Ant Communication

Abstract

The Quran 27:18 quotes a female ant at the approach of King Solomon and his forces. This study looks at what science has discovered about the ability of ants to apprehend and communicate, and the organisation and chain of command of ant communities.  

Full Text

The Holy Quran, Chapter:27 Verse:18

حَتَّىٰ إِذَا أَتَوْا عَلَىٰ وَادِ النَّمْلِ قَالَتْ نَمْلَةٌ يَا أَيُّهَا النَّمْلُ ادْخُلُوا مَسَاكِنَكُمْ لَا يَحْطِمَنَّكُمْ سُلَيْمَانُ وَجُنُودُهُ وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ

[Quran 27:18] Till, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an (female) ant exclaimed: O ants! Enter your dwellings lest Solomon and his armies crush you, unperceiving.

Interpretation 
Do ants live in colonies? What is the role of female ants?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ants

Ants form colonies that range in size from a few dozen predatory individuals living in small natural cavities to highly organised colonies that may occupy large territories and consist of millions of individuals. Larger colonies consist mostly of sterile, wingless females forming castes of "workers", "soldiers", or other specialised groups. Nearly all ant colonies also have some fertile males called "drones" and one or more fertile females called "queens". The colonies sometimes are described as superorganisms because the ants appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony.

Do ants communicate through speech?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant#Communication     

Ants communicate with each other using pheromones, sounds, and touch... Some ants produce sounds by stridulation, using the gaster segments and their mandibles. Sounds may be used to communicate with colony members or with other species.

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs002650050292   

... The results support the hypothesis that leaf-cutting ant workers stridulate during cutting in order to recruit nestmates, and that the observed mechanical facilitation of stridulation is an epiphenomenon of recruitment communication.

Also see: http://www.quran-m.com/firas/en1/index.php/life-sciences/159-the-miracle-in-ants.html