If you think that only the human society is rife with corruption, you will realise that you are wrong after reading this article!
All ants are social in habit as they live together in organized colonies. Whenever we talk about ants, we will always think of them working together for the benefit of the colony rather than for individual gain, just like what is shown in this video.
Ants may be held up as ideals of social co-operation but they can be as sneaky as humans beings and their colonies are rife with corruption – with those from the royal line the worst offenders.
Dr Bill Hughes from Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences has found evidence showing that genes play role in ant social status. In the past, it had been thought that queens were produced solely by nurture, with some larvae being fed special or extra food to help their development. However, this is not true for the leaf-cutting ants or Acromyrmex echinatior.
The female leaf-cutting ants carry out all the work of the colony and can become one of two types of workers. Large workers go out and harvest vegetation to grow a fungus that nourishes larvae in the nest. Small workers stick close to the nest and tend to the fungus. Large workers are two or three times the size of the small ones. The large ones cut a wider range of vegetation; small ones are better able to work within the densely packed structure of the fungus garden. The males practically did nothing but just eating, sleeping and mating. However, the genes of some male ants do help the females to cheat in order to be the queen.
DNA fingerprinting on five colonies of leaf-cutting ants are carried out and discovered that the offspring of some fathers are more likely to become queens than others. These ants have a 'royal' gene or genes, giving them an unfair advantage and enabling them to cheat many of their altruistic sisters out of their chance to become a queen themselves. Leaf-cutting ant queen mates with up to 10 males at a time and they have the choice to mate with those male ants that can allow them to produce offsprings that have higher chances of becoming a queen.
I find it surprising that even in tiny insects like ants, which always cooperate and work together in groups to achieve their aims; cheat and fight to be the one who has the most power. Thus, we can see that human beings are not the only ones cheating and fighting for power, even ants do that!
Here is another article which describes that the genetics did indeed play a part in caste determination: Unusual Reproductive Behavior Of Odd Ants Surprises Scientists
References:
1) "Genes Play Role in Ant Social Status"