1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:03,920 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, chuck here real quick with some bad news 2 00:00:03,960 --> 00:00:07,720 Speaker 1: and sad news. Uh. Sketch Fest this year in San Francisco, 3 00:00:08,520 --> 00:00:10,160 Speaker 1: which is where we were gonna have our first live 4 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:12,239 Speaker 1: show in two years here in a couple of weeks, 5 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: has been postponed. I believe they're looking to postponed it 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,560 Speaker 1: by a whole year and kind of rebooked the whole 7 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:22,079 Speaker 1: festival ideally, but you know, with what's going on around 8 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:23,960 Speaker 1: the country with Omicron, they didn't feel like they could 9 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:27,319 Speaker 1: press forward, and UH, as bummed as we are, we 10 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:30,960 Speaker 1: think it's the right move as well. So, uh, if 11 00:00:30,960 --> 00:00:34,559 Speaker 1: you have tickets, just stay tuned for an announcement. I 12 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: think you will either probably be able to well I'm 13 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:40,680 Speaker 1: not exactly sure what's gonna happen with them, maybe a 14 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:42,879 Speaker 1: refund maybe if you hold onto them, they're good for 15 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:45,960 Speaker 1: next year because we're probably gonna look in the same theater. 16 00:00:46,080 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: But listen up for announcement soon. And again, all apologies, 17 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: we're super sad about it. We're really looking forward to 18 00:00:53,240 --> 00:00:57,440 Speaker 1: getting back out there again. But until further notice, live 19 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: shows are still on hold. All right, now here we 20 00:01:00,880 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: go with the show. Welcome to stuff you should know 21 00:01:05,080 --> 00:01:13,800 Speaker 1: A production of I Heart Radio. Hey, and welcome to 22 00:01:13,800 --> 00:01:16,800 Speaker 1: the podcast. I'm Josh, and there's Chuck and this is 23 00:01:17,319 --> 00:01:21,480 Speaker 1: stuff you should know. Part two about ants, which is 24 00:01:21,920 --> 00:01:25,360 Speaker 1: just knocking our socks off, and we we we released 25 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: this one on the first one on Tuesday. Chuck, my 26 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: socks are still off in its Thursday, that's right. And 27 00:01:31,640 --> 00:01:33,759 Speaker 1: you know, if you listen to part one, we tried 28 00:01:33,800 --> 00:01:35,840 Speaker 1: to throw in some amazing ant facts and I think 29 00:01:35,840 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 1: we I think we came through there, but most of 30 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:40,480 Speaker 1: that was a little bit of the nuts and bolts. 31 00:01:41,000 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 1: I think Part two has got a little bit more 32 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: wow factor because we talk a lot about a lot 33 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:53,280 Speaker 1: more even about the social structure of these amazing insects. Yeah. 34 00:01:53,440 --> 00:01:58,200 Speaker 1: So ants are great, great example of social speed, social 35 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:02,360 Speaker 1: insect like bees, um, some wasps, but I think there's 36 00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:05,160 Speaker 1: plenty of solitary wasps too. But let's say, like bees, 37 00:02:05,200 --> 00:02:08,040 Speaker 1: they really kind of resemble bees in that sense. Um. 38 00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: And despite you know how many ants there are and 39 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,600 Speaker 1: how many bees there are, um, apparently social insects um 40 00:02:14,760 --> 00:02:17,880 Speaker 1: only make up something like two percent of all insects species. 41 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 1: The rest are um solitary or anti social or drifters, 42 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. So um, at the heart of 43 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: any uh social insect society is the queen and usually 44 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 1: chuck the who the whole thing is so hierarchical. There's 45 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: just like one queen. Yeah, this is this is the 46 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: one part that tripped me up a little bit as 47 00:02:41,720 --> 00:02:44,560 Speaker 1: far as they're as as far as that being a 48 00:02:45,320 --> 00:02:49,160 Speaker 1: benefit for their survival, I would think, like, hey, more queens, 49 00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,440 Speaker 1: more eggs, like there should be you know, not all queens, 50 00:02:53,520 --> 00:02:56,600 Speaker 1: because obviously I get that queens need a lot of 51 00:02:56,639 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 1: special care. Um, I mean, I guess let's talk about it. 52 00:03:00,320 --> 00:03:04,000 Speaker 1: Because queens get get fed. One reason