Ants rebuild their nest when a disease threat looms

When we build a formicarium, we usually think about chambers, tunnels and humidity. I did not know that animals actively use nest architecture to protect themselves against disease. A study from the University of Bristol shows exactly that.

The team led by Luke Leckie let two colonies of 180 workers each dig in a container filled with soil. After 24 hours, 20 more ants were added to each colony. In one group, the added ants carried infectious fungal spores and posed a risk of infection. The ants then kept digging for six days, and regular micro-CT scans made the underground structures visible.

The threatened colony dug faster and more intensively than the control group. Its nest became more complex and less directly connected, and its entrances were spaced further apart. Storage and brood chambers were more isolated and had fewer connections to other chambers. The researchers suspect the ants reduce contact this way and protect their sensitive offspring.

Simulations using 3D models of the nests confirmed that this design really does lower the risk of infection. The effect was even stronger when you account for the fact that infected ants tend to separate themselves from the rest of the colony anyway.

According to Leckie, it is new that a non-human animal reshapes its environment to reduce the spread of disease. The team sees this as an inspiration for urban planning and the design of social spaces. To me, it mostly shows how much behavior is hidden in a nest that we only glimpse in a formicarium. The study was published in Science in 2025.

Source: scinexx