Reading a book about a naturalist in Costa Rica in the 70s observing ants. He frames the question of ant communication as "do they *mostly* use stridulations (sounds) or do they use antennae tapping or do they use pheromones?" He concludes that ant communication is "primarily pheromones" and this isn't exactly *wrong*

The thing is the very ants he was observing were later found to use stridulations too. (Atta Cephalotes)

The medium is the message and the medium is the ants themselves.

Ants read everything about each other and their environment. The way their sisters move, the food in their crops, they way they smell, the pheromones they release, what they are carrying, which way they are moving, the stridulations they make, all of it is part of gaining a sense of the local needs of the colony. All of it will change the decisions of each individual ant.

So, it's not like there is a "way" that ants communicate. They are living information for their sisters.

When I've messed with an ant and return her frustrated and scared from being trapped to her colony her presence causes a visible disturbance.

She must smell of things that don't belong. If she is upset, her sisters grow upset too. It spreads like a ripple, but if it's just one ant as she calms it's forgotten.

But, if too many ants in one area are alarmed like that the whole colony may start to "boil."

Everyone knows what "boiling ants" looks like, but I think I should break it down.

Ants read everything about each other and their environment. The way their sisters move, the food in their crops, they way they smell, the pheromones they release, what they are carrying, which way they are moving, the stridulations they make, all of it is part of gaining a sense of the local needs of the colony. All of it will change the decisions of each individual ant.

So, it's not like there is a "way" that ants communicate. They are living information for their sisters.

@futurebird Does the colony exercise free will? How much response is programmatic due to stimuli, how much to something else?

@mikeolson

Brother, I can't even tell you if I have any "free will" let alone a box of ants.

@futurebird see I want to generalize from the ants to us.

When I've messed with an ant and return her frustrated and scared from being trapped to her colony her presence causes a visible disturbance.

She must smell of things that don't belong. If she is upset, her sisters grow upset too. It spreads like a ripple, but if it's just one ant as she calms it's forgotten.

But, if too many ants in one area are alarmed like that the whole colony may start to "boil."

Everyone knows what "boiling ants" looks like, but I think I should break it down.

@futurebird
If you take an ant from the house and put it in the yard, what happens to it? I don't see how it could find its way home unless you just happen to put it near its nest, which is unlikely. So I was wondering if it's just either torture or a death sentence to do this and if so is there a better option (I don't want a scout going back and getting a whole army to follow it back into the house).

@mikeolson

I don't have a proof, but I think individual ants make tiny ant choices. They do whatever they feel like based on the state of their sisters. I think this is the case because not all ants are the same. Some are bold, some scared more easily, some cautious, some always ready to bite and ask questions later.