Ants Smell Deadly Infection Before It Spreads.Ant colonies behave like tightly coordinated superorganisms, and new research shows that terminally ill ant pupae emit a special odor that warns workers they are fatally infected.
Instead of hiding sickness, these doomed brood send an early chemical alarm that prompts workers to slice open their cocoons and disinfect them with formic acid—killing both the pathogen and the pupa itself.
Brood Send Early Infection Warnings
In many social species, individuals often hide illness to avoid being pushed away by their peers. Ant brood take a very different approach. When ant pupae face an infection they cannot survive, they release a chemical alarm that alerts their nestmates to the danger they will soon pose.
When workers detect this alarm, they respond quickly. They remove the dying pupa from its cocoon, create small openings in its outer surface, and treat it with formic acid, the ants’ own antimicrobial poison. This process destroys the pathogens multiplying inside the pupa but also kills the pupa itself.
Brood Send Early Infection Warnings
In many social species, individuals often hide illness to avoid being pushed away by their peers. Ant brood take a very different approach. When ant pupae face an infection they cannot survive, they release a chemical alarm that alerts their nestmates to the danger they will soon pose.
When workers detect this alarm, they respond quickly. They remove the dying pupa from its cocoon, create small openings in its outer surface, and treat it with formic acid, the ants’ own antimicrobial poison. This process destroys the pathogens multiplying inside the pupa but also kills the pupa itself.
