Watch: Ant "milk" acts as powerful elixir for entire colonies

dinner is served A feast fit for an ant. by Jennifer Walter November 30, 2022 Daniel Kronauer

dikkyoesin1/RooM/Getty Images Ants may be small, but they’re impressively capable. They build intricate colonies, can lift up to 5000 times their own body weight, and have adapted to live in nearly every climate on Earth.

But one of their lesser-known specialties is their ability to make milk. No, we humans won’t be drinking it anytime soon. Instead, it’s a nutritious staple for several species of larval and adult ants. martinkuehrer / 500px/500px/Getty Images

Writing this week in the journal Nature, researchers detail the discovery of a milky substance secreted by ants in their pupal stage that fortifies the whole colony.

Snir, Orli et. al/Nature

Ants undergo a metamorphosis during their life cycle , spending a portion of their days as stationary pupa on the way to adulthood. Snir, Orli et. al/Nature

Snir, Orli et. al/Nature That stationary stage was long thought to be a time when the bugs did not contribute to the colony. But as adults tend to the pupae, they appear to feast on milk made from their peer’s moulting fluid.

When pupae were isolated from their colonies, they continually secreted the milk. Adult ants were immediately drawn to it when reunited with the pupae. Snir, Orli et. al/Nature

Daniel Kronauer The researchers also stained the secretions of several species of ant pupae to track who in the colony was feasting on the milk.

Stained milk (dark blue) can be seen traveling to this adult honeypot ant’s gut as it drinks from a silken cocoon.

Snir, Orli et. al/Nature The team analyzed the secretions to figure out what they’re made of — discovering a host of nutrients that are beneficial to adults and larvae.

It’s also rich in hormones and neuroactive substances that could influence colony behavior.

Here, adult clonal raider ants hold larvae (small, white) up to the pupae to feed them milk. Daniel Kronauer

Daniel Kronauer When larval ants could not access the milk, their growth was stunted, and some even died.

But it’s not just adults and larvae who benefit from this process. Pupae developed deadly fungal infections when their milk was not consumed by their peers or manually removed by researchers. Snir, Orli et. al/Nature

Snir, Orli et. al/Nature It might seem strange that it took researchers so long to discover this milk-like substance . That’s due in part because the milk is consumed right as it’s secreted and is rarely visible in colonies.

Now it seems that pupae deserve a lot more credit than they’ve been getting for their role in keeping the colony alive and thriving.