that makes them 53 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:08,639 Speaker 1: the queen is that they're the only sexually reproductive female 54 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:11,680 Speaker 1: and that's the only thing she does is mate and 55 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 1: lay tons and tons of eggs. Uh. An army aunt 56 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:16,920 Speaker 1: queen can lay up to three hundred thousand eggs in 57 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:20,239 Speaker 1: a in a few days. Uh. And they're they're bigger, 58 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: like they're just they basically sit around, they mate, they 59 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: lay eggs, and they get fed a really protein rich diet, 60 00:03:26,800 --> 00:03:29,320 Speaker 1: so they grow up to like, you know, three or 61 00:03:29,360 --> 00:03:31,800 Speaker 1: four times the size of all the other ants. Yeah. 62 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:36,080 Speaker 1: And so with the queen, um, they're they're like you 63 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: said that One of the big differences are The difference 64 00:03:38,760 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: UM is that they're they're bigger than other um female ants, 65 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,800 Speaker 1: which are worker ants. Genetically, they're basically the same, it's 66 00:03:46,880 --> 00:03:50,880 Speaker 1: just that they're much much bigger, which means UM somehow, 67 00:03:50,920 --> 00:03:54,240 Speaker 1: I think also from that protein rich diet. They're also 68 00:03:54,560 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: um they have ovaries that function as well, so they're 69 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,840 Speaker 1: able to reproduce. But that's basically the only two differences. 70 00:04:01,080 --> 00:04:03,880 Speaker 1: And that just goes to show you that any um 71 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: worker egg can be raised into a queen, right and 72 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,640 Speaker 1: we'll see, you know, cases where that might happen. Another 73 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,839 Speaker 1: difference is they live a lot longer. The queen ants 74 00:04:15,960 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: of the Black Garden aunt can live up to thirty 75 00:04:18,880 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: years apparently, Uh, female workers live about a year. And 76 00:04:23,880 --> 00:04:25,760 Speaker 1: I guess we can talk a little bit about the males. 77 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:29,040 Speaker 1: The poor male aunt, uh, they only live a week. 78 00:04:29,760 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: They are hatched from unfer They don't even bother to 79 00:04:32,400 --> 00:04:36,120 Speaker 1: fertilized eggs. For the males, they had from unfertilized eggs, 80 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: whereas all females had from fertilized eggs. And the males, 81 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: you know, they did their thing. They're there too to 82 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,599 Speaker 1: impregnate the queen and then they die. There's sex. Sex 83 00:04:47,600 --> 00:04:50,600 Speaker 1: slaves is what they are. Yeah, and and David points out, 84 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:52,839 Speaker 1: you know, Dave Russ helped us with this. He said, basically, 85 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:56,799 Speaker 1: almost any ant that you see is probably a female ant. Yeah, 86 00:04:57,000 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: not just because, um, the workers are responsible for doing everything. 87 00:05:00,560 --> 00:05:03,440 Speaker 1: But like you said, the lifespan of male land is 88 00:05:03,480 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 1: so short, the chances of you seeing one are pretty slim, 89 00:05:07,400 --> 00:05:10,159 Speaker 1: although as we'll see, there are some some times where 90 00:05:10,480 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: they're on such full spectacular display that you actually may 91 00:05:13,480 --> 00:05:17,400 Speaker 1: have seen male lands before. Sure. Yeah, we'll get to 92 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 1: that weirdness in a minute. But the females are the 93 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: workers that you know. It's like, uh, where was wonder 94 00:05:24,560 --> 00:05:29,719 Speaker 1: woman from? Uh? Amazonia? Amazonia. It's kind of like the 95 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,000 Speaker 1: society there. It's just it's all these ladies making things 96 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: happen as a big group, all in service to this queen. 