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Ants trapped in a Soviet nuclear bunker survived for years (2019)
- withants 1y ago(2019) with ants
- russdill 1y agoNo, they didn't survive for years. They died after a short time, but their ranks were continually replenished by fresh ants falling from a colony above.
- trhway 1y agoants of Theseus
- ge96 1y agoKill 1 ant, 2 more shall rise to take its place
- Rendello 1y agoOr fall.
- jmdeon 1y agoI guess the interesting thing is they built and maintained a nest which looked mostly like a colony. The colony's food source being the fresh falling ants you mentioned. > "In total darkness, they have constructed an earthen mound, which they have maintained all-year-round by moulding it and keeping the nest entrances open," researchers wrote in a study in 2016, noting these ants are "a far cry from a fully functional colony".
- nemo 1y agoThe ants who fell in died after a while, but the story is really about how they survived to form a colony close to a million through survival by cannibalism.
- xattt 1y agoThank you. I was trying to figure out how entropy was maintained after food was metabolized.
- httpsoverdns 1y agoSo very happy that the story ended with them giving the trapped ants a path back to their colony
- trhway 1y ago[flagged]
- spiderxxxx 1y agoNo, they gave the cannibal ants a link to a new food source. Imagine you're living in your house, your neighborhood, and there's this large pit in the center, where the cannibals live. They're 30ft down so they can't get out, so you don't have to worry. Then someone puts a ladder down to them. Start of a horror movie if you ask me.
- neom 1y agoThis comment is full of interesting questions! Would they return to being normal ants due to the environment shift? If they are now truly just "cannibal ants" and not regular ants acting in an opportunistic cannibal manner, would they even bother going to the colony, or would they just kinda zombie around eating other ants? And do these new ant types need to function together in this new style?
- ekaryotic 1y agoactually there was a chinese serial killer that used a technique like this. He had a septic tank and threw his victims in along with the dead bodies of his previous victims and would only let them out if they brought more victims from a train station. article is partially paywalled but is the case in question. https://archive.is/QxBDr https://archive.is/QxBDr https://medium.com/crimes-by-mr-o/this-teacher-was-thrown-into-a-corpse-pit-then-helped-kill-for-the-man-who-put-her-there-true-0275b925d9c3 https://medium.com/crimes-by-mr-o/this-teacher-was-thrown-in...
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- carlosjobim 1y agoLiteral hell for ants, until they were saved by a supreme being.
- cm2012 1y ago"Boy am I glad not have consciousness right now" the ant said, as the nearby ants start tearing at him, in the cold pitch black of a nuclear bunker.
- balamatom 1y agoVyell, fak. Imagine visiting the basement at Omelas and this happens. Poor ants.
- staplung 1y ago"Difficult to tell from this vantage point if they will consume the captive Earth-men or merely enslave them...one thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here! And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. Like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar-caves." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jWAwUb63c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4jWAwUb63c
- rbanffy 1y agoThis is the kind of story older ants tell young ones about what happens when you stray into dark and forbidden tunnels.
- dudeinjapan 1y agoWhy didn't they just climb out the ventilation shaft they fell in? Can’t they walk on the ceiling?
- waltbosz 1y agoFrom the research paper: https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/38972/element/2/11// https://jhr.pensoft.net/article/38972/element/2/11// > The upper part of the ant trail in Fig. 1; the ants (on the left) were unable to move along the ceiling and thus could not reach the outlet of the ventilation pipe. Photo taken on 18.09.2016 (Wojciech Stephan).
- waltbosz 1y ago> In 2016, researchers installed a wooden boardwalk (below) in the bunker, connecting the ventilation pipe to the ground. Within four months, nearly all the trapped ants had deserted the bunker floor. It sort of feels like the ruined a good experiment.
- deafpolygon 1y agoThis plotline is reminiscent of the horror plot in Pandorum, but it’s set in the world of ants.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]