Date: April 14, 2016
Source: North Carolina State
University
Researchers have developed a
behavioral model that explains the complexity and diversity of social
hierarchies in ants, and which scientists believe may help us understand the
nature of other animal societies -- from primates to dolphins. The work was
done by researchers at North Carolina State University, the University of
Oxford and Arizona State University.
"Earlier research on animal
hierarchies has focused almost exclusively on behaviors that have a clear
winner and loser, because this is how a single individual can establish
dominance," says Clint Penick, a postdoctoral researcher at NC State and
co-lead author of a paper on the work. "But this doesn't help us
understand animal societies where there is a group of dominant individuals
rather than a single 'alpha.' We think that some dominance behaviors are
actually winner-winner interactions, increasing the social authority or
standing of both participants."
The researchers began by
examining the behaviors and social hierarchy of the well-studied Indian jumping
ant (Harpegnathos saltator). When an H. saltator colony's queen dies,
the female workers engage in ritual fights to establish dominance. While these
battles can be fierce, they rarely result in physical injury to the workers.
Ultimately, a group of approximately 10 workers will establish dominance and
become a cadre of worker queens or "gamergates."
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