A recent study has demonstrated that the majority of ants are in fact sluggards. The study reports, 'Out of the ‘workers’, 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation.' The report appeared last month in science mag Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. Previous studies have postulated that inactivity might be temporary, with ants working in shifts dictated by circadian rhythm. But the new results show that the lazy workers stay lazy no matter the time of day. According to the team, this suggests that inactivity isn’t merely a break between tasks, but might be an important part of the ants’ division of labour.
So, successful and lazy can co-exist. Scientists just need to determine exactly how that's possible.
HT --> Real Future. (I'm really enjoying all the subscriptions I have from TinyLetter.)
However, a recent study has demonstrated that the majority of ants are in fact sluggards. The study reports, “Out of the ‘workers’, 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation.” The report appeared last month in science mag Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. Previous studies have postulated that inactivity might be temporary, with ants working in shifts dictated by circadian rhythm. But the new results show that the lazy workers stay lazy no matter the time of day. According to the team, this suggests that inactivity isn’t merely a break between tasks, but might be an important part of the ants’ division of labour. - See more at: http://idler.co.uk/article/news-ants-dont-actually-work-that-hard/#sthash.ZOtp0exQ.XMaArjIS.dpuf
a recent study has demonstrated that the majority of ants are in fact sluggards. The study reports, “Out of the ‘workers’, 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation.” The report appeared last month in science mag Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. Previous studies have postulated that inactivity might be temporary, with ants working in shifts dictated by circadian rhythm. But the new results show that the lazy workers stay lazy no matter the time of day. According to the team, this suggests that inactivity isn’t merely a break between tasks, but might be an important part of the ants’ division of labour. - See more at: http://idler.co.uk/article/news-ants-dont-actually-work-that-hard/#sthash.ZOtp0exQ.XMaArjIS.dpuf
a recent study has demonstrated that the majority of ants are in fact sluggards. The study reports, “Out of the ‘workers’, 71.9% were inactive at least half the time, and 25.1% were never seen working. A small fraction of the ants, just 2.6%, were always active during observation.” The report appeared last month in science mag Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology. Previous studies have postulated that inactivity might be temporary, with ants working in shifts dictated by circadian rhythm. But the new results show that the lazy workers stay lazy no matter the time of day. According to the team, this suggests that inactivity isn’t merely a break between tasks, but might be an important part of the ants’ division of labour. - See more at: http://idler.co.uk/article/news-ants-dont-actually-work-that-hard/#sthash.ZOtp0exQ.XMaArjIS.dpuf