Ant Facts (Feelings, pain, blood and death checked out)


When studying insects, you will discover that they are complex and intelligent creatures. Ants, for instance, are well-coordinated, able to live in unity within their respective colonies. It is fascinating to know that these tiny insects may share some characteristics with humans.

So, do ants have feelings? Ants don’t have feeling as they cannot show love or empathy to each other, they don’t forge strong emotional connections and are unlikely to feel saddened by another ant’s death. Although they lack feelings, ants are intelligent creatures that solve problems the way humans do.

Ants brains do not function like humans; hence, it is debatable whether they feel pain when they get hurt.Ant’s are known to be intelligent creatures; however, does it mean they have a well-developed brain system like mammals? Read on to understand how an ant’s brain works, whether they get sad when another ant dies, and if an ant thinks.

Unlike humans and other mammals, an insect’s brain is tasking to examine, especially when we want to comprehend their ability to feel and portray emotions. It may take a team of brilliant entomologists and experts to investigate an insect’s cognitive power.

An ant’s brain have developed to be able to find and move towards things they find pleasant like sources of food and move away from unpleasant things that could put their lives in danger. Ants brains are unable to experience complex emotions such as love or anger.

The human brain has billions of neurons, compared to an insect’s (approximately 200,000). Given how tiny ants brains are, some experts may refute claims that ants’ brains function the same way as the humans’. Thus, the effort to look for brain potential in insects is quite tasking. It is only fair to investigate an insect’s innate abilities without comparing it with other mammals, especially humans, whose psychology is more advanced.

Since they live in a colony, some argue that, collectively, they may feel like other mammals. The insects can communicate, look for food and escape predators. The males can court females, and the female ants get motherly instincts, habits seen with humans. For survival, they can perceive smell and sense using their antennae. This ability helps them in their search for food and allows them to recognize members of their colony.

In their daily lives, they have adopted cues like sun positioning, wind direction, step counting, and other interesting environmental features. Such intelligence is only akin to insects, and not even humans can use these cues.

Interestingly, ants also have high memorizing power. If they get lost, they can easily retrace their steps to get back home. Due to these and more fascinating facts, studying and understanding an ant’s brain function is a concept worth studying.

Typically, death is associated with pain, unless in exceptional circumstances where it is painless. What happens when you accidentally step on an insect and kill it? Will it be painful?

Ants don’t feel pain like other vertebrates; instead, they may get irritated when they are incapacitated. Their suffering when they are killed by squishing them or when they are left to die are not as distressing as the feelings of pain.

When invertebrates are distressed, they sense a feeling similar to pain, but not to the same extent as with mammals. They have no aptness for emotions like you do; therefore, they are not likely to feel the same level of human pain when they die.

If you squish an insect, it may die fast, depending on the extent of the injuries. Similarly, if you leave it in the open while in that state, it may be devoured by a predator. If incapacitated, the chances are high that it may succumb to infections or die of starvation, and what it would feel before death is stress and not severe pain.

Experts describe human pain as the sensation you feel when in distress. This sensation is more extreme than it is in invertebrates. Even with many studies over the years, it is tasking to test an insect’s pain directly. What makes it even trickier is that invertebrates can detach their limbs or antennae during predatory attacks.

It is an innate survival skill to help them escape an enemy’s grip. Since they do it frequently, we may not liken it to the feeling humans get when they lose a limb. Moreover, the insect can still survive when it loses a limb. Therefore, it is difficult to determine an insect’s level of pain.

Bug lovers would describe the act of killing ants as animal cruelty. Thus, if ants are becoming a nuisance, there are alternative options to deal with them, other than squishing. You can opt for kinder ways like sealing openings they use to get into your house or use natural repellants like paprika, peppers, garlic, or lemon juice. This way, you won’t need to worry about killing them.

Do Ants Get Sad When Other Ants Die?

Since ants live in a tight-knit colony, each member has a specific role. They form teams, and like any other family, an ant’s death leaves a void. However, given their brain’s inability to perceive empathy, their reaction to another’s death may differ.

Ants don’t feel empathy; thus, it is unlikely that they would feel sad if one of them dies. On the contrary, various studies have established that ants will take care of each other when wounded, and the victim will have great chances of survival. Some days after an ant dies in the colony, the corpse excretes oleic acid.

