When people mash their mouth together , it ’s usually to expose drawing card ( or it ’s an unconvincing attempt at looking man ) . When ant do it , however , it ’s a different story .
According tonew researchpublished in the journal eLife , ant apply trophallaxis — the practice of exchange liquids mouth - to - mouth — not only for passing food back and forth , but also as a method of communication .
Previously , it was thought that trophallaxis — which has been observed in several other social insects , including termites and bees — was primarily a method acting for distribute smooth food between members of a settlement . But after studying the behavior of Florida carpenter ants , the researcher find that the liquidness also contains an array of chemicals used for digestion , increase , nest mate acknowledgement , and unsusceptibility . It also contains a adolescent hormone that helps influence ontogenesis .
“ Our result reveal that the air liquid contains much more than food and digestive enzyme , ” the researchers concluded . “ These finding hint that trophallaxis underlies a private communication mechanics that can have multiple phenotypic consequences . ” In essence , kiss allows ants to communicate with each other and pass on important tools that help ensure the colony ’s continued succeeder .
concord to Adria LeBoeuf , an evolutionary life scientist at the University of Lausanne and one of the paper ’s authors , the existence of a juvenile endocrine was especially intriguing .
“ [ It ’s ] a grown upset , ” LeBoeuftold Science . “ It suggests they ’re deciding what the larva are go to be when they grow up . ” Somewhere , every helicopter parent is cursing the fact they were n’t born as an ant .
The find has also raised the possibleness that smooth interchange between other animate being might not be as mere as they appear . “ Our observations start the possibility that exchange of oral fluids ( for instance , spittle ) in other animals might also serve subroutine not antecedently suspect . ” Well , there ’s my unexampled favourite getaway business line .
[ ScienceviaeLife ]
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