97 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: And the workers do everything. They've feed and care for 98 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,120 Speaker 1: the young, they feed and care for the queen. They 99 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:46,479 Speaker 1: go out and get the food, they maintain that nest 100 00:05:46,520 --> 00:05:48,920 Speaker 1: in the colony, which we'll talk about. It's just remarkable 101 00:05:48,960 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: what they do. Uh. They're the police force, they're the army, 102 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:57,560 Speaker 1: they're the custodians. They do everything. Yeah, so like everything 103 00:05:57,560 --> 00:06:01,479 Speaker 1: that has nothing to do with um eating and laying eggs. 104 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,279 Speaker 1: That's that's that's the workers doing all that stuff. It's 105 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,080 Speaker 1: pretty cool. And depending on the species, sometimes the workers 106 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:14,640 Speaker 1: are um more specialized than another species. Sometimes they'll be 107 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:18,039 Speaker 1: like major workers who are much larger UM than the 108 00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,120 Speaker 1: minor workers, so they'll be the ones that go out 109 00:06:21,120 --> 00:06:24,320 Speaker 1: and like forage and maybe defend the nest while the 110 00:06:24,360 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: minor workers, the smaller ones, are left behind to tend 111 00:06:27,520 --> 00:06:30,719 Speaker 1: to the the larva and the pup a and um 112 00:06:31,000 --> 00:06:34,440 Speaker 1: and basically raise the next generation. So there's there can 113 00:06:34,440 --> 00:06:36,880 Speaker 1: be like specialization of what you do as an ant 114 00:06:36,920 --> 00:06:40,280 Speaker 1: depending on your size or how you were raised. That's right, 115 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:44,320 Speaker 1: and so uh, it's a very strict castiste and basically 116 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,599 Speaker 1: um there's no like working your way up the ladder. 117 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:50,120 Speaker 1: It seems like you kind of have your job. You're 118 00:06:50,160 --> 00:06:54,680 Speaker 1: happy to do it. Um Ants are very happy, emotional 119 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,159 Speaker 1: little insects, right, Yeah, they really wear their hearts on 120 00:06:58,200 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: their sleeves. You can tell if an ant is having 121 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: a bad day. But the good thing about it is 122 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:05,479 Speaker 1: you can cheer them up pretty pretty easily. To just 123 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,600 Speaker 1: hold your finger out lit him climb up on your finger. 124 00:07:07,880 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: They find it so delightful and if you have a 125 00:07:09,800 --> 00:07:13,160 Speaker 1: little honeydew in your pocket, you can really turn their 126 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:16,240 Speaker 1: day around. Uh. Now, you know we said we mentioned 127 00:07:16,240 --> 00:07:20,040 Speaker 1: the males just basically impregnate the queen then die, but 128 00:07:20,160 --> 00:07:24,720 Speaker 1: I didn't really quite get this part about the genetics 129 00:07:24,760 --> 00:07:30,400 Speaker 1: of the chromosomeal genetics. So basically, a male is just 130 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:34,640 Speaker 1: an egg that has a genome from it his mother 131 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 1: from the queen. Usually the queen um a female is created, 132 00:07:41,080 --> 00:07:45,040 Speaker 1: so like that would mean that all unfertilized eggs are males, 133 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:50,400 Speaker 1: and then the queen comes along and fertilizes some select ones. 134 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: And I think it's actually dependent on what the workers 135 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 1: point out. I think the workers actually decide how many 136 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:00,000 Speaker 1: new female workers are needed compared to how many males 137 00:08:00,000 --> 00:08:02,280 Speaker 1: are are needed. And then the queen comes along and 138 00:08:02,320 --> 00:08:07,040 Speaker 1: fertilizes some proportion of those unfertilized male eggs, and then 139 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 1: those become workers female workers. And then in some cases 140 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 1: when there's not a queen, say a queen died or 141 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: something like that, a colony would find itself up the creek. 142 00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: But apparently there's plenty of ants species where the workers 143 00:08:23,560 --> 00:08:28,400 Speaker 1: can actually lay unfertilized male eggs to raise a generation 144 00:08:28,840 --> 00:08:31,600 Speaker 1: of males that can mate with a queen that the 145 00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:35,120 Speaker 1: um that the workers produce as well, so the workers 146 00:08:35,160 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 1: can keep a colony from dying off if the queen dies. Yeah. Yeah, 147 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:43,000 Speaker 1: After I saw that some of these queens can live 148 00:08:43,040 --> 00:08:47,080 Speaker 1: thirty years, I just became paranoid about like accidentally killing 149 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:50,200 Speaker 1: a queen. But I think that probably doesn't happen because 150 00:08:50,200 --> 00:08:53,280 Speaker 1: they're never out there to be stepped on, right, No, 151 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,000 Speaker 1: it's it's you pretty much won't have to invade a 152 00:08:56,080 --> 00:08:58,800 Speaker 1: nest like you're an exterminator if you're killing the queen. 