Ants are notoriously well organized, with their colonies featuring perfectly hewn lines of millions of insects working in tandem. And now scientists say it’s likely due in large part to their ability to communicate, something that might even do better than us.
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00:00Ants are notoriously well-organized, with their colonies featuring perfectly hewn lines
00:08of millions of insects working in tandem, and now scientists say it's likely due in
00:12large part to their ability to communicate, something they might even do better than us.
00:17According to the study's lead author, Dr. Taylor Hart, ants have developed an extremely
00:21sophisticated olfactory system, according to her.
00:24This lets the ants communicate with different pheromones, which mean different things.
00:27They have developed this ability over the course of their 168 million year existence,
00:32building colonies when the dinosaurs still ruled the earth.
00:35The researchers discovered their communicative abilities, first by developing an engineered
00:39protein which illuminates when ant brain activity ignites, and they found that their brain would
00:43light up when different actions were in play, such as when they were in panic mode, meaning
00:47fleeing, evacuating their colony, or transporting offspring.
00:51The researchers say this is key in better understanding how their colonies work, and
00:54how they are so good at avoiding traps set by humans.
00:57It also explains why the larger colony is so good at providing for itself, and could
01:01someday explain how their complex societal structure is laid out.