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
He tried burying some specimens of _Lasius niger_ beneath an ant-road;
but none of the ants traversing the road made any attempt to release
their imprisoned companions. He tried the same experiment with the same
result on various other species. Even when the friends in difficulty are
actually in sight, it by no means follows that their companions will
assist them. Of this, he says, he could give almost any number of
instances. Thus, when ants are entangled in honey, their companions
devote themselves to the honey, and entirely neglect their friends in
distress; and when partly drowned, their friends take no notice. When
chloroformed or intoxicated their own companions either do not heed
them, or else 'seem somewhat puzzled at finding their intoxicated
fellow-creatures in such a condition, take them up, and carry them about
for a time in a somewhat aimless manner.' Further experiments, however,
on a larger scale, went to show that chloroformed ants were treated as
dead, _i.e._ removed to the edge of the parade-board and dropped over
into the surrounding moat of water; while intoxicated ants were
generally carried into the nest, if they were ants belonging to that
community; if not, they were thrown overboard. This care shown towards
intoxicated friends appears to indicate a dim sense of sympathy towards
afflicted individuals; but that this emotion or instinct does not in the
case of these species extend to healthy individuals in distress seems to
be proved, not only by the experiments of burying already described, but
also by the following:--
On Sept. 2, therefore, I put two ants from one of my
nests of _F. fusca_ into a bottle, the end of which
was tied up with muslin as described, and laid it down
close to the nest. In a second bottle I put two ants
from another nest of the same species. The ants which
were at liberty took no notice of the bottle
containing their imprisoned friends. The strangers in
the other bottle, on the contrary, excited them
considerably. The whole day one, two, or more ants
stood sentry, as it were, over the bottle. In the
evening no less than twelve were collected round it, a
larger number than usually came out of the nest at any
one time. The whole of the next two days, in the same
way, there were more or less ants round the bottle
containing the strangers; while, as far as we could
see, no notice whatever was taken of the friends. On
the 9th the ants had eaten through the muslin, and
effected an entrance. We did not chance to be on the
spot at the moment; but as I found two ants lying
dead, one in the bottle and one just outside, I think
there can be no doubt that the strangers were put to
death. The friends throughout were quite neglected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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