A study by evolutionary biologists at the University of Freiburg, led by Dr. Volker Nehring, reveals that ants are capable of learning from experiences and adjusting their aggression levels based on past encounters with rival nests. Ants exhibit increased aggression toward familiar aggressive competitors while displaying decreased aggression toward passive rivals. This adaptability is evidenced by experiments where ants were exposed to various rival groups over several days. In one phase, groups encountered either their own nest, aggressive ants from others, or passive rivals. The results showed that ants previously engaged with aggressive rivals reacted more aggressively in subsequent encounters with those same rivals, while those only meeting passive ants displayed significantly less aggression.
The study also highlighted the role of odors in aggression, as ants remembered the specific scents of attackers, leading to heightened aggression against familiar nests. These findings challenge the notion that insects behave like pre-programmed entities, suggesting instead that ants are capable of associative learning and emotional memory. The ongoing research aims to explore how ants may adapt their sensory receptors based on their experiences. The study, published in Current Biology, was funded by the German Research Foundation.
