After witnessing the interactions in an Arizona desert, a Smithsonian researcher suggests that the little ants picked off ...

In 2006, biologist Mark Moffett noticed an unusual behavior. The usually aggressive harvester ants would park themselves near ...

Learn more about a newly observed insect behavior in which smaller ants clean larger ants.

Scientists discover desert ants forming a rare cleaning partnership, challenging what we know about insect behavior and ...

In the deserts of southeastern Arizona, harvester ants congregate with serrated jaws agape outside the nests of much smaller cone ants. However, the nests’ inhabitants are not threatened. Instead, ...

Mark Moffett, a research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, specializes in capturing the often-overlooked ...

Ant foraging behaviour is a paradigmatic example of sophisticated social coordination in the animal kingdom. Central to their success is the use of chemical signals, particularly trail pheromones, ...

In many animals, including ants, the blood-brain barrier (BBB) ensures normal brain function by controlling the movement of various substances in and out of the brain. Now, researchers have made the ...

Ants are social insects and the Solenopsis invicta species -- known as the fire ant -- is no exception. The social interactions of this invasive insect, which comes from South America, are framed ...

Great discoveries lie at the edge of chaos, and nature provides perhaps the best inspiration for finding order in anarchy. Fish school, birds flock, fireflies sync and ants colonize. This type of ...