Experience Shapes Insect Behavior
A new study has shown that ants remember aggressive rivals by smell and react to them with hostility.
Ants are able to remember unpleasant encounters and react aggressively to familiar rivals.
A study published in the journal Current Biology found that these social insects learn from their own experiences, adapting their behavior to different situations.
Scientists conducted an experiment in which ants were offered to interact with three types of colonies: neighbors, aggressive ants and passive insects. Over five days, the subjects met the “rivals” and memorized their odors.
The results showed that the ants showed greater aggression towards familiar competitors with whom they had conflicts in the past. However, their reactions were much calmer when they were again confronted with passive rivals.
Interestingly, the researchers noticed that aggression was not always evident in all situations. Scientists suggest that the ants’ behavior depends largely on the nature of the previous interaction.
The study highlights the ants’ ability to adapt to their environment and learn from experience, which indicates their complex social behavior.
Earlier it was reported that a new species of ant was discovered in Australia.