Once the others get the smell, they quickly carry it away. This act is not necessarily an ant’s burial ritual but is mostly a hygienic precaution. Some experts interpret this as their way of portraying empathy, but it is difficult to tell an ant’s reaction to a death.

Conflicting studies indicate that ants get sad when a close member of the colony dies. These results are debatable since they are tied to the fact that ants perform “burial rites” for dead ants. On the surface, they treat death the same way humans do. If one dies when among others, it will lie for some days before the dead body releases oleic acid. This scent alerts other ants that there is a corpse in their territory; this may be two days later.

Unless the corpse gives out the scent, the rest would never know that it’s dead. The ants gather around it and pick it up to another place (a pile for dead ants). However, one cannot relate this act to a funeral. The ants equate the oleic acid smell to the smell of death. Since they cannot live in the same environment as a dead ant, they instinctively carry it away. To them, death doesn’t hold a sense of pain or loss, just a scent that they need to eliminate.

Ants have a severe reaction to the oleic acid smell. If you dip a live ant in the acid, the rest will think that it is dead. Despite having all the characteristics that prove that it is still alive, they will hurdle up and dump it on the “graveyard.”

Can Ants Think?

It may be difficult to believe that an ant, with its tiny brain, can make decisions based on rationale; that it can weigh options and pick the best one befitting a situation. Therefore, is it as intelligent as other species?

Ants are one of the most intelligent insects in the animal kingdom. You can find thousands of species on all the continents except Antarctica. They live in almost any environment they find themselves in, thanks to their civilized minds. Like humans, they are known to build homes, work as a team, and practice farming. Therefore, you can say that ants have the propensity to think and come up with intelligent solutions to their problems.

Intelligence is associated with a species’ ability to solve daily problems and meet its needs. For housing, ants can build cities, what you call ant hills. To the naked eye, an anthill is just a simple structure that helps ants hide. However, these cities are complex and well thought out like human houses.

They have ventilation systems to let in the fresh air and drainage sewers to eliminate waste products. Surprisingly, the cities also have advanced transport means like highways. With these impressive structures, one city can house over a million ants.

Some ant species are also intelligent enough to farm. Other than humans, only these ants know that farming will give them food, and they don’t need to go out looking for it. Some species even keep other insects captive and feed on them later on.

We also find ants depicting teamwork. They can communicate and call on other members to help in various activities. In unity, they build homes, farm, and wage war with other colonies; no other species apart from humans has such a civilization level.

Why do ants carry their dead?

Like humans, social insects such as wasps, insects, and ants dispose of bodies of the dead members of their colony through necrophoresis. Ants do this through the worker ants who serve as undertakers in all mature ant colonies. However, with ants being some of the most organized insect species, understanding why they carry their dead is undoubtedly one of the biggest questions.

Ants carry their dead to minimize the risk of infection to the queen and the entire colony. Since most social insects such as ants live in densely populated societies, they tend to face various pathogens. With no way of knowing why a particular ant died, disposing of the dead bodies is a natural form of preventive medicine against any potential pathogens that may harm the colony members. Removing any risky thing, such as the dead bodies, from the colony ensures that all members of the territory (especially the queen ant) are free from any danger and remain healthy.

Today, we uncover the mystery surrounding dead ants, whether they attract more ants and whether you should clean up any dead ants in your house. Read on to find out more.

What Do Ants Do With Their Dead?

While carrying out their dead is one thing, determining what the ants do with their dead is an entirely different thing. Humans always bury or cremate their dead while other animals may choose to ignore their dead. However, do ants have the same ability and complexity to cremate or bury their dead like humans?

Ants often keep a reasonably clean house; therefore, they carry their dead bodies outside the nest and dispose of them in a midden pile. Other than being a cemetery or a dumpster, the midden is a sacred location in the ant colony where the dead are accorded their last sendoff. Typically, worker ants transport the dead to this location to protect their queen and themselves from contamination.

Transporting the ants to the midden has to do with the way the ants communicate chemically with each other. Ideally, when an ant dies, its body releases a chemical called oleic acid. This chemical acid directly translates to dumpster material in the ant language, and worker ants respond to this call.

