Have you ever wondered why ants march in a line? How bees remember which hive belongs to them? How wasps know to swarm when someone or something has been stung? Why rodents and other pests need to be treated regularly and a "one-time" treatment won't be effective? How animals and insects find mates?
The answer (or at least part of the answer) to these questions is pharomones. By origin, pheromone can be translated to mean to bear (or transport) hormones. Pharomones are used by many insects and animals including many social pests, including ants, rats, mice, bees, termites as well as many other pests.
Pharomones can be used to mark a trail to food. With ants it is particularly noticable because they literally march in lines from their nest to a food source. The trail that the line follows is marked with pheromones. Rodents such as mice and rats will also leave pharomone trails from the nesting area to the food source.
Another use for pharomones is alarm. Bees and wasps make the alarm pharomone easy to recognize. When one bee or wasp stings a potential threat, they also release pharomones to attract other bees and wasps to join them in the attack. This is especially true if a sting happens near a nest.
Furthermore pharomones are used by many insects and animals to attract a mate. If you've ever wondered why there is an icky swarm of mating bugs, the answer is pharomones. They are attracted together by pharomones.
Pharomones have other functions that I am not including in this post, but I just wanted to detail why pharomones are important and give some "fun" facts about them. If you have ever heard a pest control professional refer to pharomones or pharomone trails and wondered what on earth they were talking about-- here is a pretty good basic idea of the function of pharomones.
This video has a very visual way of showing how ants communicate using pheromones.
For all of your pest control needs, Peak Pest Management has a solution! If you're having issues with pests please give me, Micah, a call.
Micah Wood
www.peak-pest-management.com
micah@peak-pest-management.com
Pest Control Portland 503-998-4322
Pest Control Vancouver 360-607-1933
Pest Control Seattle 206-790-8285
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