Ants are amazing

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
I just read the Wikipedia entry and half of it is like stuff from science-fiction movies.

Warrior ants doing raids on other colonies to get eggs to grow into slaves as they can't even feed themselves cos of their massive mandibles, leafcutter ants harvesting stuff to bring back to their nests where it rots and becomes fertiliser for a specific type of fungus they feed on that only grows in those conditions, ants being over-fed so their bodies become distended with goodness, turning them into living food silos for the other ants in time of famine, colonies of a million ants taking over whole gardens, bullet ants, bulldog ants, fire ants.

Ants make up more biomass in the world that all vertebrates put together! 15-20% of world biomass.

Wow. It's all so ripe for sci-fi and horror stuff.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
On the subject of insect/fungus symbiosis, there's a genus of fungi in Africa which have a very similar relationship to termites as the one mentioned above in respect to ants. (Termites aren't closely related to ants - the former are essentially social cockroaches while the latter form a clade with bees and wasps - but they have similar social organisation simply through parallel evolution.)

When the fungus reaches maturity it fruits at ground level in the form of mushrooms, which form an important source of food for locals...

mushroom-mushroom-mushroom-1.jpg


...presumably after the application of about three bulbs of garlic and a pound of butter. :D
 
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Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
And we haven't even started talking about hive minds yet...
 
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mms

sometimes
ants are the only creature outside humans who teach their offspring by example too.
Talking of ant sci-fi / horror you must see phase 4 about ants taking over from hoomans.
 

BareBones

wheezy

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
From today's reviews in The Observer,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/jan/18/biology-swarm-insect-super-organism

As Bert Hölldobler and EO Wilson tell us in The Super-Organism: "Ants, bees and termites are the most socially advanced non-human organisms of which we have knowledge."

And the authors should know. Edward O Wilson is one of the world's most distinguished biologists and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes, the first in 1979 for his book On Human Nature, and the second in 1991, for The Ants, which he co-wrote with Hölldobler. The Super-Organism comes with strong credentials, in short.

For Hölldobler and Wilson, ants and termites have particular interest because they tell us so much about the evolution of complex societies. These began 150 million years ago with the appearance of solitary insects that developed increasingly sophisticated, interacting populations until they reached their modern status. Thus leafcutter ants can be considered Earth's "ultimate super-organism" with complex communications, an elaborate caste system - and air-conditioned nest architecture for good measure. Similarly, African driver ants can spread as a single, deadly entity made up of millions of creatures - "a river of aggressive huntresses, capturing and killing most of the insects in its path". It is powerful stuff, and although the authors' approach remains resolutely academic, they have still managed to produce a book that is gripping and informative. One thing is certain: nests of wasps will never seem the same again.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._O._Wilson

At the age of 18, intent on becoming an entomologist, he began by collecting flies, but the shortage of insect pins caused by World War II caused him to switch to ants, which could be stored in vials.
 
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Sick Boy

All about pride and egos
There is such a thing as a shortage in insect pins? And it takes a World War for that to be achieved? Defense against the 812th National Socialist Rhino Beetle Battallion?
 
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zhao

there are no accidents
yes those ant cities are so amazing. so the instructions for building with all the details such as placement of storage facilities in relation to housing projects, distribution routes, waste management and air conditioning... it's all stored in the DNA?
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I remember this cartoon from when I was about six or something, it's amazing...the ants don't look too realistic, but their strength, single-mindedness and organisational abilities are spot on:

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BareBones

wheezy
only just got around to watching it, but that ant city is just crazy, unbelievable...

as is "How Ants Subterrain Structure's Looks Like??"
 

massrock

Well-known member
Ant mega-colony takes over world

In Europe, one vast colony of Argentine ants is thought to stretch for 6,000km (3,700 miles) along the Mediterranean coast, while another in the US, known as the "Californian large", extends over 900km (560 miles) along the coast of California. A third huge colony exists on the west coast of Japan.
But it now appears that billions of Argentine ants around the world all actually belong to one single global mega-colony.
 
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