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Ant rescue party

On a caravan trip recently, we had an ant invasion. To stop it, I laid down liquid ant killer around a circular vent hole in the floor of the caravan, where they seemed to be coming in.

As I laid the liquid down, the ants immediately headed for it, drank/ate it and, after about 5 minutes, the majority of them were unmoving (dead, asleep?). There were about 100 bodies there - as it was evening, I decided to leave them there and clear them away in the morning.

But when I woke in the morning, all the bodies were gone!! How did that happen? And why?

It seems to suggest that other ants arrived, saw their dead 'comrades', waded through the ant killer to get them and then dragged the bodies back through the liquid to their nest - is that possible? But why?

As an aside, the ants also seemed to learn that the liquid was poisonous as we didn't see another ant for 2 weeks.

 

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  • Asked by nelmo
  • on 2011-01-19 09:51:13
  • Member status
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Categories: Animals.

Tags: ants, poison.

 

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petethebloke says:

Ants do carry off their dead comrades. They like to dispose of them hygienically - or that is what is believed. The theory is that a nest with rotting, festering corpses all over the place would be a grim and dangerous place to live. That makes sense to me.

Why do they carry corpses off when they aren't in the nest? Well, it's innate behaviour and they probably don't make the distinction.

I know a certain entomologist on this forum is a great respecter of ants, termites and bees and their approach to the problems of life. I'm sure he'll offer more insight to the events you witnessed.

Go well,

Pete

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Tags: ants, poison.

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posted on 2011-01-19 10:24:44 | Report abuse


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petethebloke says:

PS It's much kinder to clean up your mess and put your food in ant-proof boxes, than it is to poison the little critters. I am always wary of poisoning anything in case the corpse enters a food chain and I end up killing unintended victims. History is littered with examples.

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posted on 2011-01-19 10:30:38 | Report abuse

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nelmo says:

Thanks for your first answer - interesting...

As to the second post, I'm no expert but I imagine the ants weren't after my loaf of bread or pack of cheese but the crumbs on the floor us humans (and especially kids!) produce. I doubt it is possible to keep anywhere free of every speck of food...;-)

I don't like killing the ants either but survival of the fittest and all that...I just wish mosquito's were as easy to deal with.

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posted on 2011-01-19 16:36:10 | Report abuse


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