Flying Ant Day
- Thread starter Mr. Tea
- Start date
hmg
Victory lap
I was going to post with exactly the same title on this. Flying Ant Day it is indeed. Always seems to be within a day or two of 25th July. Does this happen all over Europe? The UK?
When I lived out in the country, I found dozens of them emerging from their underground hangars, queuing to climb grass stems and gain some extra purchase on the air.
Could just be ground temperature/angle of the sun that sets them off. I have Huxley's book on ants somewhere, there's probably an indication in there. Intricate little fellas, ants. Feynman was fascinated by them and had them doing his bidding.
When I lived out in the country, I found dozens of them emerging from their underground hangars, queuing to climb grass stems and gain some extra purchase on the air.
Could just be ground temperature/angle of the sun that sets them off. I have Huxley's book on ants somewhere, there's probably an indication in there. Intricate little fellas, ants. Feynman was fascinated by them and had them doing his bidding.
They choose the hottest day of the year I think (or their best guess I suppose) to create new nests - the males fly up chasing the stronger females, and only the strongest make it; the male dies after donating his sperm in mid-air; the impregnated female goes to ground in a hole; loses her wings & internally digests her wing muscles for nourishment/energy, and produces ants for a new colony as a new queen. Myrmecology = 
And aren't we all machines (made of other machines, made of other machines, made of... well let's see what CERN's LHC comes up with)?
And aren't we all machines (made of other machines, made of other machines, made of... well let's see what CERN's LHC comes up with
)?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
So pretty much the same as humans, then?
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
And aren't we all machines (made of other machines, made of other machines, made of... well let's see what CERN's LHC comes up with
Oh, for sure...I suppose what I meant was, insects are (individually) of the sort of order of complexity that cybernetic engineering is starting to approach. Obviously we're a long way from being able to create life-sized artificial ants that can do everything ants can do, but AFAIK people are starting to make robots that can act, in a very gross and general way, a bit like ants do. What I find fascinating is the way social insects behave as whole in a radically different way from how they behave individually, and I'm quite taken with the idea of a gestalt intelligence or 'hive mind' arising as an emergent property, just from lots of very simple agents working together. This is the basis of the whole area of mathematics concerning cellular automata, which is very
indeed. I'll get back to this tomorrow, bed right now...
Edit: it has been said that, in contrast to the case of social insects, the effective intelligence of a group of people is inversely proportional to the group's size...
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Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Ha, brilliant - I saw one earlier today, it landed on my finger and had a drink of the juice from the plum I was eating.
Nice work finding this thread, btw.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
F.A.D. can only be a couple of weeks away now. If you plotted the date of F.A.D. over the last 50 or 100 years, I wonder if it would be interesting from a climate-change POV? I'm sure entomologists must have kept records.
A contour plot of when it happens throughout the country would probably be worth making, too.
A contour plot of when it happens throughout the country would probably be worth making, too.
hmg
Victory lap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ant_day
"This phenomenon occurs in many colonies simultaneously when the local weather conditions are appropriate, to reduce the effectiveness of predation and to ensure that the queens and males from different colonies stand a chance of meeting and interbreeding. It therefore has the appearance of being a 'timed' event or that the ants somehow communicate. However neither of these is likely to be the case - it is simply a common response to temperature, humidity and windspeed."
Bollocks. I've been picking up 'chatter' on the Anternet for weeks now, they're already preparing for it.
"This phenomenon occurs in many colonies simultaneously when the local weather conditions are appropriate, to reduce the effectiveness of predation and to ensure that the queens and males from different colonies stand a chance of meeting and interbreeding. It therefore has the appearance of being a 'timed' event or that the ants somehow communicate. However neither of these is likely to be the case - it is simply a common response to temperature, humidity and windspeed."
Bollocks. I've been picking up 'chatter' on the Anternet for weeks now, they're already preparing for it.
hmg
Victory lap
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Ha, that's what it's "officially" called, excellent. Kind of obvious, I guess.
From that wiki link:
I like big abdomens and I cannot lie.
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
It's today!
Flying ants!!
Where are you posting from, mekalaka? I reckon we've still got a couple of weeks to go in London. I'll be looking out for it...
Edit: Pete, where the hell did you grow up?
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