We know that Azteca ant colonies gallantly defend their nourishing Cecropia home-trees from leaf-eaters and choking vines. However, it turns out that some colonies defend more gallantly than others in a suite of behavioral traits measured in the field, revealing that colonies themselves have personalities. Trees that have more active, aggressive colonies have less leaf damage, suggesting that colony personality plays an important role in this intimate mutualism.
Read the paper here.