This chemical also plays an integral role in making other ants know that a particular colony member is dead. Therefore, by smelling the oleic acid, worker ants are able to know that an ant is dead.

Although the strategy of carrying their dead to a graveyard is also adopted by termites forming a new colony, corpse carriers (just like other insects) are not issued with a piece of personal protective equipment. Even worse, the worker ants cannot even sanitize their limbs when disposing of the corpse.

However, to minimize infection between themselves, the worker ants practice social distancing to reduce cross-contamination. This is mainly done by remaining outside the nest most of the time or subsequently congregate near the entrance when resting inside.

This cooperative behavior has been taken a step further by the Matabele ant, which is accustomed to sending out raiding parties to attack termite colonies that they prey on. The thing that stands out for this species of ants is that ants that are injured in any way are immediately evacuated to their nest, where they are treated until they are ready to adapt their locomotion and be prepared for the next foray.

Do Dead Ants Attract More Ants?

If you’ve ever squashed ants in your home, you’ve probably noticed that a swarm of ants will gather around the dead within a few hours. If so, you are likely wondering whether the dead ants attract other ants or the ants’ convergence is a mere coincidence.

Ants are creatures of scent and are attracted by a dead ant mainly due to the dead ant’s chemical acid. It is also because of this strong sense of smell that ants can travel far to get food. As mentioned above, dead ants produce oleic acid once they are dead. Once the chemical fluids flow out of the dead ant’s body, other ants in the area will immediately get a signal of danger and rush towards some of the scents.

It’s for this reason that once you squash an ant, you will likely see a swarm of live active ants running towards the carcass. Contrary to common belief, the ants are not always rushing to feed on the dead ant, but instead, rescue or collect the dead ant’s body.

Instead of feeding on the dead ant’s body, ants will instead “bury” the dead ant just like humans. Obviously, ants can’t afford a real burial like humans; instead, they pile the dead ants in a sacred place known as the midden. As mentioned above, the midden serves as a cemetery for the ants. However, this is not to say that ants mourn their dead. Ideally, the reason for peeling the bodies in one place is to prevent the spread of infection on other ants and the queen.

But, if a dead ant is a danger signal, why would more ants rush towards the scent produced by the dead ant? Although oleic acid production may indicate death, it doesn’t mean that ants will instantly scare off. It’s worth noting that ants are pretty smart creatures and will often investigate their dead before carrying them off. Due to this, you shouldn’t be surprised to see a large number of ants show up once you squash one or two in your house.

This is not to say that ants cannot avoid a dead ant. Typically, ants will avoid a corpse if the danger is still present in the area. Remember that while ants will often smell the pheromones produced by dead ants, they are not always entirely sure what caused the death. Due to this, they will often prefer to investigate before approaching the dead ant.

Whenever they detect danger, ants will always leave their companion behind if there is a sign of trouble. However, if there’s no sign of danger, they’ll carry their dead comrade off to the midden.

Should I Clean up Dead Ants?

What does cleaning up dead ants mean? Here is a scenario to give you an idea. If you get to kill a few ants that you’ve discovered residing in your home, then it’s only a matter of time before you clean the dead ants away.

It would help if you cleaned up dead ants since they will attract other ants into your house. Ideally, when ants die, the oleic acid produced in their bodies will seem like an alarm to the colony. It’s only a matter of time before they arrive. This may be good if you want to find out if you have ants hidden in your wires, pipes, and walls. Immediately the ants in the colony detect the chemical pheromone of a dying ant, you’ll notice that they’ll swarm out of their nests to collect the dead body.

But, how long should you take before cleaning dead ants? There is no telling when ants will appear once you squash ants in your house. However, you can expect them to appear in less than two days; depending on how close they were.

Whenever you leave dead ants on your floor or ground for about two days, you can expect to see live ants arrive at your doorstep within two days. It’s for this reason you should always clean up dead ants, unless you are looking to host an infestation nest.

Keep in mind that although ants are often active during the day and night, getting to know where the nest is can be a daunting task. However, if you watch the dead ants for two days, you can quickly see where the ants’ colony is located.

