Article 71WRG Sick baby ants volunteer to die

Sick baby ants volunteer to die

by
editors@theworld.org (Jenna Gadbois)
from The World: Latest Stories on (#71WRG)

If you're a human, the courteous thing to do when you get sick is to isolate yourself from others so that you don't get them sick, too. If you're an adult ant, that same courtesy still applies. But immature ants, or pupae, have a problem: They can't walk. So instead, they send a chemical signal to the rest of their colony requesting they be killed for the greater good. That's according to a new study published today in Nature Communications. Host Carolyn Beeler speaks to lead author Erika Dawson to learn more.

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