153 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:01,920 Speaker 1: Oh man, But that's what they do. I mean, that's 154 00:09:01,960 --> 00:09:05,720 Speaker 1: what they're trying to go after the queen. So yeah, 155 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: we're we have um a mole problem in my yard. 156 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:12,719 Speaker 1: And I'm just like, I guess we have a mole 157 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:15,080 Speaker 1: problem because I'm certainly not gonna let somebody come along 158 00:09:15,120 --> 00:09:17,600 Speaker 1: and drop m eight s into these mole holes and 159 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,640 Speaker 1: blow them up. But luckily I found a service that 160 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,360 Speaker 1: uses something called mole scram and it's just kind of 161 00:09:24,360 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: like an irritant, but it doesn't actually hurt them in 162 00:09:27,160 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: any way. They just don't want to be around it. 163 00:09:29,160 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 1: So I'm gonna give that one a try, because they 164 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:34,600 Speaker 1: will mess up your lawn really quickly. I thought you're 165 00:09:34,600 --> 00:09:37,280 Speaker 1: gonna say, a guy comes by with a flute, I 166 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,160 Speaker 1: wish leads them down to your neighbor's out. I just 167 00:09:40,200 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: did our pipe Piper episode as a select so I 168 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:46,400 Speaker 1: heard it recently and it's really good. But the first 169 00:09:46,480 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: twenty minutes is really odd. It's like oddly like we're 170 00:09:51,679 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 1: like challenging one another and it's just really weird. And 171 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: then I don't know, we're just like showing off to 172 00:09:58,320 --> 00:10:01,160 Speaker 1: another You'll just have to listen to It's it's pretty interesting, 173 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:05,040 Speaker 1: but it really it really um comes out on top. 174 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,360 Speaker 1: It's a good episode. Interesting, that's not the stuff you 175 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:10,199 Speaker 1: should know way, I know, That's what I'm saying. It's 176 00:10:10,200 --> 00:10:13,080 Speaker 1: it's weird. It's a weird start join episode, but usually 177 00:10:13,120 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: shrink in the face of competition. That's all right. We 178 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,240 Speaker 1: don't challenge each other. You get very strange, all right. 179 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: I guess we need to get to the nests here. Um, 180 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: this is kind of some of the most remarkable stuff 181 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:30,320 Speaker 1: that you're ever gonna see. I saw this one. Do 182 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:33,440 Speaker 1: yourself a favor go to YouTube and I can't remember 183 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,600 Speaker 1: what the search term was, but like amazing, uh aunt 184 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,280 Speaker 1: colony or something like that, and it's like a three 185 00:10:39,280 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: minute video where they found uh They wanted to research 186 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: what these things look like below ground, and so they 187 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,800 Speaker 1: pumped um concrete into the hole. I don't know where 188 00:10:51,800 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: this was. It took ten tons of concrete to fill 189 00:10:56,080 --> 00:10:58,120 Speaker 1: this thing, and then they let it sit for a 190 00:10:58,160 --> 00:11:02,800 Speaker 1: month and then they you know, excavated or whatever like 191 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,360 Speaker 1: you would a fossil and dig around it and they 192 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:09,320 Speaker 1: dug out what ended up being. It looked like about 193 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 1: the size of a Little League baseball in field, twenties 194 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:17,480 Speaker 1: six ft deep, a hundred and seventy ft across, and 195 00:11:17,600 --> 00:11:20,600 Speaker 1: it was one of the most unbelievable things I've ever seen. 196 00:11:20,640 --> 00:11:23,520 Speaker 1: It looked like, literally like an architect had designed it. 197 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:27,320 Speaker 1: Um they were talking about the efficiencies of you know, 198 00:11:27,480 --> 00:11:30,920 Speaker 1: every tube was like it was the shortest route to 199 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:33,000 Speaker 1: get to the next thing. It was like it looked 200 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:35,480 Speaker 1: like it had been purposefully designed that way. And it's 201 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: just the the DNA of these ants that know how 202 00:11:38,440 --> 00:11:41,319 Speaker 1: to do this stuff. So, yeah, you