D: My house is under an ant invasion. First there was just one,
and after I stepped on it, a few more showed up. And when I stepped
on those, more and more ants continued to move into my kitchen.
It's like some kind of hex or bad karma. I think they're out to get
me.
Y: Actually, Don, they're out to pick up their dead family members,
the very ants you stepped on. Ants keep a fairly clean house. They
carry their waste matter outside of their nest and dispose of it in
a pile called a midden. As well as being a kind of dumpster, the
midden also functions as a cemetery. Ants
transport their dead there in order to protect themselves and their
queen from contamination.
D: I understand not wanting to share living space with a bunch of
dead bodies, but I took care of that myself. I flushed the ant
carcasses down the toilet. So why would they be looking for
bodies?
Y: The reason has to do with the way ants communicate with each
other-via chemicals. When an ant dies, its body releases a chemical
called oleic acid. Oleic acid translates to dumpster material for
ants. So even though you flushed those casualties down the toilet,
the oleic acid had already been released; and the other ants were
responding to its call.
