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AUTHORS		FAQ NAVIGATION
Who e-mail Handle Web site Phillip Pi y Ant The Ant Farm Randy Rencsok y Mr. Ant AntCam Andre Schmidt y Jinei Myrmecology James Trager y Dr. Ant		Prev Top Next Chapter Chapter Page Page

5.3 Do ants work all the time and do they ever sleep?

Ants do seem to work very hard, but they also rest and sleep. The
reason why you think they are always working is because there are
always ants working at every hour. All of the workers look the
same, so you think they are working 24 hours a day. --Ant and UMI

Some ants are sleeping like behavior have been observed: some
workers of a colony laying around in a so-called sleeping
position (Australian Carpenter Ants, Camponotus perthiana). When
they are "awakened", they show a sluggishly moving. --E.O. Wilson

However, this behavior can also be seen as this: As workers have
to respond to the colony needs it could also be a reducing of
resources. It means that they have nothing to do and have to
reduce the need of food, so they fall in a sleep-like idleness
with reduced biological functions. When the colony needs them
again, they start acting normal with a side effect -- they need
time to get to normal functioning (resulting in a sluggish
movement). --Jinei

Other comments from my observations from Camponotus. Actually,
a friend noticed this watching them on my TV. It seems that at
least my carpenters will go into a kind of meditation or relaxed
state. One can see their legs waving slightly. Many times a whole
chamber will do this for a few minutes at a time until another
worker comes in and wakes them up -- or one of them just
spontaneously wakes up.

Why this is done? I think in many cases that most ants in a
colony are just biding their time -- waiting between feedings or
cleaning, etc. They act as a reserve for the colony. I think
their "sleep" or "meditation" as I call it, may be important for
other reasons than we suspect. I am doing research with someone
on this topic and hope to have more soon. It could be to conserve
some kind of resource (say food). I personally think this is an
unanswered question. Most ants don't sleep for eight hours, then
wake up and work all day. It seems their cycle is much shorter --
though when they forage outside they obviously don't do this.
--Mr. Ant

Ants hibernate during cold seasons like winter. They survive on
the food stores they have gathered in the summer months. This is
only in the very coldest months; they will still forage for food
most of the winter. The colony will continue to operate, but at
a slightly slower speed in colonies quite far under the earth as
it is not so cold there, the queen will also produce many less
eggs. --Richard Smith