Ants
A study by Swiss researchers found that nurse ants have higher than normal levels of antioxidants in their trophallactic fluid - a liquid that is passed mouth-to-mouth by ants.
Carpenter ants 'throw up' on each other to say hello
As well as communicating via pheromones, sound and touch, ants talk to each other by exchanging liquid mouth-to-mouth in a process called trophallaxis.
Ants have 10-20 chemical "words" that allow them to identify ants from their own species, show others where food is at, or raise a call of alarm when there's danger. An ant uses its antenna for most of the communication it does with other ants.
But, have you ever wondered why ants stick together when they travel? As worker ants leave the nest to find food, they leave behind a chemical trail called pheromones. The ants walk in a straight line because they follow the scent the leader left behind.
Ants don't have complex feelings the way we humans do. They don't mourn the dead, and they don't feel any grief at the loss of other members of their colony. They carry other deceased ants for purely practical reasons.
Ants transport their dead there in order to protect themselves and their queen from contamination. This behavior has to do with the way ants communicate with each other via chemicals. When an ant dies, its body releases a chemical called oleic acid.
It is well known that ants do not respond to sound on a human scale.
Animals, including ants, have specialized sensory neurons that detect and alert them to harmful stimuli, such as temperature, pressure, or chemical changes. These pain-sensing neurons are called nociceptors.
Visually, they can tell night from day and distinguish almost nothing more than that. They can't even form an image of the world around them, relying on their senses of smell and touch for detecting vibrations. Their only tool for communication is the use of pheromones.
Do Ants Know If Other Ants Die? When an ant dies, the others do not notice straight away. They will just walk around it as if it was not there, but after three days, the ants will notice. After three days, the corpse will start decaying and it is at this point that it releases oleic acid.
It is advised not to squash ants, doing so will only release pheromones and trigger more ants to come to the location and cause more trouble to you and your family. Ants are known to pack a deadly bite that causes excruciating pain for a short time.
Would ants eat a dead body? Yes, ants do indeed eat other dead ants. In most cases, it happens when it's an ant from another colony. In some cases, ants usually only eat their own dead when there's a food shortage in order to recycle their brethren into nutrients for the colony.
Chalk is made from calcium carbonate, which ants hate, so they will be deterred to cross.
Most toothpastes contain Sorbitol, which is made from sugar, corn syrup to be precise. It's one of the best sweeteners in the food industry and corn syrup is the stuff that makes ants go crazy over most processed foods.
No because they don't use lungs to breathe. Like most insects, they take in oxygen through openings in their abdomens called 'spiracles' which allows sufficient oxygen to maintain their activity.
As far as entomologists are concerned, insects do not have pain receptors the way vertebrates do. They don't feel 'pain,' but may feel irritation and probably can sense if they are damaged. Even so, they certainly cannot suffer because they don't have emotions.
It is likely to lack key features such as 'distress', 'sadness', and other states that require the synthesis of emotion, memory and cognition. In other words, insects are unlikely to feel pain as we understand it.
Ants don't have complex emotions such as love, anger, or empathy, but they do approach things they find pleasant and avoid the unpleasant. They can smell with their antennae, and so follow trails, find food and recognise their own colony.
A recent study of ants' sleep cycle found that the average worker ant takes approximately 250 naps each day, with each one lasting just over a minute. That adds up to 4 hours and 48 minutes of sleep per day. The research also found that 80 percent of the ant workforce was awake and active at any one time.
Ants do not breathe like we do. They take in oxygen through tiny holes all over the body called spiracles. They emit carbon dioxide through these same holes. The heart is a long tube that pumps colorless blood from the head throughout the body and then back up to the head again.
Despite the relative smallness of an ant's brain in comparison to humans, scientists consider the ant to have the largest brain of all insects. Regardless of how ant brains are rated, they can communicate, avoid and fight enemies, search for food, show courtship signals, and use complex navigation over long distances.
Many common species of ants release pungent smells when they are in danger, squished, or otherwise dead, according to Clint Penick, an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University and ant researcher.
Some kinds of ants live in tight-knit colonies containing thousands or millions of individuals that go to war with other colonies over resources such as territory or food. The diverse tactics these insects use in combat can be remarkably similar to human war strategies, varying according to what is at stake.