Why do ants jump?

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Kozorog, 29.10.2014 17:38

Good afternoon!
Reaper ants live at home. Watching them, I noticed a strange feature. When ants hold pupae or larvae, they keep jumping up and down. Why, why???

link to the video, exactly this moment. The video is 7 seconds long

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30.10.2014 12:55, Dima DD

A control shake, similar to that of a feline, probably blocks movement during transport...

Well, or here: very delicate and soft objects are transferred, which can be held intact only with a fixed position of the mandibles, without increasing the load, so they will not be fatally deformed. So, to determine whether a pupa or larva (or a kitten) is lost, it is absolutely not advisable to tighten the grip more tightly to feel resistance with the mandibles, but it is safer to simply shake your head: this movement will be enough to determine that the load is not lost (when it is just hanging in the lock).

Approximately the same thing: when we take something gentle gently with our fingers, we only feel the resistance of this object dactylally at first, then this feeling disappears. You either have to squeeze harder to feel the presence of the object again (but this can be dangerous for the object), or just shake your hand slightly without changing the pressure with your fingers.

This post was edited by Dima DD - 10/30/2014 13: 08

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