On August 28, poet Sophie Klahr saw two dead bees on the pavement with scores of ants surrounding them with small yellow petals. She posted pictures of the tableau on Twitter, hoping the hive mind of social media entomologists could bring some clarity to the scene. The tweet soon went viral with thousands of replies pouring in, some more grounded in science than others.
One of the prevailing theories on Twitter was that the ants were responding to oleic acid, a compound that is released when bees and ants die. For such highly social creatures, having a dead comrade in the mix could leave the rest of the colony at risk of exposure to pathogens or parasites, so oleic acid signals the need to clear it away. Terry McGlynn, an entomologist at California State University, Dominguez Hills, spoke to The Scientist about the viral tweet and explains that if this ...
