Interesting. Ants communicate by smell (essentially), so much so that a live ant which is coated in the “I’m dead” compound will be repeatedly carried to the dead pile regardless of how many times that ant walks away from it.
So, something in Trix must include a compound that those ants identify as “Dead pile goes here”, and everyone thought someone else moved the dead pile lol
Ants use oleic acid to identify other ants as dead, which is also commonly found is plants, although usually not in any notable concentration until we press the plant for oil. Trix use canola oil which contains a lot of oleic acid (compared to other oils, it’s not objectively a lot). I wonder if something in the cooking process or combination with one of the other colors or flavors makes it enough to mess them up.
Skimming a research article it looks like oleic acid isn’t what they use to mark the burial pile, just what goes in the pile.
Interesting. Ants communicate by smell (essentially), so much so that a live ant which is coated in the “I’m dead” compound will be repeatedly carried to the dead pile regardless of how many times that ant walks away from it.
So, something in Trix must include a compound that those ants identify as “Dead pile goes here”, and everyone thought someone else moved the dead pile lol
Ants use oleic acid to identify other ants as dead, which is also commonly found is plants, although usually not in any notable concentration until we press the plant for oil. Trix use canola oil which contains a lot of oleic acid (compared to other oils, it’s not objectively a lot). I wonder if something in the cooking process or combination with one of the other colors or flavors makes it enough to mess them up.
Skimming a research article it looks like oleic acid isn’t what they use to mark the burial pile, just what goes in the pile.
Maybe they decided the trix was dead but it was too big to move to the pile, so they moved the pile
Alternate tinfoil hat theory: there’s dead ants in our Trix.
Well I’m sure there’s at least a couple…
That’s a decent scientific hypothesis.
But we all know it’s a ritual to open up dimensional gates.
Trix: Tastes like dead ants!
This is the ant equivalent of Monty Python’s “Bring out your dead” skit
https://youtu.be/4UPDUpjkHg0 “You gotta tell 'em. Trix is ants!”