8 ms·

Let us now praise tiny ants

93 points by Hooke 6y ago

withants 6y ago
with ants
forgotmypw17 6y ago
with images for nojs users: http://archive.is/muA1i http://archive.is/muA1i
- Baeocystin 6y ago
  Thank you.
bre1010 6y ago
The E.O. Wilson anecdote at the end amused me since he says if there are ants invading your kitchen you should lay out a piece of food and I thought he meant this to trap the ants somehow. But no he meant to just introduce yourself to your new neighbors! In my experience, the best way to get rid of ants is to find where they are getting in and trace their supply lines back to the colony where you can dig it up and kill the queen. When I was little we had an ant problem in our house and one evening on the back patio I laid out an oreo, a strawberry, some saltines, and a few other snacks to see which ones the ants would like the most. The next morning our patio was a literal carpet of ants. The oreo and strawberry were long gone and they were working on the crackers with less enthusiasm. Following the ants we could see that the colony was underneath our green turtle sandbox off the end of the patio. Pushing it aside revealed the most intricate and bustling ant colony I've ever seen -- with separate chambers for eggs, larva, and pupa and tunnels interconnecting them across a 3 foot radius. Sadly, this colony was a big problem for us so my mom and I dug into the chambers until we found the queen (the one ant 10- or 20x larger than the rest) and then we killed it. Within weeks the colony was collapsing and our years-long ant infestation was resolved. Since then everything about ants has been fascinating to me, from their physiology as this article gets into, to their behavior and organization. I even made a web game about ants at antocracy.io where you control a queen ant and use pheromones to influence your otherwise-autonomous workers.
- briefcomment 6y ago
  You write well
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- koeng 6y ago
  Unfortunately this doesn’t work well in much of California due to argentine ants having a much more decentralized structure with a single massive mega colony (there are thousands/millions of queens in a massive connected super colony). Sometimes queens even go along with the foragers!
  - anjel 6y ago
    Advion ant gel is a gift from the insecticidal gods when it comes to controlling argentine ants in Southern California. It's not a nerve agent until converted by ant digestion using an enzyme not found in mammal guts so it's comparatively safe to use around humans, and the ants never develop resistances to it. We're still surrounded by a massive super colony reaching from San Diego to Santa Barbara, but I have no problems keeping my house and yard ant free, side from the occasional and inevitable failed incursions.
- lathiat 6y ago
  Have you seen the "Ants Canada" youtube channel? Combines fascinating ant info with fun and very good story telling.
  - marshmallow_12 6y ago
    I was wondering who would bring it up first! I really enjoy watching it, the videos are stunning and generally high quality content. And the ants are just really interesting to watch. (i like the fire ants the best)
- blarg1 6y ago
  Can't do that with our ants, they don't walk in a long line anymore, instead they appear as individuals moving about randomly without any obvious source. Some other ones are really tiny with light orange colour so you can't easily spot them, and another type had a really strong carapace so when you squashed them they'd play dead for a while before walking off like nothing happened. Pretty sure they're evolving.
Cd00d 6y ago
We moved into a house in the fall that had an active carpenter ant infestation. We were also getting occasional surges of sugar ants through the winter. As both colonies were kicking back up in the spring, my oldest started asking a lot of questions about ants. I shared one story that I was told decades ago and have never had the chance to confirm. Maybe someone here will know of the right resource. Before ants, the forests were literally starving under the weight of fallen trees. When trees died, there wasn't enough natural rot to remove the wood and leave room for new undergrowth. Then ants evolved, and ant saliva is full of formic acid [0], and that breaks down wood. Suddenly, old dead wood wasn't a hurdle for regrowth, and the forests and nature prospered with new and evolving flora. [0] I might have the type of acid wrong this many years later. I've always liked this story, but if you told me it was bunk I wouldn't be shocked. I'd like some confirmation either way!
- timeslip1523 6y ago
  The acid's definitely right- 'formic' comes from fourmis, the french word for ant!
  - inimino 6y ago
    Even older -- both come from Latin formica, which also just means "ant." On the other hand, the plastic called formica, familiar as a countertop surface, has nothing to do with ants but comes from "for mica", for which it was originally developed as a subtitute.
  - gadders 6y ago
    There is also the word "formication": Formication is the sensation that resembles that of small insects crawling on (or under) the skin when there is nothing there.
- PEJOE 6y ago
  I believe you are thinking about lignin digestion - an action of certain fungi, but its contribution to the end of the Carboniferous is debated. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/why-was-most-of-the-earths-coal-made-all-at-once/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/why-was-most-of-the-... As interesting as it would be, ants don’t seem to play a big role here.
jds375 6y ago
I use to have many ant problems - and certainly not due to any lack of cleanliness. It pretty much all went away once I got a cat. At first I thought it was coincidence, but over the years I noticed if I ever killed a random ant the cat would start rolling around and scenting the very spot the ant was killed. I don’t have any scientific proof, but I have to think the cat’s scent/pheromones interferes with the ants and prevents more from following/coming. Curious to hear any similar experiences
- pjerem 6y ago
  Or your cat just killed and ate all the one who tried and they don’t even try anymore.
- mod 6y ago
  You can always ruin the paths they walk on with just your hand or a rag or whatever. As far as cat event repelling them, I have no idea.
- devb 6y ago
