Do Ants Come Back For Their Dead?
Wouterants are very social creatures. They rely on smells, pheromones and chemicals to communicate. They may form an emotional bond with other ants. They may also be affected by the loss of a comrade.
For example, when another ant dies, the worker ants will carry the corpse to a midden to be buried. They will leave a trail of pheromones to alert other workers to the death. They may also use the dead ants as an emergency food source.
The best way to answer the question, “do ants come back for their dead?” is to examine ants’ behavior. While ants do not have the same sense of honor as humans, they are highly structured creatures. The average life expectancy of an ant is six to nine months. Unlike humans, ants don’t wear protective equipment, which may prevent them from killing large animals.
A recent study by the University of Wurzburg, Germany has shown that ants can be taught to recognize the presence of pheromones. They have been found to react vehemently to the presence of ants covered with mandibular gland secretions or Dufour’s gland secretions.
Ants have been known to release pheromones that cause them to walk in a straight line. Other ants respond to the scent of the pheromones by searching for the dying ants.
They also may be able to detect a large group of recently deceased ants. The ants will also release pheromones that initiate a rescue attempt. They may even be able to detect a dead queen and break her up to bury her.
