myrmepropagandist on Nostr: Most ants only mate once in their lives. There is a mating flight for the young ...
Most ants only mate once in their lives. There is a mating flight for the young alates and then queens found their nests, having stored all of the sperm they will need for their entire life which could last decades (yes decades, and even in some common species in the US and UK!)
Army ants are different. Their colonies are so massive the queens simply can't store enough sperm to last that long. So they will mate multiple times over their lives. This also probably helps with genetic diversity.
Published at
2024-12-20 00:09:48Event JSON
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