It’s hard to beat drinking with friends. But, it turns out that ants have their own way of social drinking.
Instead of drinking beer, the ants prefer to drink a nutrient-rich’milk’ from their young. All members of the colony are able to enjoy it, from the youngest hatchlings through to the oldest adults.
This liquid is secreted by ant pupae in large quantities during a particular phase of their development. It is a mix of molting fluids. This includes degraded products and enzymes from the pupa’s old cuticle. Mmmmm! Delicious!
“Larvae rely almost as much on the fluid in the first few days of hatching than a newborn on milk.” “Daniel Kronauer is a Rockefeller University biologist.
“The adults also drink it avidly. Although it isn’t clear what it does for them, we are certain that it affects metabolism and physiology.”
Study from @DanielKronauerThe lab of’s shows that an “social fluid”, a new discovery, appears to unify ant colonies at different developmental stages into one superorganism. #RockefellerScience https://t.co/tnpL0QQZxe pic.twitter.com/77XHaqlzb6
— Rockefeller University (@RockefellerUniv) November 30, 2022
Orli Snir, an ethologist at Rockefeller University, and her colleagues discovered this drinking habit while researching the effects of social isolation on ants. After removing the pupae from their colony, researchers manually extracted the fluid for some of them but left the rest.
These were some of the most striking results.
The researchers stated that “if we didn’t remove fluid from isolated pupae, they drowned themselves in their own secretion.” Write in the paper.
Some pupae were also infected by fungi if they were kept inside used nest boxes. However, those who returned to the colony after their’milk emerged had a high survival rate.
Snir, Snir, and their team stated, “This indicates that pupae in the colony context depend on adults for the removal of the secretion and would otherwise die.” Conclusion.
The baby ants produce their ‘milk’ during their most seemingly dormant phase of development – while they metamorphose from larvae to adults, right after they gain their pigment. This is the time when the next generation of larvae hatch.
Blue food dye was used by the team to show the hatchlings that they also drink the milk.
They are carefully taken by adult caregivers and given a drink. They were more likely not to get the fluid within the first few days after birth.
The team also found hormones and neuroactive substances within the pupa milk. vitamins.
The initial experiments involved clonal raider ants.Ooceraea biroiSnir, along with colleagues, found that at least one species in five major ant families experienced the same phenomenon.
“It most likely evolved once, in early ant evolutionary, or even before ant development.” explains Kronauer.
Individual ants are so interconnected within their colony they are often compared to Together they functionAs One organism – each social class having a specific role like one type of tissue or organ.
Although it is not clear how the pupa fluid impacts ants’ social structure and behavior, researchers are eager to learn more.
“The way ants use this fluid creates dependency between different developmental stages,” “ Kronauer. “It shows just how integrated ant colonies are.”
This isn’t the only strange excretion. Ants were caught savoringIt’s a remarkable new discovery considering this group of animals has been extensively studied. Since over 100 years.
Their research was published by Nature.
