The ants that spend their whole lives as living food barrels
Some of these ants become living barrels and hang from the ceiling for months.
Which one is REALLY true about the Honeypot Ant?
The short version
In honeypot ant colonies, chosen workers called repletes are fed until their abdomens swell into translucent amber spheres many times normal size. They hang from the nest roof as a living pantry and regurgitate food on demand when the colony is starving.
Why it's so weird
- ✓The Honeypot Ant lives in deserts where food arrives in sudden bursts and then vanishes for months.
- ✓The Honeypot Ant chooses some of its workers to become repletes, the colony's living storage barrels.
- ✓The Honeypot Ant feeds those repletes constantly until their abdomens swell up like translucent amber grapes, many times normal size.
- ✓The Honeypot Ant hangs its swollen repletes from the roof of the deepest nest chambers, sometimes for months on end.
- ✓The Honeypot Ant gives up a drop of stored food when a hungry worker strokes a replete's antennae and it regurgitates on demand.
You could line up about 122 of them along a 7-year-old!
The full story
Some ants in this colony spend their entire lives as living barrels, hanging from the ceiling. Meet the honeypot ant. In deserts where food arrives in sudden bursts and then vanishes for months, a portion of the workers are chosen to become repletes. The other ants feed them constantly until their abdomens swell up like translucent amber grapes, many times their normal size. At that point they can barely move at all. So they climb into the deepest chambers of the nest, grip the roof, and simply hang there, sometimes for months, as a living pantry. When the colony is starving, a worker strokes a replete's antennae, and it regurgitates a drop of food on demand. Follow for more weird animal facts.
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“The Honeypot Ant lives in deserts where food arrives in sudden bursts and then vanishes for months.”
“The Honeypot Ant pushes part of the lining of its nose out through one nostril and blows it up into a glossy pink and red bubble.”
“The Honeypot Ant chooses some of its workers to become repletes, the colony's living storage barrels.”