(getty images/Montage on reproduction)
Yes. Experts agree that, like most animals, they divide their time between activity and rest – when metabolic action slows down. But that wouldn’t be quite what we call sleep.
“There are records of ants seen ‘lying on their side’, which, when instigated, resumed their normal position. I would hesitate to say that they ‘woke up’, but the analogy is possible”, explains mymecologist (ant specialist) Carlos Brandão.
A 2009 North American survey indicated that at least fire ants (Solenopsis Invicta) do sleep – in short naps. The workers “sleep” in shifts, always keeping 80% of the workforce awake.
Sources: Carlos Brandão, researcher at the Museum of Zoology at the University of USP, and Ana Eugênia de Carvalho, researcher at the Biological Institute of São Paulo.