The behavior is exhibited both in the presence of fungal infection as well as when experimentally exposed to 95% CO2, causing the ants to die in the absence of an acting pathogen.

[1] This indicates that the ants are in fact behaving in an altruistic manner, rather than experiencing behavioral manipulation as a result of pathogen influence.

This in turn minimizes the risk of transferring the infection to kin and thus likely results in a higher inclusive fitness for the socially withdrawing individuals.

In a study entitled Policing Effectiveness Depends on Relatedness and Group Size, researchers found the efficacy of colony policing to improve under conditions of decreased relatedness and decreased group size.

Scientists theorize that allogrooming behavior is more common in the slave-making species because they are groomed by the ants they enslave.