duck-sized horses is more than a joke. It captures a ...

Ants are tidy—when they move into a new nest box, they spend the first days cleaning it thoroughly, just like humans moving into a new home. Many ants produce highly acidic chemicals from specialized ...

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 ...