Do ants sleep?

Question

I know, dumb question. But you never see them out at night...

Answer 1

No, ants never sleep.  They also carry 16 time their weight.  You can verify this at Google.

Answer 2

* A. In a word... No..... rest Yes

This is is not well documentedand and i go into it further at www.goodperk.com it may vary from species to species but it is generally accepted that most ants have periods of dormancy that is akin to sleep.

* An ant doesn't have eyelids for its compound eyes, but it does have periods of rest lasting several minutes, where its brain and biological functions slow down and it stops moving.

* As workers have to respond to the colony needs, it could be seen as a way of preserving resources(food,etc.) each individual rests as necessary, waking as when needed by the colony. The whole colony does not go to 'sleep' at the same time.

Answer 3

no. ants work 24/7.

that what they were born to do.

Answer 4

huh?

i unno.

maybe

Answer 5

Every living animal sleeps

Answer 6

i have always wondered that as well i wanna know if fish sleep............

Answer 7

"Ants do seem to work very hard, but they also rest and sleep. The

reason why you think they are always working is because there are

always ants working at every hour. All of the workers look the

same, so you think they are working 24 hours a day. --Ant and UMI

Some ants are sleeping like behavior have been observed: some

workers of a colony laying around in a so-called sleeping

position (Australian Carpenter Ants, Camponotus perthiana). When

they are "awakened", they show a sluggishly moving. --E.O. Wilson

However, this behavior can also be seen as this: As workers have

to respond to the colony needs it could also be a reducing of

resources. It means that they have nothing to do and have to

reduce the need of food, so they fall in a sleep-like idleness

with reduced biological functions. When the colony needs them

again, they start acting normal with a side effect -- they need

time to get to normal functioning (resulting in a sluggish

movement). --Jinei

Other comments from my observations from Camponotus. Actually,

a friend noticed this watching them on my TV. It seems that at

least my carpenters will go into a kind of meditation or relaxed

state. One can see their legs waving slightly. Many times a whole

chamber will do this for a few minutes at a time until another

worker comes in and wakes them up -- or one of them just

spontaneously wakes up.

Why this is done? I think in many cases that most ants in a

colony are just biding their time -- waiting between feedings or

cleaning, etc. They act as a reserve for the colony. I think

their "sleep" or "meditation" as I call it, may be important for

other reasons than we suspect. I am doing research with someone

on this topic and hope to have more soon. It could be to conserve

some kind of resource (say food). I personally think this is an

unanswered question. Most ants don't sleep for eight hours, then

wake up and work all day. It seems their cycle is much shorter --

though when they forage outside they obviously don't do this.

--Mr. Ant

Ants hibernate during cold seasons like winter. They survive on

the food stores they have gathered in the summer months. This is

only in the very coldest months; they will still forage for food

most of the winter. The colony will continue to operate, but at

a slightly slower speed in colonies quite far under the earth as

it is not so cold there, the queen will also produce many less

eggs."

Answer 8

No.  Like most insects, they rest but, do not sleep.

Answer 9

thye dont ever sleep(i learned that from pbs)

Answer 10

An ant doesn't have eyelids for its compound eyes, but it does have periods of rest, where its brain slows down and it stops moving. An ant might rest for several minutes during a 12 hour period. Each individual rests as necessary, the whole colony does not go to sleep