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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Ants shrink their brains for motherhood — but can enlarge them when egg-laying ends

Brain volume plummets in ‘gamergate’ ants that gain the ability to reproduce, but rises again with a fall in fertility.
Jumping ant guarding pupae and larvae at the nest

The brain of an Indian jumping worker ant (above, guarding pupae and larvae) becomes smaller if she starts to lay eggs but can regrow to its old size if she stops reproducing. Credit: Martin Dohrn/Nature Picture Library

Ants might be small, but they have superhuman abilities, such as lifting objects that are many times their body weight. Now, researchers have found that some ants can even shrink and regrow their brains.

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Nature 592, 490 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-00992-2

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