Within two days, you can expect a mass colony of live ants to come to take away the carcass. When this happens, you can rest assured that their colony is close. However, when the ants take more than two days to arrive, the chances are that the colony is far away.

While this may look daunting, tracking or trailing ants to a nest inside your home is crucially important. Remember that the existence of a colony within your home means that you will experience structural damage and contamination of your water, and food.

Are ants attracted to blood?

When a bird or mouse dies in the backyard, numerous ants will gather around it and feed on the decomposing body. Ants are usually attracted to decomposing matter such as leaves and dead animals. Ants have a great sense of smell and will pick up any scent of food near them.

If blood falls to the ground near an ant colony, ants will be attracted to the blood and arrive at the site where the blood is quickly. This is because blood is a good source of protein for them. The scent of fresh blood will attract nearby ants, since they are capable of smelling different food scents that are beneficial to their well-being. Therefore, don’t be surprised to find ants swarming areas with drops of blood.

Ants are interesting animals, and different species are attracted to different things. If a dead animal starts to decompose, ants will pick up the smell and alert the others to join them and collect their meal. Read on to find out more information on whether ants drink blood, if ants can bleed, and the various things that attract ants.

Do Ants Drink Blood?

Blood attracts a lot of meat-eating animals. If an animal dies in the wild and starts to bleed, the blood’s scent will signal the scavengers to find the dead animal. Ants will use the scent of the blood to find the carcass.

Ants drink blood, as it is part of their delicacy in the wild. Blood contains glucose, proteins, vitamins, and minerals, making it a perfect delicacy for the ants to partake. Since ants are omnivorous, and they can eat both meat and vegetation. Therefore, they feed on any decomposing matter that they can find, from dead leaves to dead animals. If an animal gets injured and bleeds on the ground, the blood’s smell will attract ants.

It may take a while for the ants to arrive at the site, meaning they may find the blood dry. If the blood is dry, the ants will eat some of it or bite off small flakes of dried blood and take them back to the colony.

One particular species of ants feeds on the blood (hemolymph) of their own young ones. Named Dracula ants, they have strong jaws that they use to hunt and kill their prey. Dracula ants are capable hunters, but, sometimes, they prefer to feed on the blood even if there is plenty of prey around their colony. The queen will choose a larva and piece its skin with its jaws, and it will then suck the drops of hemolymph that comes out of the larva.

Feeding on the larva’s blood does not harm the larva. However, it will slow down its growth. Dracula ants’ queen sucks its larva’s blood because the worker Dracula ants do not bring them food. In most ant colonies, the worker ants have the duty of providing food for their queen. The worker Dracula ants also may feed on the larva. The larva acts like food storage. If the workers are not successful at foraging for food, they will turn to suck the larva’s blood.

Do Ants Bleed When You Kill Them?

Blood is a common feature in almost all living creatures. Blood helps keep animals alive, and ants have their own version of blood. If you kill on an ant by crushing it, you will notice that there is liquid present no matter the size.

Ants do bleed if they get a cut. The liquid that comes out of the opening is quite similar to blood, known as hemolymph. It can be yellow or green, depending on the ant species. For vertebrates, blood is useful because it carries oxygen, nutrients, and wastes throughout the body. In ants, the hemolymph carries wastes and nutrients, and the big difference is that hemolymph does not carry oxygen.

If you step on an ant, you will see a yellow or green liquid coming from its body. The reason why hemolymph is yellow, or green is the lack of red blood cells or hemoglobin. For vertebrates, red blood cells are the reason why blood is the color red.

Hemolymph does not flow around the body of an ant in arteries and veins, it fills up most of the ant’s cavities, and the heart moves it around. That is why some ants appear yellowish or greenish. So, when you kill an ant, their blood comes directly from the body cavities and not arteries and veins.

Therefore, you might be wondering how ants move oxygen to their organs if their blood does not carry oxygen. Ants and other insects have a different respiratory system from that of vertebrates. Ants breathe through spiracles on the sides of their abdomen. The spiracles are connected to special tubes that supply oxygen directly to the organs. Ants, therefore, do not require blood to supply oxygen to their vital organs.

What Are Ants Attracted To?

