Ants Maintain 'Toilets' in Their Nests, Study Shows

A team of researchers studying ant pooping patterns have discovered that ants like to deposit their business in specific corners of the nest

 

The findings, described in the journal PLOS ONE, shed light on a surprising aspect of ant sanitary behavior that has gone largely unnoticed.

 

Czaczkes said he had been doing experiments on ants in little white plaster nests when he started to notice something odd: The ants were leaving little brownish patches in corners in the nests.

 

“I knew what they looked like to me, but you can’t just go ahead and say, ‘Well, it’s brown, it must be a toilet,’” Czaczkes said. “We did the experiment ... to see what really is going on.”

 

Source: Los Angeles Times