…they just change jobs.
Atta cephalotes
A study by Schofield et al out this week in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology measures the efficiency of leafcutter ant mandibles as they wear with age, noting that individuals with the most worn jaws are less than half as effective at cutting. Instead, these older ants spend more time transporting the leaf fragments sliced by their sharper sisters:
I would also like to nominate this paper for a Most Informative Title award, a category I just created, for encapsulating their entire study in a single sentence: “Leaf-cutter ants with worn mandibles cut half as fast, spend twice the energy, and tend to carry instead of cut.” You almost don’t need to read the paper, except the figures are kind of pretty.
source: Schofield, R. M. S., Emmett, K. D., Niedbala, J. C., Nesson, M. H. 2010. Leaf-cutter ants with worn mandibles cut half as fast, spend twice the energy, and tend to carry instead of cut. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, online early DOI: 10.1007/s00265-010-1098-6.
7 comments on Old leafcutter ants don’t die…
That’s a great title, they don’t even need an abstract. Heck, it *is* the abstract.
Although, it does seem a bit like having a mystery story titled “The Butler Did It”.
That’s fascinating. I have to agree with you about the title. Yours was pretty good too. It made me come here from twitter.
I am old. I need a youngling to cut my stuff.
Just wait until the ants invent dentures. Then we’re all screwed.
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cool although i do hate ants….
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