Altruism in Ants

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insand

Ants

Save Mates Trapped in Sand

 

-

 

Lindsey

Konkel<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/byline/antssa\

vematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=117c426eb/*http://www.naturalhistorymagazine.c\

om>

Natural History Magazine

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ne/antssavematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=10sog4vj6/*http://www.livescience.com\

>

lindsey

Konkel<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/byline/antssa\

vematestrappedinsand/34017961/sig=117c426eb/*http://www.naturalhistorymagazine.c\

om>

natural History Magazine

livescience.com<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/byli\

ne/antssavematestrappedinsand/34017961/sig=10sog4vj6/*http://www.livescience.com\

>

–

Sun Nov 8, 6:22 pm ET

 

Helpful acts, such as grooming or foster parenting, are common throughout

the animal kingdom, but accounts of animals rescuing one another from danger

are exceedingly rare, having been reported in the scientific literature only

for dolphins, capuchin monkeys, and ants. New research

<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/antssavem\

atestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=12cs388e4/*http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3A\

doi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0006573>shows

that in the ant Cataglyphis cursor, the behavior is surprisingly

sophisticated.

 

Elise Nowbahari of the University of Paris North, Karen L. Hollis of Mount

Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and two colleagues mimicked

a natural situation-an ant restrained by collapsing sand and debris.

 

But hidden beneath the sand was a nylon snare holding the ant firmly in

place. The ant's nestmates consistently responded by digging around the

victim and tugging at its limbs until they found the trap, then biting at

the nylon strand. Potential rescuers did not, however, do the same for

unrelated ants or insects of other species.

 

The ants' ability to discern and then tackle the unfamiliar nylon snare

demonstrates cognitive and behavioral complexity, unlike such simple actions

as digging or limb pulling, which could arguably be elicited by a chemical

distress signal. Nowbahari and Hollis distinguish rescue behavior from other

cooperative acts in that both participants risk physical harm

(rescuing

ants<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/antss\

avematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=120c1bpt8/*http://www.livescience.com/animals\

/090202-nhm-lizard-ants.html>could

themselves be trapped under falling sand), with no possibility of

reward for the rescuer aside from the benefits of kin selection.

 

The research was detailed in the journal PLoS ONE.

 

- Image Gallery: Ants of the

World<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/ants\

savematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=12cc4u7pq/*http://www.livescience.com/php/mu\

ltimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?gid=47>

 

This article was provided to LiveScience by Natural History

Magazine<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/a\

ntssavematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=118pcllb1/*http://www.naturalhistorymagaz\

ine.com/>.

 

 

- Original Story: Ants Save Mates Trapped in

Sand<http://us.rd./dailynews/livescience/sc_livescience/storytext/antss\

avematestrappedinsand/34017961/SIG=120lnripa/*http://www.livescience.com/animals\

/091108-nhm-ants-rescue.html>

 

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