Video Show Ants Arranging Beautiful Flowers Around Dead Bees
We sometimes see things in nature and we aren’t quite sure what to think about them. Often, we will try to make it line up with our own lives in some way or another but that often is not very close to the truth.
Perhaps that was seen in a rather interesting way recently on Twitter. Somebody had witnessed some ants surrounding dead bees with flower petals and making circles. It seemed unusual, and they had an unusual theory.
I have put Twitter back on my phone specifically to show you these circular arrangements of petals i found around multiple dead bees. if you are a scientist who knows what the hell is going on here, please tell me! pic.twitter.com/h3D8u89WxG
— sophie klahr (@sophieklahr) August 28, 2022
Rather than blurting out the theory right away, they were looking for some solid advice on why this type of bee funeral could be taking place. They were asking for scientists who knew what they were talking about but could they find one?
The pictures were shared by Sophie Klar on her Twitter account. In fact, she had to reinstall twitter on her phone just so she could post these pictures and reach out for an answer!
According to Science, ants are rather complex creatures, especially considering how small they are. They use pheromones to communicate with each other, regardless of whether they are trying to feed the queen or if they are just walking on a path.
That type of chemical signal is very delicate and it can mean different things, depending upon the pheromone that is being used or even the behavior of the ant. That is why it is not surprising that the chemical signals from other insects may have an effect on them.
— sophie klahr (@sophieklahr) August 28, 2022
It is not clear why the bees died but what may be possible is that a message was being sent to the ants as a result. Perhaps they were spreading the flower petals in a circle around them in a response to the chemical.
As you can imagine, ants don’t eat much so a bee is a considerable meal that could feed a few familes. The ants didn’t want other scavengers to come and take the meal away from them so they may have used the flower petals to camouflage the be as they decayed.
Scott P. Egan commented, “I have seen other insects buried by ants, too. As per
@ScottESolomon & @Myrmecos, ants bury their prey to hide it from the competition.”
I have seen other insects buried by ants, too. As per @ScottESolomon & @Myrmecos, ants bury their prey to hide it from the competition.pic.twitter.com/gpxYYDARmh
— Scott P. Egan (@scottpegan) August 28, 2022
It may also be that the bees died and somehow, it got the ants interested in cleaning up a bit. Ants are fastidious when it comes to cleanliness and when an ant is crushed, many other ants will show up in the process to clean the crushed body.
Perhaps the bees do something similar and the floral blanket the ants created may have been a mask to keep the bees from attracting attention.
Whizzco
