Not only digging, but also limb pulling behaviors were observed however, both behavioral patterns appeared to be directed toward any conspecific. Recently, rescue behavior has been reported in Formica workers entrapped in an antlion pit, a common predator of many ant species. Subsequent reports of digging behavior did not re-appear until the mid-1900s – however, many of these authors described digging as a simple alarm reaction, not rescue per se.
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In ants, however, invertebrates well known for their highly integrated and complex cooperative behavior, anecdotes of a simple form of rescue behavior, namely sand digging, was described as early as 1874. Surprisingly, however, the first published evidence of rescue behavior in coalition-forming capuchin monkeys, animals well-known for their helping behavior, appeared only three years ago and was an observational report of a single interaction. In the earliest, often-cited example of vertebrate rescue behavior, dolphins assisted injured conspecifics by supporting them to the sea surface so that the victims could breathe more easily. However, it's difficult to see how this same releasing mechanism could guide rescuers to the precise location of the nylon thread, and enable them to target their bites to the thread itself.ĭespite the fact that numerous forms of helping behavior have been observed in countless vertebrate species, actual rescue of one animal by another, even a conspecific, is extremely rare. That is, limb pulling and sand digging could be released directly by a chemical call for help and thus result from a very simple mechanism. Snare biting, a behavior never before reported in the literature, demonstrates that rescue behavior is far more sophisticated, exact and complexly organized than the simple forms of helping behavior already known, namely limb pulling and sand digging. They begin by excavating sand, which exposes the nylon snare, transporting sand away from it, and then biting at the snare itself. Our results demonstrate that ants are able to recognize what, exactly, holds their relative in place and direct their behavior to that object, the snare, in particular. In the final condition, the test stimulus (6) consisted of the empty snare apparatus. The test stimulus was either (1) an individual from the same colony (2) an individual from a different colony of C cursor (3) an ant from a different ant species (4) a common prey item or, (5) a motionless (chilled) nestmate. In five of these conditions, a test stimulus (the “victim”) was ensnared with nylon thread and held partially beneath the sand. cursor nestmates under one of six conditions.
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Using a novel experimental technique that binds victims experimentally, we observed the behavior of separate, randomly chosen groups of 5 C. Our experiments simulate a natural situation, which we often observed in the field when collecting Catagyphis ants, causing sand to collapse in the process.
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Nonetheless, here we report the first experimental evidence that ants, Cataglyphis cursor, use precisely directed rescue behavior to free entrapped victims equally important, they carefully discriminate between individuals in distress, offering aid only to nestmates. Although helping behavior is ubiquitous throughout the animal kingdom, actual rescue activity is particularly rare.