Do Ants Give Off a Smell?
WouterWhether you like ants or not, there’s one question that’s been on the minds of insect sniffers for ages: do ants give off a smell? The answer can vary based on a person’s sensitivity to smells and their genetic makeup. In fact, there’s a good chance that if you don’t have a gene for smelling formic acid, you may not be able to smell it at all.
According to researchers, ants use scent to communicate with each other. They do so by producing chemical aromas that determine their behavior. In addition to signaling danger, these aromas can also be used to identify different members of the colony, warn of predators, and leave scent trails to food sources.
To test ants’ sense of smell, researchers set up a glass dish with two different chemical smells. The researchers rewarded the ants for detecting the odor. They then moved the odor associated with the reward to a different location in the dish. Eventually, the ants accurately picked up the chemical odor.
Odorous house ants are common in North America. They emit a chemical odor that smells like rotten coconuts or blue cheese. But there are many other common ant species that give off pungent odors when they’re in danger.
Carpenter ants are also known to produce a pungent odor when they’re threatened. In fact, they can spray formic acid as a defense mechanism. But while formic acid smells like vinegar, it’s also an irritant to the skin.
