If we struggle to connect with others, we may benefit from observing the Animal Kingdom’s behavior, especially an act of unexpected compassion by a group of ants. In a touching scene, the ants appear to be holding a funeral for a bumblebee. The video shows the bumblebee resting on a bed of gravel and encircled by pink and purple flower petals. As the footage progresses, the petals begin to move towards the bee, revealing that ants are carrying them to the deceased insect.
Nicole Webinger shared a video on Facebook, which she took outside her workplace in Stillwater, Minnesota, where a group of ants were seen carrying flower petals and laying them around a dead bumblebee, creating a touching funeral-like display. Webinger was amazed by the sight, and her video quickly went viral, garnering attention from people all over the internet. It turns out that this is not the first time that ants have been seen carrying out such a compassionate act.
Sophia Klahr shared on Twitter some photos of circular floral arrangements made with yellow flower petals around dead bees. She requested for a scientist to explain what was happening, and her post caught the attention of the internet.
However, according to IFL Science, the ants are not giving a funeral to the bees. Ants have complex colonies and use different pheromones to communicate, including alerts for danger and for dead members. The ants may just be marking the location of the dead bees for other ants to avoid, rather than showing any particular reverence for them.
“Given the ants’ complex communication system, it’s not surprising they would be sensitive to the chemical signaling of other animals,” explains IFL Science. The reason why the bees died is unknown, but their corpses likely emit some form of signal that the ants can pick up on. The floral arrangements around the dead bees might be a response to this signal. However, the ants could also see the bees as a potential meal, and placing flower petals over the bees might be an attempt to conceal their food from other scavengers. Therefore, the flower arrangements may be less of a funeral practice and more of an effort to hide their food, similar to hiding takeout leftovers as an “unidentified foiled object” in a dorm fridge to prevent others from eating it.
One possible explanation is that the bees emitted a signal that prompted the ants to clean up the area. Ants are known for their love of cleanliness and practice necrophoresis to maintain the hygiene of their colony. Necrophoresis involves carrying the dead ants to a designated tomb to prevent the spread of diseases. Some colonies even have specific undertaker ants for this job.
The ants may be carrying out a similar task with the dead bees by covering them up to prevent the corpse from attracting attention. This could be an adaptation to limit the spread of pathogens. However, despite these explanations, some still believe that the ants are conducting a funeral for the bees.