  I have three cats and they don't seem to affect the ants at all. They won't eat them because they're bitter. It's possible you're on to something. When an ant is killed/crushed, the body releases a chemical that signals the rest of the ants to go on a rampage and find whatever the threat is.
- andrewflnr 6y ago
  My family had severe ant problems with two cats in the house. I've never seen or heard of behavior like your cat's around ant death sites. I suspect you have a rare or unique situation, assuming it's not a coincidence.
passive 6y ago
Do you want (pictures of) ants? Because that is how you get (pictures of) ants.
Borrible 6y ago
Antics aside. I, For One, Welcome Our New Ant Overlords! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)
drdeca 6y ago
I prefer ants which are a bit taller than these tiny ones.
known 6y ago
I think Aliens, if they exist, will be viewing/treating Humans as tiny Ants;
hellbannedguy 6y ago
I've had a slightly irritating problem with ants this past year---considering everything else. They were using electrical cables (Romex) as a highway to my house. They were also using the spaces between wood to gain entry. Cleanliness did help, but there were times where I gave up. They just kept coming over the same routes no matter how festidious I got. One time they were eating the coating off a dropped Ibuprofen pill. I bought the ant traps. For a few months they worked like magic. Then the ants walked right past the traps. It's almost like they knew not to go into the white houses? I think insects are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. What did work, or I just got lucky, is finding the openings they were coming through, and blocking off the access, and as much as I didn't want to spray Raid, I did. I didn't spray it all over though. I used a small amount directed to the point of entry. No more than a few sq. inches of spray. So far it has reduced the number of ants, but I wouldn't be suprised if they were holding a meeting right under me right now, looking to find new entry points to my house though?
- kjeetgill 6y ago
  I don't know if this works on all ants, but try a line of cinnamon. Ants won't walk over the line so we used to use it around antholes at the base of walls. That helped us a lot as a kid! Good luck, hope it helps!
  - diegoperini 6y ago
    We burn cinnamon roots (is that what they are called?) in small bowls to avoid this problem during summer. Might be worth giving a shot. The smoke coming out of the bow, if it doesn't fly away immediately, will hide the pheromones. It also help us reduce mosquitos as well, but I don't know why that works.
    - esyir 6y ago
      Cinnamon spice is actually a bark. Unless you're literally referring to the bark in which ignore this.
    - simtel20 6y ago
jeromenerf 6y ago
I can’t remember ants to have ever been an issue in Europe but I clearly remember how terrible they can be in India or Guyana: the biting kind in your bed and hamac, the smallest kind in sugar and flour, the large ones under everything wooden... It’s difficult to imagine the impact such little creatures can have on our daily life at tropical latitudes.
abductee_hg 6y ago
Thanks Ants! THANTS
leokennis 6y ago
I remember ants from my youth. They ran around outside, if you lifted a tile 100's would scatter, and sometimes one would bite you. However, due to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_nitrogen_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_nitrogen_c... (and agricultural monoculture) the amount of ants I now see in "the wild" (garden, forest) has dropped very significantly...
aliswe 6y ago
But what are the actual environmental benefits of ants? Anyone care to explain? Ive looked around on the net for this but imo the info is a bit scarce.
- danparsonson 6y ago
  The 'benefits' of an individual element of our ecosystem can be hard to quantify directly but I'd hazard a guess at a) abundant food source for larger animals, b) waste processing and disposal, and c) pest control, although 'pest' is a relative term - perhaps better to characterise their place as helping to keep other populations in balance, part of the dynamic equilibrium if you like
  - AlexandrB 6y ago
    Their tunnels also aerate soil, like earthworms. Though, IMHO, it's pretty foolish to look for specific, enumerated "benefits" of native animals. They co-exist with a variety of other organisms in complex ways and removing any one of them can have unexpected fallout[1]. Also, if we're asking this question about ants, I really hope no one asks "But what are the actual environmental benefits of humans?" about us. [1] https://ethology.eu/how-wolves-change-rivers/ https://ethology.eu/how-wolves-change-rivers/
    - aliswe 6y ago
      I'm not really looking for reasons to wipe out colonies, I'm thinking about reasons for introducing them. For example, can they be beneficial in reversing desertification? Do they help plants by somehow bringing them nutrients? I'm very curious as I'm certain they have huge benefits, I'm just not sure exactly what they are ...
      - danparsonson 6y ago
        Try thinking about it more holistically. It's not so much that ants on their own are great for a specific purpose, but rather that they work together with other parts of the ecosystem to make the whole thing work. If you're so inclined, maybe it's useful to think about neural networks; take a face-recognition network, pick any node, then ask 'what is this good for?'.
hypertele-Xii 6y ago
Kurzgesagt is running an ongoing animated series about ants, highly recommend. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_e0CA_nhaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_e0CA_nhaE [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3QTAgHlwEg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3QTAgHlwEg
brianolson 6y ago
Isn't everyone usually praising taller ants? https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/taller https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/taller
wcarss 6y ago
I really wondered if this would be related to the mockumentary "Look Around You"[1]'s somewhat famous "Thanks ants... Thants"[2] line. If you're reading my comment and you haven't run across these, you might find them pretty amusing. But... it is (reasonably) not related to those things at all. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaVwwuErmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaVwwuErmU 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk

