In ant society, workers normally give up reproducing themselves to care for their queen's offspring, who are their brothers and sisters. When workers try to cheat and have their own kids in the queen's presence, their peers swiftly attack and physically restrain them from reproducing.
Now, a new study published online on January 8th in Current Biology, explains just how the cheaters get caught red-handed. Experimental evidence shows that chemical hydrocarbons produced by those sneaky sorts are a dead giveaway of their fertility status.
Click here for the full article.
Now I want to write a movie script for a romantic drama about two star-crossed ant lovers who risk status, life, and family to overcome their hydrocarbons and carry on with a torrid, breath-taking love affair. I can see the opening now: The ants, while passing each other in the hill's burrows, delicately touch antennae, and from that moment on, their destinies are intertwined...
Loading ...
