[mullingitover]

I can't believe this article doesn't mention the slave maker ants. They're fascinating. These ants live in colonies so small they fit inside an acorn. They raid other acorn ant colonies, kill adult ants indiscriminately, and abscond with their pupae. They then raise the pupae in their colony. The enslaved ants feed and care for their captors and their young, and even help their captors on future slave raids. However, the enslaved ants opportunistically kill the queen pupae of the slave maker ants. It's an ongoing evolutionary arms race.

There are other socially parasitic ants in this vein: some will infiltrate a colony, kill only the queen without the colony realizing it, and lay their own eggs which are raised by the slowly replace the entire colony. There are also 'cuckoo' ants which simply sneak into the colony, lay their eggs and leave.

[permo-w]

>However, the enslaved ants opportunistically kill the queen pupae of the slave maker ants.

I'm guessing by this you mean the species of ants that tend to be enslaved, rather than the enslaved ants themselves?

[mullingitover]

The enslaved ants which grew up in the slave maker ant colony kill the slave maker ant queens (along with other pupae, but they kill the queens at higher rates) in their pupal stage. They're basically in rebellion. Researchers think that this behavior is selected for, as it reduces the effectiveness of the slave maker ants and increases the odds of survival of the enslaved ant species.

[permo-w]

it could make a pretty cool film. baby taken as a child turns on his captors and destroys their queen.

[kibwen]

A tale as old as time. Literally, this is the story of Moses.