this can be communicated by either the absence of chemicals that are present when they are alive, or by those released in decaying corpses. Experiment have sought to identify how ants identify corpses that need to be disposed and have found that in some cases it is the presence of oleic and linoleic acid, produced by the breakdown of fats. This breakdown can take about two days. There are also differences in how dead nestmates and non-nestmates are treated. Seed collection and dispersal behaviors in myrmecochory are also found to be similar to those involved in necrophory and triggered by similar chemicals. References Behavioural sciences Ethology