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Can you teach ants to fear? (lemmy.nz)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/nostupidquestions

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Ants release chemicals when they die that attract other ants, to fight off the threat. This is annoying, because squishing an ant that bit you is likely to attract more bitey ants.

Do ants have a chemical signal for "all ye who enter here, either turn back or abandon all hope"? Can you teach a hive to fear a certain place? Or do they just keep coming forever?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

You are actually asking two questions, both rather complicated.

Is there a chemical that induces avoidance in ants (or at least some ant species)?
Can you teach ants to avoid an odor.

After a quick glance at the literature, I'd say that there are some chemicals that induce avoidance.
But I was frankly too lazy to look into the learning aspect.