The presence of ants say, in your sugar bowl, or crawling along the kitchen counter might gross some people out, signaling an untidy environment. But ants are actually pretty cleanly creatures. particularly when it comes to their bathroom habits. According to a paper published this week in PLOS One, black garden ants follow a specific etiquette when it comes to expelling their own waste. Rather than doing the deed any old place in their nests, they maintain one to four "well-defined faecal patches"—in other words, designated toilet areas. These makeshift bathrooms are exclusively used for ant excretion, to the exclusion of all other waste, such as corpses and uneaten food. This never-before-studied behavior was witnessed by scientists examining 21 lab-grown colonies of black garden ants, which are a common species found across Europe and parts of Asia and North America. According to National Geographic, “The team selectively fed the insects a sugar solution colored with food dye,†meant to put a hue to their poo. Some got red, some got blue. After two months, the researchers could clearly see that the ant dung—technically called “frassâ€â€”accumulated in certain corners of their nests.
