Ants Making Slaves

ENSLAVEMENT

There are at least 35 identified species of slave-making ant in the world, and has evolved independently in 6 different groups. They have, curiously, only been found in colder, wetter climates- there has never been one observed in the tropical regions of the world. A species of ant is referred to as "slave-making" when it at least partially relies on ants of other species to perform normal colony maintenace or foraging. They obtain such "enslaved" workers by either hijacking an existing colony and displacing the old queen or by raiding surrounding colonies and kidnapping larvae from those colonies, raising them as their own. The stolen ants have no idea about their abduction, and grow up acting just as they would in their normal hive- foraging, digging new tunnels, and defending the nest.

Slave-making ants can be found everywhere from backyard gardens in britain to inside of acorns in Ohio to Harvard's campus.