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
When the pupæ hatch out in the nest of their captors, the young slaves
begin their life of work, and seem to regard their master's home as
their own; for they never attempt to escape, and they fight no less
keenly than their masters in defence of the nest. _F. sanguinea_ content
themselves with fewer slaves than do _F. rufescens_; and the work that
devolves upon the slaves differs according to the species which has
enslaved them. In the nests of _F. sanguinea_ the comparatively few
captives are kept as household slaves; they never either enter or leave
the nest, and so are never seen unless the nest is opened. They are then
very conspicuous from the contrast which their black colour and small
size present to the red colour and much larger size of _F. rufescens_.
As the slaves are by this species kept strictly indoors, all the outdoor
work of foraging, slave-capturing, &c., is performed by the masters; and
when for any reason a nest has to migrate, the masters carry their
slaves in their jaws. _F. rufescens_, on the other hand, assigns a much
larger share of labour to the slaves, which, as we have already seen,
are present in much larger numbers to take it. In this species the males
and fertile females do no work of any kind; and the workers, or sterile
females, though most energetic in capturing slaves, do no other kind of
work. Therefore the whole community is absolutely dependent upon its
slaves. The masters are not able to make their own nests or to feed
their own larvæ. When they migrate, it is the slaves that determine the
migration, and, reversing the order of things that obtains in _F.
sanguinea_, carry their masters in their jaws. Huber shut up thirty
masters without a slave and with abundance of their favourite food, and
also with their own larvæ and pupæ as a stimulus to work; but they could
not feed even themselves, and many died of hunger. He then introduced a
single slave, and she at once set to work, fed the surviving masters,
attended to the larvæ, and made some cells.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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