When we are having difficulty getting along with others, we should seek the Animal Kingdom for guidance.
Especially an inexplicable gesture of compassion by a swarm of ants. The ants appear to be holding what appears to be a bumblebee funeral.
A bumble bee is shown in the video resting on gravel, encircled by pinkish-purple flower petals.
Then you notice several petals approaching the bee. That’s when you notice ants dragging flower petals to the lifeless bee.
This movie was shot outside of her office beside the garden. The ants were carrying flower petals to place around a dead bumblebee. Nicole Webinger said on Facebook, it seemed like a bee funeral.
The show astounded Webinger, who works in Stillwater, Minnesota.
The rest of the internet was as well. Her video quickly went viral.
It appears that this is not the first time the ants have held a bee funeral.
Sophia Klahr, a Twitter user, shared photographs on Twitter of circular floral arrangements surrounding a few dead bees with yellow flower petals.
I have put Twitter back on my phone specifically to show you these circular arrangements of petals i found around multiple dead bees. if you are a scientist who knows what the hell is going on here, please tell me! pic.twitter.com/h3D8u89WxG
— sophie klahr (@sophieklahr) August 28, 2022
The ants aren’t “offering the bees a decent send-off,” as per IFL Science.
Ants live in sophisticated colonies and communicate via a number of pheromones. This can be for a walking route, to warn other ants of risk, or just to let them know they’ve died and that everybody else should definitely keep an eye out for death, according to IFL Science.
It seems to be the reason that they’d be sensitive to other species’ chemical communication.
It’s unknown why these deceased bees perished – yet their bodies are likely giving the ants some kind of signal, and it’s probable their floristry is a reaction to this.
The ants may view the bees as their next meal.
Placing the flower petals on the bees might be an effort to conceal their food from other scavengers.
Another explanation is that the bees sent a signal to the ants to clean up. Ants like cleaning and use necrophoresis to keep their colonies clean.
As a pathogen-controlling adaptation, necrophoresis involves ants gathering their stinky deceased and transporting them to a specific tomb. Some colonies even employ undertaker ants that specialize on the duty.
The ants might be doing the same thing as bees – concealing up the corpse to keep it from drawing attention.
We’re still certain it’s an ant funeral. Watch the ant funeral video below.
