Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.Romanes, George John
Science
Animal Intelligence: The International Scientific Series, Vol. XLIV.
Romanes, George John
Animal behavior; Animal intelligence
In Herr Gredler's monastery one of the monks had been
accustomed for some months to put food regularly on
his window-sill for ants coming up from the garden.
In consequence of Herr Gredler's communications he
took it into his head to put the bait for the ants,
pounded sugar, into an old inkstand, and hung this up
by a string to the cross-piece of his window, and left
it hanging freely. A few ants were in with the bait.
These soon found their road out over the string with
their grains of sugar, and so their way back to their
friends. Before long a procession was arranged on the
new road from the window-sill along the string to the
spot where the sugar was, and so things went on for
two days, nothing fresh occurring. But one day the
procession stopped at the old feeding-place on the
window-sill, and took the food thence, without going
up to the pendent sugar-jar. Closer observation
revealed that about a dozen of the rogues were in the
jar above, and were busily and unwearyingly carrying
the grains of sugar to the edge of the pot, and
throwing them over to their comrades down below.
Many other instances of the division of labour might be given besides
these, and those to be mentioned hereafter in other connections
throughout the course of the present chapter; but enough has been said
to show that the principle is unquestionably acted upon by sundry
species of ants.
That ants are liable to make mistakes, and, when they do, that they
profit by experience, is shown by the following experiment made by
Moggridge; and many other instances might be given were it desirable:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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