News Animals

Sniff . . . Pow! Wasps use chemicals to start ant brawls

By Susan Milius

- More than 2 years ago

Wasps sneak around in ant colonies thanks to chemicals that send the ants into a distracting frenzy of fighting among themselves, says an international research team.

HIDE AND SNEAK. Top: A wasp will inject its eggs into a rare butterfly’s caterpillars hiding deep in nests of ants (highlighted). By making the ants fight each other (below), the wasps avoid resistance as they slip into the nests.