Insect Identity Theft

Identity theft is when someone uses someone else's identity. You may have heard about identity theft in humans, where the thieves are usually trying to steal money. But did you know it can happen in other species as well? Let’s take a look at identity theft in insects and how defending against this theft can lead to a back-and-forth battle that takes place on an evolutionary scale.

0:08 Stealing an identity
1:07 Ant senses
1:33 Olfaction and insect identities
2:36 Insect odor organs
2:59 Scent IDs
3:15 Insect identity theft
3:33 Evolution of improved fake IDs
4:17 Evolutionary arms race
4:41 Tolerating thieves
4:50 Risks determine tolerance
5:12 Human examples of risk tolerance
5:59 Trade-off of threat detection in insects

Music by Raine Wilder, used with permission