you mentioned something 203 00:11:41,320 --> 00:11:44,360 Speaker 1: important that the tunnels and the connections they make between 204 00:11:44,360 --> 00:11:46,920 Speaker 1: all these chambers, they do tend to be like the 205 00:11:46,960 --> 00:11:51,760 Speaker 1: shortest route between them, and ants also apparently will will 206 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,600 Speaker 1: um burrow on these really kind of steep angles, but 207 00:11:55,679 --> 00:11:58,439 Speaker 1: they're at the angle of repose, which is the steepest 208 00:11:58,480 --> 00:12:01,160 Speaker 1: angle that's something like pile of dirt or a pile 209 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:06,000 Speaker 1: of sand can maintain without collapsing. And somehow ants just no, like, oh, 210 00:12:06,040 --> 00:12:07,920 Speaker 1: this is the angle I need to be to be 211 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 1: um digging at. Yeah, I saw that one thing you sent, uh, 212 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:13,720 Speaker 1: and I guess we can talk about the force chains here. 213 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,960 Speaker 1: It's pretty interesting. But um, when they were studying these ants, 214 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,080 Speaker 1: they thought maybe like maybe they're doing like a game 215 00:12:20,080 --> 00:12:23,240 Speaker 1: of Jinga when they're making these tunnels where they they 216 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: feel a little bit and kind of touch the block 217 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:28,439 Speaker 1: which in this case or little individual grains of sand 218 00:12:28,520 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: or dirt or whatever, to see if it would weaken 219 00:12:31,000 --> 00:12:33,360 Speaker 1: the structure. And I think after the end of this 220 00:12:33,440 --> 00:12:36,840 Speaker 1: experiment they were like, no, they're not they're not doing that. 221 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: They are just coded to do this. Yeah, And they 222 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:42,520 Speaker 1: were like, we have no idea how ants know what 223 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:45,120 Speaker 1: little grains of sand or dirt to pull out and 224 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: what ones they shouldn't because their load bearing grains. But 225 00:12:48,720 --> 00:12:51,920 Speaker 1: they just do and they're really successful at it. And 226 00:12:51,960 --> 00:12:55,520 Speaker 1: what they what they somehow are aware of, is that 227 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,320 Speaker 1: there are things called what you said, force chains, where 228 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 1: if you follow like a force chain of soil or 229 00:13:01,520 --> 00:13:05,520 Speaker 1: dirt underground, like in a cross section of ground, um, 230 00:13:05,559 --> 00:13:08,160 Speaker 1: those are the things that are holding the soil in place. 231 00:13:09,000 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: And not all of the pieces or grains of dirt 232 00:13:11,480 --> 00:13:14,040 Speaker 1: or sand are responsible for holding the soil in place. 233 00:13:14,040 --> 00:13:16,679 Speaker 1: So you could conceivably move one and leave another in place, 234 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 1: and that that column of sand or dirt above is 235 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:23,080 Speaker 1: going to stay. In tech somehow ants know what grains 236 00:13:23,120 --> 00:13:25,840 Speaker 1: are load bearing and what grains aren't. And so when 237 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:30,000 Speaker 1: they're doing this, they're actually removing, um the sands that 238 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:32,079 Speaker 1: that aren't part of the force chain. And when they 239 00:13:32,120 --> 00:13:36,160 Speaker 1: do chuck, it actually reinforces the structure of the force 240 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:39,360 Speaker 1: chain that it diverts it to the outside of the 241 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:42,240 Speaker 1: tunnel they're digging, which just makes it that much stronger. 242 00:13:43,880 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 1: And there and again they're not just kind of testing 243 00:13:46,080 --> 00:13:48,080 Speaker 1: it like a game of jinga like that would make sense, 244 00:13:48,120 --> 00:13:49,840 Speaker 1: and I see why they thought that might be. What's 245 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: happening is like they push a little bit to see 246 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,000 Speaker 1: if anything starts to give, it's again, it's just like 247 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:57,959 Speaker 1: a hundred and thirty million years of practice. Yeah. And 248 00:13:58,080 --> 00:14:01,200 Speaker 1: because they're so good at at creating these burrows and 249 00:14:01,200 --> 00:14:05,520 Speaker 1: tunnels and chambers that that not only UM maintained, but 250 00:14:05,600 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: also actually reinforced the force chains underground. UM like an 251 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:13,560 Speaker 1: ant colony, a subtraining and colony might hold up for 252 00:14:13,720 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 1: decades once they dig it out. I felt terrible when 253 00:14:17,520 --> 00:14:19,360 Speaker 1: I saw this thing being pumped full of concrete. I 254 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:22,800 Speaker 1: didn't know if it was vacant or you know, there 255 00:14:22,840 --> 00:14:27,680 Speaker 1: was some pretty decent pile of dirt on top. But um, 256 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:29,360 Speaker 1: I know you made the point with that stuff he 257 00:14:29,440 --> 00:14:31,120 Speaker 1: sent over that it's sort of like the tip of 258 00:14:31,160 --> 00:14:33,840 Speaker 1: the iceberg. If you see a little ant hill in 259 00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,440 Speaker 1: your neighborhood here in the United States, it's you know, 260 00:14:36,680 --> 00:14:39,360 Speaker 1: twelve inches across and like sixtright inches. I there's a 261 00:14:39,360 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: lot more going on under the surface. Yeah, I mean 262 00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: tens of feet underground. Like you said, the size of 263 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,120 Speaker 1: a little league field laid out on its side, tipped 264 00:14:49,200 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: up on its end, and buried underground. That's enormous. Yeah, 265 00:14:53,120 --> 00:14:55,000 Speaker 1: I mean this thing was huge. It was really really 266 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:57,360 Speaker 1: something Okay, chuck. So we're starting to get a little 267 00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: worked up. I think we need to melow out again. 268 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:02,320 Speaker 1: Do you want to take a break, Yeah, let's do it. Okay, 269 00:15:02,360 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: we'll be right back everybody, all right, So we would 270 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 1: you with a little bit on these ant colonies in 271 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:33,480 Speaker 1: the nest and what's going on underground. I mentioned at 272 00:15:33,520 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: the beginning of episode one, these army ants who don't 273 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: root down in a specific place. They're one of the 274 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:45,280 Speaker 1: only nomadic species, and they go miles and miles, which 275 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: is a long long way for a little tiny ant, 276 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:51,320 Speaker 1: up to a million at a time, and to go 277 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:53,680 Speaker 1: to these places, they need to eat a lot of food, 278 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: and they basically make what are temporary encampments out of themselves, 279 00:16:00,560 --> 00:16:03,360 Speaker 1: you know, kind of like fire ants make a raft 280 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,720 Speaker 1: out of themselves. These guys make a bivouac out of themselves. Yeah. 281 00:16:06,760 --> 00:16:09,440 Speaker 1: They make a big I mean, look this up again 282 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:11,760 Speaker 1: with these pictures. It's a it looks like a big 283 00:16:11,800 --> 00:16:15,880 Speaker 1: ant ball, but I guess it's hollow on the inside, right, Yeah, 284 00:16:15,960 --> 00:16:18,840 Speaker 1: And then underneath you've got a bunch of different kinds 285 00:16:18,840 --> 00:16:23,160 Speaker 1: of worker ants um raising and directing where to where 286 00:16:23,160 --> 00:16:27,880 Speaker 1: to fertilize, and feeding and creating a new generation of 287 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: worker ants, and then after that generation is raised to adults, 288 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: they break down their bivouac and DeCamp and just keep moving. Unbelievable, 289 00:16:37,760 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: truly remarkable. They also can form super colonies. I know 290 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:44,840 Speaker 1: that there's a um one kind of ant. It's an 291 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: Argentinian ant that they don't do this in Argentina, but 292 00:16:47,760 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: in Europe they there is one super colony that goes 293 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: up the coast from Italy to Spain for thirty seven 294 00:16:55,600 --> 00:16:59,720 Speaker 1: hundred miles. That is all technically one, you know, it's 295 00:16:59,720 --> 00:17:03,080 Speaker 1: like one big. It's like the Pando of ants. They 296 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:05,280 Speaker 1: just get together with their friends and they're like, hey, 297 00:17:05,520 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: I know these people are like behind me by ten ft. 298 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,040 Speaker 1: You want to meet them? And then that linked up 299 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:15,480 Speaker 1: for thirty seven miles. Yes, all from Italy to Spain 300 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:19,639 Speaker 1: to northwest Spain. It's just astounding. And you said something 301 00:17:19,640 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 1: really important. You said that they don't this Argentinian aunt 302 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,359 Speaker 1: doesn't do that back in Argentina, and um they looked 303 00:17:26,359 --> 00:17:29,240 Speaker 1: into why, and apparently the reason why is because back 304 00:17:29,280 --> 00:17:33,600 Speaker 1: in Argentina they're very genetically diverse, so that that neighbor 305 00:17:33,680 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: ten feet away is basically an enemy because all of 306 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: these ants are trying to preserve their queen's line as 307 00:17:40,200 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 1: as best they can, So another nest is just a 308 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,280 Speaker 1: totally different genetic line, so it's a it's an enemy. 