The unusual life cycles of ants are deeply rooted in their social nature. Ants and other social insects like termites, some bees, and certain wasps live in colonies, in which most individuals never ...

In the world of social creatures, from humans to ants, the spread of behaviors through a group—known as social contagion—is a well-documented phenomenon. This process, driven by social imitation and ...

In colonies of certain social insects, such as ants, individuals are specialized for particular jobs. For instance, different ants can be responsible for foraging, brood care, nest maintenance, waste ...

Biologist E.O. Wilson once wrote that "ants are the most warlike of all animals," noting that clashes between ant colonies dwarfed the human battles at Waterloo and Gettysburg. But sometimes ant ...

The Argentine ant (Linepithema humile) has created one of the most remarkable biological phenomena ever recorded: a super-colony stretching around 6,000 kilometres along the Mediterranean and Atlantic ...