93 points by Hooke 6y ago

withants 6y ago

with ants

forgotmypw17 6y ago

with images for nojs users: http://archive.is/muA1i http://archive.is/muA1i

Baeocystin 6y ago
Thank you.

bre1010 6y ago

The E.O. Wilson anecdote at the end amused me since he says if there are ants invading your kitchen you should lay out a piece of food and I thought he meant this to trap the ants somehow. But no he meant to just introduce yourself to your new neighbors! In my experience, the best way to get rid of ants is to find where they are getting in and trace their supply lines back to the colony where you can dig it up and kill the queen. When I was little we had an ant problem in our house and one evening on the back patio I laid out an oreo, a strawberry, some saltines, and a few other snacks to see which ones the ants would like the most. The next morning our patio was a literal carpet of ants. The oreo and strawberry were long gone and they were working on the crackers with less enthusiasm. Following the ants we could see that the colony was underneath our green turtle sandbox off the end of the patio. Pushing it aside revealed the most intricate and bustling ant colony I've ever seen -- with separate chambers for eggs, larva, and pupa and tunnels interconnecting them across a 3 foot radius. Sadly, this colony was a big problem for us so my mom and I dug into the chambers until we found the queen (the one ant 10- or 20x larger than the rest) and then we killed it. Within weeks the colony was collapsing and our years-long ant infestation was resolved. Since then everything about ants has been fascinating to me, from their physiology as this article gets into, to their behavior and organization. I even made a web game about ants at antocracy.io where you control a queen ant and use pheromones to influence your otherwise-autonomous workers.

