Research Showing Ants Communicating by Vomiting in Each Other's Mouth

We know that animals also communicate among themselves in different ways.

Communication is an extremely important issue for all living things. As humans, we communicate by talking. However, there are different methods developed by other creatures to communicate among themselves. These methods can sometimes be a smell, a sign or a movement. Researches in the scientific world have proven that many animals speak to each other through sounds or expressions. In a recent study, it was determined that carpenter ants species found in many parts of the world vomit on each other to communicate and release hormones. Let's look at the details together.

It is known that different living species have developed different methods to communicate among themselves. The sounds of the ants were recorded by a study conducted by Jeremy Thomas from Oxford University.

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Under the leadership of Jeremy Thomas, the researchers, who installed miniature microphones and speakers inside the nests, recorded and played back the queen ant's voice directed against the worker ants, and when they played the queen's voice, the worker ants waited for hours in motionless defense with their antennae in the air and their jaws open.

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This time, researchers at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland discovered that carpenter ants leave hormones on each other to talk to each other. Carpenter ants are large ants native to many woodlands of the world. Researchers determined that ants actually have two stomachs and also do trophallaxis for communication.

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Trophallaxis is the name given to the transfer of food or other fluids between members of a community through mouth-to-mouth or anus-to-mouth feeding. Along with nutrients, it can involve the transfer of molecules like trophallaxis pheromones, organisms like symbiotics, and information that would serve as a form of communication. In fact, most animals do this for food shopping, but using it for communication is an extremely recent discovery. Ants transfer their hormones to other ants during trophallaxis.

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Researchers studied a group of Florida carpenter ants to determine how protein, hormone, and small molecule change during trophallaxis are used to convey information between individuals. During this investigation, they observed that the ants used trophallaxis not only when sharing food, but also to calm each other by aggressively moving ants.

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By analyzing the fluid in trophallaxis transmitted between ants, the researchers concluded that trophallaxis was used to regulate the development and growth of ant larvae. Ant larvae can develop in various ways depending on the hormones and the amount of food they are exposed to. Most larvae turn into "worker" ants However, some particularly well-fed females later move away from the colony and become 'princess ants' to become queen ants in another colony. These findings suggest that trophallaxis is under a special communication mechanism that can have multiple (physical) consequences.