When ants invade your home, you might be wondering what made them choose your house. Ants appear to be attracted to almost anything, and you can see them surrounding a dead butterfly or a puddle of spilled soda. Numerous things will attract ants.

Ants are attracted to food, water, some plants, and sugars. Ants are always looking for food to eat and take back into their colony to feed their queen and for storage. Ants are omnivores, and they can eat both meat and vegetation. They will use their excellent sense of smell to discover their next source of food.

If you do not store your food at home properly, you will find ants in them. To avoid ants in your home, always clean your house to remove dropped food particles and store food where their smell cannot reach the ants.

Ants are also attracted to water or moisture. Ants need water to quench their thirst. If they find a good source of water, they will drink some and take some droplets of water back to the colony. If one or two ants spot a good water source in the house, expect to see more ants in the future. You should always dry your floors and fix broken pipes. If you have potted plants, do not pour too much water on them. If the water is not absorbed quickly by the dirt, it might attract attacks.

Plants also attract ants. Some plants produce flowers that have sweet scents that attract ants. Ants also feed on aphids, which are small insects that leave and feed on the leaves of plants. If a plant has numerous aphids, ants might climb on them to feed on the aphids. Ants also love damp or moist areas, and if the plants are in a moist area, ants will move in to find moisture.

Decomposing matters can also attract ants. Ants can find anything decomposing to be a source of food. Ants will eat decaying plant matter; they will also take it down into their colonies, which fertilizes the ground. If ants find a dead animal decomposing, they will also feed on meat. Workers ants can come together and drag a dead caterpillar or slug into their colonies for storage.

Sugar also attracts ants. Sugar is a good source of energy because it has carbohydrates. Ants spend most of their time foraging for food, and the whole exercise takes up a lot of energy. When they eat sugar, it is converted into energy, which the worker ants need to keep the colony going.

If you spill a drink with sugar in it on your floor, make sure you clean it up immediately. Otherwise, if one ant discovers the puddle, it will send signals to the others, and you will see a line of ants heading into your house.

The ability to smell glucose made ants useful in the past. Ancient Indians used ants to diagnose if someone had diabetes. In type 1 diabetes, a person has too much glucose or sugar in their body because their cells cannot absorb the sugar. If kidneys fail to regulate the amount of glucose in the urine, there will be a large amount of urine. This urine will attract ants.

Lastly

It is difficult for experts to determine whether or not ants experience emotions like humans. Even if they feel some feeling, it does not come close to humans’. All they perceive is irritation when the situation is unpleasant. They do not love each other or form emotional connections with other ants. If one of them dies, they carry them away and keep living everyday life.

Interestingly, they are one of the most civilized animals in the universe. They can solve daily problems like housing and food by building forts and cultivating. It is fascinating how these tiny creatures with small brains can mobilize themselves to do what many believe that only humans can.

While ants are small insects, it is a grievous mistake to underestimate them. Unlike many other insects, ants are quite tricky and capable of making complex decisions. For this reason, when an ant dies, it automatically alerts the entire colony by producing oleic acid.

Like human beings, the live ants will collect the dead ant and take it to a burial location. Therefore, although ants might look physically minute, they mirror a lot of human behavior. Not only do they have active roles, but they also complete their delegated tasks such as disposing of their waste along with the dead.

Most ants eat meat and will drink blood if they get to it on time. The Dracula ant is known for drinking the blood of its young ones, the larva. Also, ants are attracted to decaying matter. Therefore, if you bleed and throw the bloody tissues or clothes in the dumpster, it might attract ants. The ants will follow the scent of the decaying blood there. You need to properly cover your dumpster whenever you throw out blood tissues or clothes.

The hemolymph is a liquid similar to the blood that carries out functions such as carrying wastes and nutrients in ants. If you step on an ant, the hemolymph will come out through the openings. Finally, several things can attract ants into your homes, including poorly stored food, puddles of water, sugars, some plants, or decomposing matter. Therefore, to keep ants away, you need to exercise proper hygiene around your house.

Bal Kang

Bal Kang is an owner of several pets including reptiles, cats and dogs. An avid writer, who loves to share her insights into caring for pets.

Recent Posts