Protective behavior or ‘true’ tool use? Scrutinizing the tool use behavior of ants
Journal: Ecology and Evolution
Year: 2020

In the genus <i>Aphaenogaster,</i> workers use tools to transport liquid food to the colony. During this behavior, ants place or drop various kinds of debris into liquids or soft food, and then, they carry the food-soaked tools back to the nest. According to some authors, this behavior is not "true" tool use because it represents two separate processes: a defense response to cover the dangerous liquid and a transport of food. Here, we investigated the debris dropping and retrieving behavior of t