briefcomment 6y ago
You write well
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
koeng 6y ago
Unfortunately this doesn’t work well in much of California due to argentine ants having a much more decentralized structure with a single massive mega colony (there are thousands/millions of queens in a massive connected super colony). Sometimes queens even go along with the foragers!
- anjel 6y ago
  Advion ant gel is a gift from the insecticidal gods when it comes to controlling argentine ants in Southern California. It's not a nerve agent until converted by ant digestion using an enzyme not found in mammal guts so it's comparatively safe to use around humans, and the ants never develop resistances to it. We're still surrounded by a massive super colony reaching from San Diego to Santa Barbara, but I have no problems keeping my house and yard ant free, side from the occasional and inevitable failed incursions.
lathiat 6y ago
Have you seen the "Ants Canada" youtube channel? Combines fascinating ant info with fun and very good story telling.
- marshmallow_12 6y ago
  I was wondering who would bring it up first! I really enjoy watching it, the videos are stunning and generally high quality content. And the ants are just really interesting to watch. (i like the fire ants the best)
blarg1 6y ago
Can't do that with our ants, they don't walk in a long line anymore, instead they appear as individuals moving about randomly without any obvious source. Some other ones are really tiny with light orange colour so you can't easily spot them, and another type had a really strong carapace so when you squashed them they'd play dead for a while before walking off like nothing happened. Pretty sure they're evolving.

Cd00d 6y ago

We moved into a house in the fall that had an active carpenter ant infestation. We were also getting occasional surges of sugar ants through the winter. As both colonies were kicking back up in the spring, my oldest started asking a lot of questions about ants. I shared one story that I was told decades ago and have never had the chance to confirm. Maybe someone here will know of the right resource. Before ants, the forests were literally starving under the weight of fallen trees. When trees died, there wasn't enough natural rot to remove the wood and leave room for new undergrowth. Then ants evolved, and ant saliva is full of formic acid [0], and that breaks down wood. Suddenly, old dead wood wasn't a hurdle for regrowth, and the forests and nature prospered with new and evolving flora. [0] I might have the type of acid wrong this many years later. I've always liked this story, but if you told me it was bunk I wouldn't be shocked. I'd like some confirmation either way!

timeslip1523 6y ago
The acid's definitely right- 'formic' comes from fourmis, the french word for ant!
- inimino 6y ago
  Even older -- both come from Latin formica, which also just means "ant." On the other hand, the plastic called formica, familiar as a countertop surface, has nothing to do with ants but comes from "for mica", for which it was originally developed as a subtitute.
- gadders 6y ago
  There is also the word "formication": Formication is the sensation that resembles that of small insects crawling on (or under) the skin when there is nothing there.
PEJOE 6y ago
I believe you are thinking about lignin digestion - an action of certain fungi, but its contribution to the end of the Carboniferous is debated. https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/why-was-most-of-the-earths-coal-made-all-at-once/ https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/01/why-was-most-of-the-... As interesting as it would be, ants don’t seem to play a big role here.

jds375 6y ago

I use to have many ant problems - and certainly not due to any lack of cleanliness. It pretty much all went away once I got a cat. At first I thought it was coincidence, but over the years I noticed if I ever killed a random ant the cat would start rolling around and scenting the very spot the ant was killed. I don’t have any scientific proof, but I have to think the cat’s scent/pheromones interferes with the ants and prevents more from following/coming. Curious to hear any similar experiences

pjerem 6y ago
Or your cat just killed and ate all the one who tried and they don’t even try anymore.
mod 6y ago
You can always ruin the paths they walk on with just your hand or a rag or whatever. As far as cat event repelling them, I have no idea.
devb 6y ago
I have three cats and they don't seem to affect the ants at all. They won't eat them because they're bitter. It's possible you're on to something. When an ant is killed/crushed, the body releases a chemical that signals the rest of the ants to go on a rampage and find whatever the threat is.
andrewflnr 6y ago
My family had severe ant problems with two cats in the house. I've never seen or heard of behavior like your cat's around ant death sites. I suspect you have a rare or unique situation, assuming it's not a coincidence.

passive 6y ago

Do you want (pictures of) ants? Because that is how you get (pictures of) ants.

