In a rare example of biological altruism, sick young ants appear to deliberately signal for their own death to protect the rest of their colony from a deadly disease, new research finds. According to ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Some ant pupae sense when they are dying and send a signal that leads to their own destruction, saving the nest from deadly ...

Ant colonies operate as tightly coordinated "superorganisms" with individual ants working together, much like the cells of a body, to ensure their collective health. Researchers at the Institute of ...

Ant colonies have evolved a sophisticated warning system that enables fatally infected pupae to signal their impending death, prompting swift action to protect the colony's health. Unlike many social ...

New research shows that terminally ill baby ants tell other ants to kill them, potentially protecting the rest of the colony from their infection. In a study published today in the journal Nature ...

Sick young ants release a smell to tell worker ants to destroy them to protect the colony from infection, scientists said Tuesday, adding that queens do not seem to commit this act of self-sacrifice.

Some baby ants don’t ask for help when they contract deadly infections — they ask to be killed. Terminally ill worker ant pupae actively emit a “find me and destroy me” chemical signal, prompting ...

In the forests of California’s Sierra Nevada, nature takes a dark, cunning turn. There’s a species of red ant, Polyergus mexicanus, that doesn’t just fight its neighbours. It kidnaps not a few, but ...

The behavior prevents fungal pathogens from spreading through the colony Researchers call it "altruistic disease signaling" that protects the ant superorganism In a rare example of biological altruism ...