Fire Ants Behead Rival Queen | National Geographic

this is a fire ant colony in the
southeastern United States
like all ant colonies it’s ruled by a
queen and all her workers and warriors
are made up completely of female
offspring
unlike other ants fire ants seemed to
have almost criminal leanings
it’s as if they want to grow their
colony into the biggest baddest Empire
in town and they want to do it now and
what better way to accomplish that then
well kidnapping the Queen’s minions
scour the neighborhood for other newly
founded fire ant colonies and then
pilfer the brood and bring the hostage
larvae back to their own queen it’s hard
to tell what an ant is thinking but if
you were running a kidnapping syndicate
you’d want enthusiastic workers like
these man they’re into it sometimes one
queen will even team up with another
queen so their colony will have the best
chance of survival that’s really what
it’s all about
bigger colony better chance for survival
the hitches the colony will only let one
queen survive somehow
the ants figure out which is their
favorite and well get ready for more
crime the other is beheading
the ants who did this may very well have
sent their own mother did the chopping
block but it’s all for the sake of the
colony so it’s okay
right