For the curious:
Speaking to MailOnline, Willot confirmed this 'was indeed a tricky procedure. They are very reactive and won't stop struggling once caught, preventing any shaving attempt if not anaesthetised.'
This was done by exposing the ants for a few seconds to carbon dioxide, then strapping them down firmly.
Hairs were removed using a high-power binocular telescope and a very sharp blade.
'It's the same as shaving your own chin: the scalpel blade has to move in the opposite direction of the hair's growth. It has to be a delicate and gentle motion,' said Willot.
After practising on large soldier ants, he found that a smaller worker ant could be entirely shaved in an hour of delicate work.
He estimates around 40 ants were shaved altogether to produce seven good examples for the experiments.
I don't know why I needed to know, but I did indeed need to know. Thanks.
anaesthetised
*Antaesthetised.
get that holier-than-thou extra-useless-letters british spelling outta here
Ant aestheticised
Do they really mean that maybe they removed the hair instead of actually shaved?
Nope, read above comments
