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The Science of Underground Kingdoms
- Borrible 5y agoA classic: Secret Megalopolis of Ants https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECE7285GxU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dECE7285GxU
- johnnyApplePRNG 5y agoI've always wondered how these underground kingdoms protect themselves against excessive rainfall? If there is a cm of water resting on the surface, surely these are completely flooded inside?
- Borrible 5y agoMostly its good drainage. Some build them so their nests provide air pockets. Some close the entrances to their nest (with their bodies) for some time. In extreme cases they evacuate to higher ground. They are extremely fast with the last. I can study that everytime I mow the lawn. Interestingly the species in my garden 'Lasius flavus' often seem to care their eggs above ground in the hill, not underground. Whereas I never found eggs above ground in nests of 'Lasius niger'. But then again, I'm no expert in ants and its purely anecdotal. Just curious.
- asdff 5y agoAre they ant eggs? Some ants farm aphids and transport them around, building pastures even.
- zardo 5y agoLasius flavus is just such species.
- Borrible 5y agoKudos to you pointing that out, too. As I said, I study them just superficially, so to say.
- Borrible 5y agoAh, thank you. Great! Didn't know that and don't have enough time in this life left to follow every ant hole of this universe myself.
- roflc0ptic 5y agoa mild gripe with the article - there's a picture where it says "A casting of a nest made by a species of ant found in Florida next to an adult man for scale." The "adult man" in this picture is Walter Tschinkel, who is a professor at Florida State University who studies ants. He's made a bunch of these castings. He's also friends with E.O. Wilson, the really famous ant-studying guy. He incidentally taught the hardest course I've ever taken - Bio II lab, "Animal Diversity." Dunno. It's weird having a picture of a giant in the field and calling him "adult man for scale."
- HarryHirsch 5y agoThe "adult man" probably insisted on that - the real titans in the field are oftentimes hugely modest. Worked with a guy like that as an undergraduate. Can confirm.
- roflc0ptic 5y agoFrom what I remember, modesty wasn’t one of his shortcomings
- ASalazarMX 5y agoI think that makes the "adult man" caption even more interesting.
- k__ 5y agoAlso, he's only 5'10, so taking him as an example of the size of an male human is a bit of a stretch.
- frosted-flakes 5y agoThe average American male is 5'9", so why is it a stretch?
- dragonwriter 5y ago
- filoeleven 5y ago> "They're sort of capricious," Andrade says. "They dig whenever they want to. We would put these ants in a container, and some would start digging right away, and they would make this amazing progress. But others, it would be hours and they wouldn't dig at all. And some would dig for a while and then would stop and take a break." Related to this particular paragraph, up to 40% of ants in a colony are pretty lazy. A study has shown that they are reserve workers, and if a bunch of productive ants are “removed,” they become more active and take over the work. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170908205356.htm https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170908205356.h... Ants can also live up to 5 years, which kinda blew my mind when I first learned it. We are so used to small insects having correspondingly small lifespans.
- asdff 5y agoIt's basically the military model. Have a reserve of trained people who are ready to go the moment you need scale. I wish we'd use it for things like infrastructure too. It would be so much cheaper for public works if we relied on state labor pools like we used to do rather than contracting profiteering private industry for everything.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoSlightly OT, because fiction, but entertaining nonetheless: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film)