Borrible 6y ago

Antics aside. I, For One, Welcome Our New Ant Overlords! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)

drdeca 6y ago

I prefer ants which are a bit taller than these tiny ones.

known 6y ago

I think Aliens, if they exist, will be viewing/treating Humans as tiny Ants;

hellbannedguy 6y ago

I've had a slightly irritating problem with ants this past year---considering everything else. They were using electrical cables (Romex) as a highway to my house. They were also using the spaces between wood to gain entry. Cleanliness did help, but there were times where I gave up. They just kept coming over the same routes no matter how festidious I got. One time they were eating the coating off a dropped Ibuprofen pill. I bought the ant traps. For a few months they worked like magic. Then the ants walked right past the traps. It's almost like they knew not to go into the white houses? I think insects are much more intelligent than we give them credit for. What did work, or I just got lucky, is finding the openings they were coming through, and blocking off the access, and as much as I didn't want to spray Raid, I did. I didn't spray it all over though. I used a small amount directed to the point of entry. No more than a few sq. inches of spray. So far it has reduced the number of ants, but I wouldn't be suprised if they were holding a meeting right under me right now, looking to find new entry points to my house though?

kjeetgill 6y ago
I don't know if this works on all ants, but try a line of cinnamon. Ants won't walk over the line so we used to use it around antholes at the base of walls. That helped us a lot as a kid! Good luck, hope it helps!
- diegoperini 6y ago
  We burn cinnamon roots (is that what they are called?) in small bowls to avoid this problem during summer. Might be worth giving a shot. The smoke coming out of the bow, if it doesn't fly away immediately, will hide the pheromones. It also help us reduce mosquitos as well, but I don't know why that works.
  - esyir 6y ago
    Cinnamon spice is actually a bark. Unless you're literally referring to the bark in which ignore this.
  - simtel20 6y ago

jeromenerf 6y ago

I can’t remember ants to have ever been an issue in Europe but I clearly remember how terrible they can be in India or Guyana: the biting kind in your bed and hamac, the smallest kind in sugar and flour, the large ones under everything wooden... It’s difficult to imagine the impact such little creatures can have on our daily life at tropical latitudes.

abductee_hg 6y ago

Thanks Ants! THANTS

leokennis 6y ago

I remember ants from my youth. They ran around outside, if you lifted a tile 100's would scatter, and sometimes one would bite you. However, due to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_nitrogen_cycle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_impact_on_the_nitrogen_c... (and agricultural monoculture) the amount of ants I now see in "the wild" (garden, forest) has dropped very significantly...

aliswe 6y ago

But what are the actual environmental benefits of ants? Anyone care to explain? Ive looked around on the net for this but imo the info is a bit scarce.

danparsonson 6y ago
The 'benefits' of an individual element of our ecosystem can be hard to quantify directly but I'd hazard a guess at a) abundant food source for larger animals, b) waste processing and disposal, and c) pest control, although 'pest' is a relative term - perhaps better to characterise their place as helping to keep other populations in balance, part of the dynamic equilibrium if you like
- AlexandrB 6y ago
  Their tunnels also aerate soil, like earthworms. Though, IMHO, it's pretty foolish to look for specific, enumerated "benefits" of native animals. They co-exist with a variety of other organisms in complex ways and removing any one of them can have unexpected fallout[1]. Also, if we're asking this question about ants, I really hope no one asks "But what are the actual environmental benefits of humans?" about us. [1] https://ethology.eu/how-wolves-change-rivers/ https://ethology.eu/how-wolves-change-rivers/
  - aliswe 6y ago
    I'm not really looking for reasons to wipe out colonies, I'm thinking about reasons for introducing them. For example, can they be beneficial in reversing desertification? Do they help plants by somehow bringing them nutrients? I'm very curious as I'm certain they have huge benefits, I'm just not sure exactly what they are ...
    - danparsonson 6y ago
      Try thinking about it more holistically. It's not so much that ants on their own are great for a specific purpose, but rather that they work together with other parts of the ecosystem to make the whole thing work. If you're so inclined, maybe it's useful to think about neural networks; take a face-recognition network, pick any node, then ask 'what is this good for?'.

hypertele-Xii 6y ago

Kurzgesagt is running an ongoing animated series about ants, highly recommend. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_e0CA_nhaE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_e0CA_nhaE [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqECNYmM23A [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3QTAgHlwEg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3QTAgHlwEg

brianolson 6y ago

Isn't everyone usually praising taller ants? https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/taller https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/taller

wcarss 6y ago

I really wondered if this would be related to the mockumentary "Look Around You"[1]'s somewhat famous "Thanks ants... Thants"[2] line. If you're reading my comment and you haven't run across these, you might find them pretty amusing. But... it is (reasonably) not related to those things at all. 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaVwwuErmU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaVwwuErmU 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jtU9BbReQk