| MadSci Network: General Biology |
Hi Irma,
It is amazing to me that so many of these small creatures with such tiny brains are able to act "in concert" with each other. Communication is the key to all this.
This subject is so huge that whole books can be written on it. I will give you a brief description to illustrate the range of methods that ants use to communicate. Ants are incredibly diverse and so what follows should only be taken as a broad generalisation that may not apply to all types of ant.
Ants are very touchy-feely creatures when they meet each other along the trail. If you watch them, you should to be able observe them stroking each other with their antenna. This is probably a method to identify each other and they may well be using taste and smell in addition to touch.
When an ant finds something good to eat that it cannot bring back to the nest on its own, it returns home with a sample of the food. The other ants that taste and smell this food will go out and help bring the food back. In addition, the ant lays down chemical on its way back that will guide other ants to the source of food. Thus, you have an ant trail. Ants also release chemicals when the nest is threatened causing the occupants to go absolutely haywire. You can observe this too by disturbing some of the ants at the entrance of the nest. They will probably respond by sending large numbers of ants out of the entrance to try and deal with you.
Ants display when being threatened.
Sound is often used by insects to communicate including ants. However, it may well require specialised equipment to hear these sounds. Unfortunately, the different ways in which ants use sound to communicate with each other is unknown to me.
If you would like to know more about this fascinating subject, then you can check out these links:Basic Facts: Insect Communication
Gordon's ant page - nice intro to these creatures with good links
The Virtual Ant Page - check out the cool links to games, simulations and info
If you have any more questions about bugs, do not hesitate to post a question to the utterly mad entomologists on this site. Lastly, I would add Irma that you too can make your own interesting insights into this subject simply by recording by your own observations of the natural world around you. Down in Florida, insects should be active most of the year, if not year-round, and bug watching is a great way to pass the time.
Richard Kingsley
Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on General Biology.