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 ...

Dying ants broadcast a chemical “end me” signal that triggers swift sacrifice, protecting the colony from deadly infections.

Ant colonies survive because individuals are willing to die. New research shows that some of the most vulnerable members, immobile pupae sealed in their cocoons, can sense when they are fatally ...

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 ...

New research shows that terminally ill baby ants tell other ants to kill them, potentially protecting the rest of the colony from their infection. In a study published today in the journal Nature ...

Signals from other workers can tell ants when and where to fan out and search for food. Public Domain Like a brain, an ant colony operates without central control. Each is a set of interacting ...