Communal peeing: a new mode of flood control in ants

[Baker, John]

        One of the striking things about the usage is its gratuitous nature.
>From the abstract:

        >>The ants respond [to nest flooding] by drinking the water, leaving
the nest and excreting water droplets on the outer stem surface. This
cooperative 'peeing' behavior is a new survival mechanism adaptive to the
ants' nesting ecology. Laboratory experiments conducted with two other
Cataulacus species . . . did not reveal any form of water-bailing behavior.
<<

        So the authors could as easily have referred to biological
water-bailing or to drinking rather than the excretory function.

John Baker