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Ants Smell Cheaters and Assault Them, Study Finds

news.nationalgeographic.com — If a worker ant attempts to reproduce in the presence of the queen, the worker inadvertently produces a chemical that causes her sisters to attack.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jan 10, 2009

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  • CrazyCarl22, on 01/10/2009, -0/+35I think it would be the most dugg story for years.
  • Duffalpha, on 01/09/2009, -1/+31If only our girlfriends would do that....
  • inactive, on 01/10/2009, -2/+30No.
  • oboshoe, on 01/10/2009, -2/+28"attempts to reproduce in the presence of the queen,"

    But seriously, why can't the ants just get a room or something. Doing right there in front of your Queen probably isn't so smart.

    Imagine if two reporters started getting it on during a press conference at the whitehouse.....
  • absolutelytrue, on 05/26/2009, -2/+25I think they do. Ever watched Jerry Springer?
  • cooleo_no1, on 01/10/2009, -1/+19For some reason my brain replaced Cheater with Cheetah and the story seemed ten times better.
  • phreak79, on 01/10/2009, -0/+13Ants are awesome.
  • WafflePirate, on 01/10/2009, -0/+13You're not allowed to be a worker and reproduce in the presence of a queen ant -- regardless of being able to self reproduce or not.
  • zyklon, on 01/10/2009, -2/+13Punkbuster for ants?
  • MrFurious2k, on 01/10/2009, -0/+10PUNKBUSTER CLIENT: PHEROMONE = "1": MUST BE INSIDE 0.00 TO 0.00 (VIOLATION)
    PUNKBUSTER CLIENT: 1 CURRENT CVAR VIOLATION

    ANT HAS BEEN KICKED FOR 2 MINUTES VIA PUNKBUSTER...CVAR
  • InfinitySnatch, on 01/10/2009, -0/+9More like a *****.
  • doublefelix, on 01/10/2009, -0/+9"If a worker tries to "cheat," her sisters will physically restrain the disobedient ant from successfully reproducing." I was figuring they would tear the offending ant limb from limb and move her to food storage. Here's to the sisters for showing some restraint.
  • Hearron, on 01/09/2009, -0/+8I'm sure it was well worth it.
  • JBranded, on 01/09/2009, -4/+11Wait......how exactly are they cheating?

    "These worker ants are biologically capable of a type of parthenogenesis,
    ***the process that allows a female to produce offspring without a mate.*****
    When they try, however, they produce chemicals called pheromones that their sisters detect with antennas"

    This article says that they are able to produce w/o a mate.........
  • FireStalker3150, on 01/10/2009, -0/+6i imagine they'd be thankful they dont have to answer questions and look like idiots for once
  • Ysabetwordsmith, on 01/10/2009, -1/+7Hmm ... this makes me wonder if humans signal their mating habits with pheromones. That might explain why some women don't like another woman who sleeps around, even before they're told she does it; and how some partners intuit an affair without any verbal or material clues.
  • chrissku, on 01/10/2009, -0/+6Damn nature...you scary.
  • psion01, on 01/10/2009, -0/+5How strange ... I was never aware that worker females were able to reproduce -- I always thought the workers of any social insect species were barren. Certainly, none of the ants I captured and kept for years showed any sign of this ability.

    For that matter, none of the humans I kept showed any inclination to reproduce, either, so what do I know?
  • CrazyCarl22, on 01/10/2009, -2/+6Evolution is a bitch.
  • dragon76, on 01/10/2009, -0/+4Duh, learn your place, Little J!
  • JBranded, on 01/10/2009, -0/+3but that doesnt mean that theyre "cheating".......lol
  • Tyrghast, on 01/10/2009, -1/+4Ah Digg, lately you've had quite the ant fetish and I am loving it...
  • stormofswords, on 01/10/2009, -0/+3what the ***** does this even mean?
  • FTWmovin2canada, on 01/11/2009, -0/+2That video would be epic.
  • Mujokan, on 01/10/2009, -0/+2There's a great documentary from David Attenborough about insect quirks called "Life in the Undergrowth" -- some of it is on YouTube. At one point in the evolution of a bee hive the queen is spending most of her time policing cheaters, destroying their kids. Selfish genes.
  • FTWmovin2canada, on 01/11/2009, -0/+2Cheating the rules, yet not cheating on a partner.
  • inactive, on 01/10/2009, -0/+2I am willing to wager that this is the most retarded comment I'll read all year.
  • Mujokan, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1Isn't that why this guy got kicked out? http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/w ...
  • iambrucenolan, on 01/10/2009, -4/+5Poor souls cannot have sex,
    perhaps they should learn to jerk...
  • ghostrevival, on 01/10/2009, -1/+2From the headline, I was pretty sure of myself that this was going to be from The Onion talking about how ants have now been found to stake out and find little kids who cheated on their math tests and "assault" them. What a disappointment.
  • mypetridish, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1tsk... Animals!
  • sweetgirls, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1oboshoe is suggesing for the ants to get a room and not to to do it in front of the queen....LOL!!! that is so funny..but how can ants afford to get a room? They don't have that kind of lifestyle...they just do it wherever they want...They don't have human laws....They don't know public display intrigues.....


    And besides they have poor eyesight...they just use their antenna in walking and going to another place....In fact you will never see ants separated from their other members....They usually can be seen in groups....Not unless someone disturb them..they will really lose track from their other members....



  • blakbot, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1Aphaenogaster cockerelli- man, i learn some new ***** everyday!
  • iambrucenolan, on 01/11/2009, -0/+1Yup it does Jesus!
  • sh4rkb1t3, on 01/11/2009, -0/+1Parthenogenesis
  • logiksan, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruef7aYCEbc
  • inactive, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1Bitch Fight!!!
  • shylove, on 01/20/2009, -0/+1Fortunately the Virgin Mary didn't have to contend with this problem!!! of course maybe humans do it when they catch a man doing it by himself!!!
  • qqasim, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1I thought Kropotkin already discovered this.
  • sirron811, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1Every woman's dream - parthogenesis...

    I'm gonna have to start wearing stronger cologne to keep my wife's sisters from noticing my pheromones.
  • SoCalDissident, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1The throw a shoe at them?
  • sh4rkb1t3, on 01/11/2009, -0/+1The female worker ants don't mate. They undergo parthenogenesis, making clones of themselves.

  • audioscience, on 01/10/2009, -0/+1***** block?
  • sh4rkb1t3, on 01/11/2009, -0/+1The female worker ants don't mate. They undergo parthenogenesis, making clones of themselves.
  • twinklyJesus, on 01/11/2009, -1/+1works for you, right?
  • Veni_Vidi_Vici, on 01/12/2009, -1/+1I dugg you down for implying that you watch Jerry Springer.
  • Shaggy3, on 01/10/2009, -6/+4What a cockblocker.
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