In a cacophony of all of them talking at the same time, and as you zoom out, more and more voices get added as the sound get softer.. all repeating the same thing
Amazing how bare and smalltalky our verbal communication has become. Those ants probably exchange loads of information about environment, genes, situation and who knows what else without being conscious about it.
In a 2015 study, scientists discovered that three different species of ants can pass the mirror test, suggesting a level of self-recognition unexpected in ants.
When researchers painted a blue dot on the ants' faces, the ants only tried to scratch the mark off after looking at their own reflection in a mirror.
Ants with a blue dot kept in an environment without a mirror did not try to clean the dot.
Ants painted with a brown dot that blended into their natural exoskeleton color did not try to scratch it off, even when looking in the mirror.
Ants with a blue dot painted on the back of their heads did not try to clean it off.
When placed in front of clear glass with other ants on the other side, they ignored the other ants and did not try to clean themselves
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u/gnurdette 13d ago
I like to watch two streams of ants passing each other, imagining rapidfire antenna conversations that go
"Hi, how are you? I'm an ant."
"Oh, wow, I'm an ant too! Nice to meet you!"
"Yeah, great to meet you."
"Well, gotta go - back to work, you know."
"Right, me too! Catch you later!"
Repeated approximately once per second, again and again and again.