Confirmed: Some ants are lazy

“Are they actually doing something and it only looks like they’re inactive? Or are they social parasites acting selfishly,” asks Charbonneau.

No one knows for sure. Could they be a backup team ready to spring into action when some of the working ants die, or a challenging task appears?

Advertisement

Or might they be hanging around as live feed stations, supplying sugary liquid to exhausted workers? Honey pot ant species have a set of workers that do just that – hang still from the roof of their nest serving “drinks” to their nest mates they have stored in their swollen abdomens.

Tomer Czaczkes, from the University of Regensburg in Germany says there is another possibility.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement