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No, 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.
by russdill 1y ago
No, 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.