Submitted by [deleted] t3_yu3hs6 in askscience
MeoMix t1_iw7kxfj wrote
The first offspring of a new ant queen are called nanitics and are special. They exhibit a lack of curiosity, and display more defensive characteristics, in an effort to balance the risk/reward of exploration for an early colony. If a nantic dies then 50%+ of the workforce dies which would be a dire scenario, but later one death is a drop in the bucket so exploration is prioritized.
It's not exactly what you were asking, but there is some variance in breeding strategies :)
EDIT: fixed typo, nantics -> nanitics
thekalaf t1_iw811tt wrote
Fascinating! It took me a second to look up, turns out they are called nanitics -- commenting not to grammar police you, but in case anyone else was curious to find out more too.
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