Ants Stay Clean by Squirting Antimicrobials from Their Butts!

Ants may not seem particularly germaphobic, since they live in bacteria-rich dirt and often eat decaying plants and animals. But some ants have evolved to be quite fastidious sanitizers, regularly bathing themselves in antimicrobial secretions emitted from glands in their rear ends.

Now, research from scientists based at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom suggests some ants also take it upon themselves to sanitize young, vulnerable members of their colonies by scrubbing their broods and nesting materials with their cleaning fluids.

"We knew that [the secretions] help adults, and we knew that the brood survives and isn't constantly being affected by fungi," study co-author Christopher Tranter told LiveScience. "So we predicted that these secretions would help in keeping the brood healthy as well, and it was nice to find strong evidence showing that."