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Sharing honey with a fellow ant by mouth-to-mouth transfer
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An ant with honey stored in its crop regurgitates the sweet honey when its mandible is tapped by the antenna of a fellow ant. The recipient ant is given a drop of honey via mouth-to-mouth transfer.
A Camponotus japonicus ant sharing honey with another hungry ant
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Ants have 2 stomachs
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The ant has 2 stomachs. The anterior stomach is called the crop and serves as a sac for storing honey for fellow ants. There is a valve behind the crop, from which the ant's true stomach starts.
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An ant with honey stored in its crop regurgitates the sweet honey when its mandible is tapped by the antenna of a fellow ant. The recipient ant is given a drop of honey via mouth-to-mouth transfer.
