Granted, this post is not remotely relevant to the usual topics we cover here. But I couldn’t resist this story in today’s Daily Mail:
‘Choosy Ants Use “estate agents” To Find A Home’
The gist of the story is that ants are apparently almost as fussy as we humans when it comes to selecting a new pad!
And they, like us, use estate agents!
When an ant colony needs to move, it sends out special scouts, who have an in-built sense of what makes a nest, a ‘home’.
Once these scouts have decided on a home, they stop ‘viewing’ other prospective sites.
This ‘estate agent’ ant will then attempt to sell its choice to other members of its ant colony.
The study has been conducted by Bristol University. Researcher Dr Elva Robinson said:
‘We think there is an in built threshold that allows the ant to take into account how far the new home is from other nests, how big the nest is, how high the ceilings are, and how many entrances there are. They are really rather choosy.’
Ahhhhh…
A Jew With A View 