

How hundreds of ants accidentally kill themselves and evolution won't correct it - randall
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/02/22/133810924/circling-themselves-to-death?ft=1&f=5500502

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jleyank
Are the particular army ants walking in a circle even able to breed? Or are
the mating ants safely tucked away in the colony? If it's the latter, than the
only way evolutionary pressure can be applied is to threaten the reproductive
success of the breeders. So unless the whole colony decides to pirouette...

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kbutler
They don't breed, but worker ants contribute to the survival of the colony. If
all/many of the workers die, the breeding ants would die, too. See
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder> for worker honey bee
disappearance killing the hive (not suggesting any death-spiral/circular
milling connection).

But yes, a few hundred (or thousand) worker ants dying isn't a strong enough
evolutionary signal to matter to the healthy hive.

