Researchers are searching for the key to poison-free apples. Deep inside an anthill

Imagine that a small insect could make it unnecessary to spray apple trees for pests and diseases.

That solution may not be as far-fetched as it sounds.

In the program 'Dyrenes Danmark' (Animals of Denmark), host Vicky Knudsen takes us out to meet the animals hiding in nature – including the very smallest ones.

Ants, which many otherwise see as a nuisance when they crawl along the house wall, actually possess qualities that both fascinate and can benefit us in agriculture.

That is according to Joachim Offenberg, a senior researcher at Aarhus University specializing in ants.

"An individual ant is relatively stupid, but when they work together, they develop what we call collective intelligence in these societies," he explains.

He compares it to our own brains, where our neurons individually are unintelligent, but together create intelligent solutions.

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'A walking pharmacy of antibiotics'

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A concrete example is orchards. Ants eat many of the insects that otherwise attack apples, so in the program, Joachim Offenberg has moved an anthill to an orchard.

Here it is important to bring the queen, who can produce more than a million workers during her lifetime.

Even though the anthill is disturbed during the move, the ants quickly re-establish their society, and soon they begin patrolling the trees for prey.

The ants' importance does not stop at just eating pests. According to Joachim Offenberg, ants may have developed an even more beneficial ability.

"Ants live in very dense societies and have done so for 100 million years. So they have learned to handle disease spread, and therefore ants have a gland that no other animal has. It secretes broad-spectrum antibiotics, and ants also have bacteria on their bodies that produce antibiotics, which they can use to fight diseases."

>

> We can see that apple trees that have been tended by ants have fewer

> apple diseases like apple scab and apple rot.

> Joachim Offenberg, senior researcher at Aarhus University specializing in

> ants

In this way, ants are "a walking pharmacy of antibiotics" as they race around the apple trees and deposit this antibiotic, explains Joachim Offenberg.

"We can see that apple trees that have been tended by ants have fewer apple diseases like apple scab and apple rot," he says.

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No need to spray

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Another researcher who has dedicated her career to ants is biologist Ida Cecilie Jensen. She has written her bachelor's thesis, master's thesis, and PhD on ants.

It was precisely her PhD project that earlier this year secured her victory in 'Forskerfesten 2026' (https://www.dr.dk/presse/presse-koncern/ida-sejrer-med-sin-formidling-om-myrer-i-forskerfesten-2026), which was held by DR in collaboration with Dagbladet Information and the Lundbeck Foundation earlier this year.

Like Joachim Offenberg, Ida Cecilie Jensen has researched how ants can be an ecological alternative to pesticides in fruit growing.

Today she runs her own company, where she rents out anthills on a subscription basis in orchards.

"Once the anthills are installed, you avoid having to drive machinery and spray. Because the ants do all the work."

However, the ants need more energy than what they get from the insects they eat. Therefore, Ida Cecilie Jensen has set up drink dispensers with sugar water, which the ants can use for nourishment.

"In addition to ants eating many different insects, there is also research showing that just the smell of ants can help keep various pest insects away."

"That is also something we are researching to see how strong this ant smell can be for keeping pests away," she says in 'Dyrenes Danmark'.

SÆSON 1 EPISODE 4 | 59M *Dyrenes Danmark:* Vores vilde naboer (https://www.dr.dk/drtv/episode/dyrenes-danmark_-vores-vilde-naboer_606340)

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