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Wasps can recognize each other

22.03.2021

Paper wasps are a very large and widespread group of social insects. By chewing wood, they get paper, from which they build nests for the family, usually from several tens or hundreds of individuals. Their social life is complex and varied, the polists are able to remember and recognize each other "by sight", by details of the head and coloration that are often indistinguishable for us.

Moreover, as experiments with American leaflets Polistes fuscatus have shown, this mechanism works for them in the same way as for us. People recognize each other's faces not so much by bright details, but by its appearance as a whole, perceiving the image "holistically". We are unlikely to recognize a single nose or chin even from an old acquaintance, but we can easily notice these features as part of a whole face. Just "holistically", holistically recognize each other and wasps.

Scientists from the University of Michigan - conducted experiments with American paper wasps Polistes fuscatus. To begin with, they photographed several individuals, after which they edited the images, obtaining images that were identical in appearance to the body (legs, antennae, and so on), but slightly different in shape and size of individual details on the muzzle.

Experimental insects were trained to perceive one portrait as a "negative hero", shocking them with a weak current every time its image was shown. The second portrait was not accompanied by discharges and was perceived as "positive". Then they were seated in the center of the box, at one end of which there was a picture of the "villain", at the other - a "friend", and after a few seconds, which were given for recognition, they were released, watching which way the wasp would fly.

As might be expected, the insects moved away from the threatening "face" towards the "friendly" one. However, further scientists began to partially close the image - so that only individual details were visible. The sheets ceased to recognize the portraits and moved in one direction or another randomly. According to scientists, this demonstrates the holistic nature, the integrity of their perception of each other's "faces". A single detail does not say anything to insects, "working" only in a general context.

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