Cooperation, ant strategy

2002/04/16 Elhuyar Zientzia

• Ekologia

The serious ants pest is the Argentine ant from South America (Linephitema humile), which has already spread in 6,000 km along the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. But the most surprising thing is that their relationship strategy has led them to deploy so much.

The strategy of these ants is collaboration. This is what Laurent Keller and his colleagues at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland have seen. And they are surprised at what was discovered. The Italian and French ant of this species does not suffer any aggression. Normally, if ants of the same species come together but of different anthill, they perceive the difference and fight until one of them is the winner. But this time it has not been so. Ants have neglected their differences and created the largest known cooperative.