Science
Ants shrink their brains for motherhood — but can enlarge them when egg-laying ends – Nature.com
Brain volume plummets in ‘gamergate’ ants that gain the ability to reproduce, but rises again with a fall in fertility.
Ants might be small, but they have superhuman abilities, such as lifting objects that are many times their body weight. Now, researchers have found that some ants can even shrink and regrow their brains.
When their queen dies, the female workers in a colony of Indian jumping ants (Harpegnathos saltator) engage in weeks-long battles to establish new leadership. The winners, called gamergates, start to reproduce. Their ovaries become more active but their brains shrink by about 20%, according to research…
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