Quote:
Originally Posted by Lucem Ferre
They are. They don't really work how JWB says. Ants have been known to war over which female should become a queen and the queen doesn't actually tell them what to do. Bees are very similar.
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I think you just misunderstood me. Many types of ants and bees operate collectively as a colony because their genetic lineage flows through the queen. I never suggested the queen gives orders.
It's not that an individual ant or bee has no decision making mechanisms, they just behave more predictably and follow pretty simple rules. It takes the colony as a whole to make more complex decisions, such as picking a suitable nest site.