Ever wondered how cockroaches seem to know the best place to grab a meal? New research at Queen Mary, University of London suggests that, just like humans, they share their local knowledge of the best food sources and follow 'recommendations' from others.
Until now, it was assumed that cockroaches forage on their own to find food and water. However, this work shows how groups of the insects seem to make a collective choice about the best food source, explaining why we so commonly find them feeding en masse in the kitchen late at night.
A study, published in the Springer journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, is the first demonstration that groups of cockroaches can forage for food collectively, rather than independently, relying on their individual experience.
Read further details from Science Daily.
The articles I include in this personal Blog will include a varied range of subjects that interest me. They will predominantly relate to the United Kingdom (my homeland), Spain and Europe. Any opinions I express will probably not be too contentious, however they are mine and not that of any organisation or group of which I am a member.
Comments
If you wish to add a comment to any of my articles please do so as I am always pleased to have a contribution from any reader as this increases the interest for other visitors.
Monday, 7 June 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please be courteous and add your name rather than 'Anonymous' to your comment, as it may not be published. In the 'Comment as' box above use the drop-down menu and select 'Name/URL'. In the 'Edit profile' pop-up enter your name and press continue. There will be a period of delay before your comment appears on the article until I receive the automatic notification that you have made one and can authorised its publication.
Any comment that includes vulgar language, racist remarks or anything of that nature will either be edited or not published at my discretion.