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A small number of workers with specific personality traits perform tool use in ants

eLife, ISSN: 2050-084X, Vol: 9, Page: 1-22
2020
  • 20
    Citations
  • 0
    Usage
  • 51
    Captures
  • 1
    Mentions
  • 99
    Social Media
Metric Options:   Counts1 Year3 Year

Metrics Details

  • Citations
    20
  • Captures
    51
  • Mentions
    1
    • News Mentions
      1
      • 1
  • Social Media
    99
    • Shares, Likes & Comments
      99
      • Facebook
        99

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Article Description

Ants use debris as tools to collect and transport liquid food to the nest. Previous studies showed that this behaviour is flexible whereby ants learn to use artificial material that is novel to them and select tools with optimal soaking properties. However, the process of tool use has not been studied at the individual level. We investigated whether workers specialise in tool use and whether there is a link between individual personality traits and tool use in the ant Aphaenogaster senilis. Only a small number of workers performed tool use and they did it repeatedly, although they also collected solid food. Personality predicted the probability to perform tool use: Ants that showed higher exploratory activity and were more attracted to a prey in the personality tests became the new tool users when previous tool users were removed from the group. This suggests that, instead of extreme task specialisation, variation in personality traits within the colony may improve division of labour.

Bibliographic Details

Maák, István; Roelandt, Garyk; d'Ettorre, Patrizia

eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

Neuroscience; Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; Immunology and Microbiology

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