Ants are complex creatures that are able to accomplish amazing tasks when working together in a group. But as complex, as they might seem, they don’t seem to have complex emotions like us humans.
Studies have shown that ants aren’t capable of feeling structured emotions like empathy, love, and anger. But they can approach certain things as they find them pleasant and avoid the ones that are unpleasant.
Creatures like ants don’t have emotions per se, because that is the main driver for something like suffering. Albeit the lack of emotion, ants have developed into creatures who feel irritation and definitely can sense the damage on their bodies. They don’t feel pain, but are clever enough to know and avoid injuries and or possible death.
Why Ants Don’t Feel Pain When You Kill Them
Through studies, entomologists have concluded that insects do not possess pain receptors the way vertebrates do. For a living creature to feel pain, nerve receptors have to communicate the tissue damage to the nervous system. Without a spinal cord, it is impossible to communicate pain to the brain.
What Happens if You Kill an Ant?
Ants are brilliant creatures, if you kill an ant they will send groups of ants to investigate what has happened. To be more precise, when you kill an ant, its body releases pheromones that are able to signal the present danger to the remaining ants, and they will know it.
What Happens if You Kill a Queen Ant?
Ants are not able to move into another colony if the ant queen is dead. If you kill a queen ant, the whole colony dies. But they won’t die immediately, ants will continue to work and bring resources back to the nest, but eventually they will die from old age or external causes. Without to queen to lay eggs, no more ants are born, and the colony perishes.
Do Ants Know if Another Ant Dies?
When an ant dies, the rest of the ants don’t notice it at all. They continue to walk around as if nothing happened. To them, this ant has just stopped or it is merely standing still. After three days, they finally begin to notice something is not right, because the ant carcass begins to release oleic acid.
If that ant is inside the nest, they will toss it into the midden (the outdoor garbage dump), if it is outside, they will bury it on the ground.
How Do You Humanely Kill Ants?
The most humane way to kill ants is by not killing them. Instead, use other methods to repel them from your house. You can use dried peppermint leaves, cinnamon sticks, cloves, coffee grinds, paprika, and chili peppers to repel ants. Also, if you squeeze lemon juice in entry spots it will scare them away.
Can Ants Sense Danger?
Indeed ants can sense danger, ants are capable of producing pheromone trails to warn others in the colony about food and/or danger. They use the sensory receptors located in their antennae, to detect the different signals that are sent in prior, so the others can respond accordingly to the situation.
Do Ants Feel Fear?
An ant is a very intelligent creature in relation to its size, but it is not capable to feel emotions like we do. This includes fear and other emotions, however, an ant is able to sense danger and is intelligent enough to fight it or avoid it.
What Are Ants Afraid Of?
Ants aren’t afraid of anything due to their lack of feeling emotions, but there are some natural deterrents that they prefer to avoid, and therefore they stay and run away from them. One example is cayenne and black pepper. Ants hate these two peppers, if you spray them around, you’ve got yourself free from ants.
Did you know that ants are really attracted to human sperm?
Can Ants Detect Death?
There is a way to ants detect death, but not the way you are thinking. Ants can recognize dead individuals by “smelling” the released pheromones and acids from their decaying carcasses. After they detect that an individual is dead, they take the proper measures to dispose of it properly.
Do Ants Have Funerals?
Only humans practice funerals, some living creatures may end up burying their deceased ones, so they won’t contaminate the others nearby. This is quite a common practice in ants species.
After three or so days, dead ants begin to decay and release oleic acid. If the dead ant is outside the nest, the others will bury it on the floor, so they don’t become contaminated.
Can Ants See Humans?
Insects like ants are able to see humans, they can see us from far away and sense that there is something animated over there. But they are only able to sense that there is indeed another animal nearby when they are close enough.
Sometimes ants might try to get closer or even get a ride on us, just to look better at what’s going on, they really are curious creatures!
Do You Feel Bad by Killing Ants?
If you are not comfortable and feel bad for killing ants because of whatever reason, you can always use natural methods to keep them away. Follow the suggestions given in this article and you’ll be good. If you are dealing with a larger infestation, contact a professional extermination service, they will be capable of handling whatever situation you’ve got.
Have you ever wondered why red ants bite but blacks don’t?
Can I Get Rid of Ants Without Killing Them?
There are a lot of methods to repel ants without killing them. There are natural repellents that can help you get rid of ants without harming those beings. You can:
- Squish some lemon juice in the spots you know there is ant activity, you can also leave the lemon squished peel to amplify the effect. Don’t forget to change it after a couple of days, because it will rot.
- Ants don’t like the texture of the baby powder, use it where you have ants and the place will be clear in minutes.
- Chalk is another powerful ally against ants, it doesn’t hurt them but they really don’t like it. Draw some lines and keep them outside.
- Ants don’t like the aromatic smell of coffee grounds, spread some on the edges of your house and see them stop coming close.
- Peppermint is another popular solution used to repel ants, the strong scent of its oils will deter ants in a split second.
- Cinnamon is a great solution and an excellent ant barrier, ants will avoid it religiously. You can also get the same results with cloves, chili powder, and black pepper.
- Seal every entry point so you won’t give them a reason to come in, if there is an opening to food and water inside your house, ants will take it for sure.
Conclusion
Knowing how ants deal with the killing of their own specie might give you an upper hand while trying to deal get rid of them. Ants will not feel pain but they sure can become a huge problem if you let things slide. You can always choose, either kill them or repel them, it will be up to you to take the best judgment for your situation.
