General

An ant family with global ambitions

Mega-colony challenges humans in scale of world domination

A single super colony of ants inhabit vast swaths of the U.S., Europe and Japan, scientists have found. Though the billions of Argentine ants were initially thought to comprise several different colonies, researchers have found that they are, in fact, related. After identifying strikingly similar physiological characteristics between ants from geographically disparate colonies, the scientists conducted a series of one-on-one tests. Instead of being aggressive to one another the ants “acted like they were old friends,” explains Matt Walker, which could prove that they’re all part of one big family.

BBC News

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