Secrets of ant sleep

Only gods enjoy the privilege of sleeping, and the worker ants are forced to enlist hundreds of times a day.

Discover the sleep of ants

The difference in sleep patterns explains why queen ants lived for several years, and worker ants only counted in months. However, it ensures that worker ants stay awake at all times to work and protect the nest.

A fire ants Solenopsis invicta.(Photo: sciencemag.org)

Three experts Deby Cassill, Skye Brown and Devon Swick of the University of South Florida and George Yanev of the University of Texas (USA) study the sleep behavior of fire ants Solenopsis invicta . They built an ant nest of three queens, 30 worker ants and 30 larvae in the laboratory and placed the glass on top of the nest. Some cameras are positioned above the glass to record continuously. Because fire ants often live on the ground, the team thinks their sleeping behavior will not be affected by the day-night cycle .

The results showed that worker ants often fell asleep during certain time periods. However, they do not fall asleep at the same time. On average, each worker ant sleeps and falls 250 times a day, each time taking just over a minute. Their total sleep time is 4 hours 48 minutes a day.

At all times, up to 80% of worker ants are awake.

'The above rate, along with the continuous drowsiness of worker ants, means that all tasks in the team are always completed. There are always at least one worker ant ready to work if a mission arises. When work falls, worker ants sleep more, ' Cassill said.

Princess ants sleep longer than their ' gods' . They even 'synchronize' sleep, because many times the research team saw all three gods sleeping at the same time . ' Like a hunting dog, princess ants lie on each other while sleeping. When they woke up, they separated again , 'Cassill said.

Average ants sleep 90 times a day, each time over 6 minutes. Thus, their total sleep time is about 9 hours per day. Princess ants have two types of sleep. Occasionally, the gods are drowsy because their whiskers are going up and down in the middle. While drowsy, queen ants are easy to wake up by noise. But such sleep only takes a few, because they often have deep sleep . Then their beard receded, and their mouths shut. Cassill's group also has evidence that the gods dream in deep sleep.

For ants, the short sleeping condition of the worker is the factor that helps the princess to have a peaceful and long-term life. The job of the worker is to provide food and protect the queen and her children. Because of the heavy burden and hard work, worker ants only live for a few months (maximum of 6 months), while the life of the queen can be up to 6 years.

The gods of some other ants can live up to 45 years.