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Ants are incredible creatures, living in colonies made up of thousands of individuals, all of which do exactly as they are supposed to for the betterment of the colony.
Whether that means collecting food, taking care of babies, fighting enemies, or serving the queen, ants really act together, and it has proven to be a very successful way to survive.
For many species of ants, a lot of what ants do is determined based on scent. They put off different scents based on what they need other ants to do. For example, if there is a threat to the colony, the ants who identified the threat may put off a specific scent to bring in the warrior ants, or to warn their mates to hide.
While this is a great way to live (for ants), it apparently also leaves them vulnerable to certain rivals.
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A study that was published in Current Biology found that at least two species of ants, the Lasius orientalis and the Lasius umbratus, are parasitic in that they will go to an established colony, depose the queen, and take it over.
This has long been known, but it was previously believed that the parasitic queen would come in and destroy the existing queen, then take over the colony and have the ants of the other species care for her eggs.
The study, however, proved that this is not the case. Instead, these ants come close to their target colony and interact with the ants to get their scent on them. Once they smell right, they can go into the nest and find the queen.
Rather than attacking the queen, however, they simply spray her with a specific chemical that is linked to threats. This can take up to 15 sprays, but eventually, the colony will smell the queen and think that she is a threat, so they will begin the process of replacing her.
The ants can take up to four days to take out their queen, but once they do, the rival queen will crawl in and become the acting queen. Her new subjects may be a different species, but they will be loyal to her as their queen.
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As she begins to lay eggs, the rest of the ants will feed and care for them, even though they are a different species of ant entirely. Eventually, the old species will have completely died out, replaced by the new one, without the new species having to fight them or do the work needed to build up the successful colony.
Many species of animals have found ways to take advantage of the work of others in order to survive more easily. These two species of parasitic ants are just two more in a long list of creatures that survive on the work of others.
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