A shiny black queen ant with a large round gaster and big compound eyes resting on the wall of her nest daughters, who are about half her size close around her. One holds a pupae in her mouth.

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   myrmepropagandist (futurebird@sauropods.win)'s status on Monday, 20-May-2024 21:59:19 JST myrmepropagandist

   When colonies are small they are nervous. Here is the young queen and her 23 daughters are gathered close to her frozen in fear as I feed them and collect the little trash pile they made. When their numbers pass some tipping point they will stop cowering like this and grow bold. I wonder how each ant decides if she should be brave or hide? how do they know the size of their colony?