These large units of animals are made up of individuals that have highly
specialized divisions of labor, work cooperatively, and can only survive
as part of the larger unit. Deborah Gordon of Stanford University in
California says, “A colony is [similar] to a brain where there are a lot of
neurons, each of which can only do something very simple, but together the
whole brain can think. None of the [individual] neurons [ants] can think
ant, but the brain [as a whole] can think ant.”
Most insect societies rely on a caste (hierarchical, or rank) system for
division of labor. Ants live in colonies, and each colony has a queen. Once
the queen mates, she spends the rest of her life laying eggs. The rest of
the colony is populated by worker ants, who are all female. Some ant and
termite species have a soldier caste. Those female ants do the heavy lifting
for the colony and are the first on the battle lines when conflict erupts.
Among social insects, more than one generation of adults shares a nest.
The new generation doesn’t go out to found a colony of its own. Instead,
the new-generation worker ants stay in the nest in which they were born,
raising the newest brood (larvae), bringing food back to the nest, cleaning
and feeding the queen, and defending the nest from attack. Instead of
mating and laying eggs themselves, worker ants raise their sisters.
C
ol
L
ective
I
ntel
L
igence
All social insect colonies, including those of the Argentine ant, represent a
collective intelligence. The decision-making process is decentralized, which
means that no one ant, bee, wasp, or termite is smart or in charge of its
colony mates. Not even the queen is in charge. Instead, the entire colony
acts as a single superorganism in which its members all obey a few dozen
rules. Ants and other social insects are born knowing the rules for their
caste. The rules are in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) that makes up their
genetic code.
Scientists observe group intelligence, sometimes referred to as swarm
intelligence, in a wide range of animals from social insects to naked
mole rats to crows and dolphins. Group intelligence is characteristic of
hierarchical societies with castes (ranks) to carry out the division of labor
that ensures the colony’s survival.
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