Do ants ‘talk’? Chemical communication was thought to be the main communication tool in ant societies; however, can chemicals alone control highly differentiated social behaviors? We focused on the ‘talk’ of agricultural ants, key organisms in Neotropical ecosystems, and analyzed the frequencies and types of sounds produced, structure of stridulatory organs, and chemical/acoustic stimuli for maintaining fungus gardens. By comparing fungus-growing ants that live in various social structures, we found that sound frequencies and types and stridulatory organ structure were related to social evolution. Furthermore, acoustic communication was more effective than chemical communication for the advanced social behavior of garden maintenance. These results suggest that ants that have become ‘chattier’ may induce altruistic behaviors and create more complex societies.