MORE FROM NEW SCIENTIST
Ants have evolved to farm plants on at least 15 separate occasionsMany species of tree-living ants cultivate plants that grow on trees either for food or shelter, but there is a debate over whether the practice should be considered agriculture
There are 20,000,000,000,000,000 ants crawling all over EarthA new study estimates there are 20 quadrillion individual ants across the globe, which together weigh more than all wild birds and mammals combined
Insulin-blocking protein may be the secret to queen ants’ long livesIndian jumping ant queens live nine times longer than worker females in the same colony, which may be due to insulin-blocking proteins they produce once they begin reproduction
Ants treat infected wounds of nestmates with medicine from their backMatabele ants (Megaponera analis) in sub-Saharan Africa apply an antimicrobial substance to nestmates whose limbs are lost while raiding termite nests
