Ants learn about the world around them mainly through smells. They also rely more on various chemical signals when communicating. They also recognize sounds, but can they make them themselves? It turns out they can! However, not all of them.
The ability of ants to produce sound is called stridulation. This is a kind of chirping or clicking. The stridulation organ is located on the abdomen and works when the ant moves its abdominal plates. The “ant language” most often sounds in a range that a person cannot distinguish.
But sometimes we can still hear ants! For example, sounds that can be heard by the ear are produced by Paraponera, Neoponera, some other large ponerines and myrmicines.