309 00:17:46,320 --> 00:17:49,959 Speaker 1: But when they find land somewhere new, like say Italy 310 00:17:50,119 --> 00:17:54,640 Speaker 1: or Spain or whatever, that's a much less genetically diverse group. 311 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:58,720 Speaker 1: So as it reproduces, they form nearby colonies that are 312 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: pretty similar to the original colony or the last colony. 313 00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: And so you have these massive super colonies that are 314 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:09,879 Speaker 1: super cooperative because there are basically just extensions of the 315 00:18:09,960 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: queen's genetic line. Wow. Yeah yeah. And apparently ants also 316 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,560 Speaker 1: get from places like Argentina to Italy and have spread 317 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:22,159 Speaker 1: throughout the world largely thanks to humans who use like 318 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:25,399 Speaker 1: soil and sand as ship's ballast. And then when you 319 00:18:25,880 --> 00:18:28,520 Speaker 1: get to the next place, you unload the ballast and 320 00:18:28,560 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 1: there's all those ants you dug up from the last 321 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 1: place you just set sail from. Wow, I don't know 322 00:18:34,080 --> 00:18:36,600 Speaker 1: that that's how they gotten around. That's how they think 323 00:18:36,640 --> 00:18:40,240 Speaker 1: that the uh, the red imported fire ant came here. 324 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:43,959 Speaker 1: All right, So that's pretty good. Here's another remarkable thing 325 00:18:44,000 --> 00:18:47,960 Speaker 1: about ants. Uh Ants don't fly. Generally, everyone knows that 326 00:18:48,040 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: ants don't have wings. But if a colony is super 327 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:54,080 Speaker 1: successful and there are too many ants and they're out 328 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: growing their own living conditions, they will just grow wings 329 00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,919 Speaker 1: and fly up in the air males and females and 330 00:19:02,040 --> 00:19:10,160 Speaker 1: have a big mid air right, That's that's what it is. Yeah, 331 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:13,040 Speaker 1: for sure. They grow wings and they say, all right, 332 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,240 Speaker 1: we're gonna have wings now everyone. I know we don't normally, 333 00:19:15,480 --> 00:19:17,240 Speaker 1: but we're getting too big, so we're all gonna grow wings. 334 00:19:17,320 --> 00:19:18,600 Speaker 1: Then let's go up and fly in the air and 335 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:22,200 Speaker 1: have sex. So so um, when the when the colony 336 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: gets too big, there's some sort of signal that the 337 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,720 Speaker 1: workers pick up on. They're like, oh, things are getting 338 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:28,600 Speaker 1: a little crowded here. I'm not sure what it is. 339 00:19:28,840 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 1: Nobody is sure what it is at the moment, but 340 00:19:30,920 --> 00:19:33,600 Speaker 1: there's some signal they pick up on, and so they 341 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:39,120 Speaker 1: start raising a generation of queens, of virgin queens called princesses, 342 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:44,960 Speaker 1: and those princesses um fly off on this Usually it's 343 00:19:45,000 --> 00:19:47,359 Speaker 1: not really actually a day, but in some places like 344 00:19:47,400 --> 00:19:50,120 Speaker 1: the UK, they celebrated as flying aunt d a kind 345 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,119 Speaker 1: of like how you know when um uh cicadas come 346 00:19:53,200 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: up after like seventeen years here in the States. I 347 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:57,480 Speaker 1: get the impression it's kind of like that, although it 348 00:19:57,480 --> 00:20:00,400 Speaker 1: happens every year. Um. And if it's hu it out, 349 00:20:00,760 --> 00:20:02,800 Speaker 1: if it's hot out and it rained the night before, 350 00:20:03,040 --> 00:20:05,360 Speaker 1: there's a good chance you're gonna see swarms of flying 351 00:20:05,359 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 1: ants having air sex. Like you were saying, um, but 352 00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:11,359 Speaker 1: what those are different virgin queens and they're going as 353 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 1: far away from their their nest as possible because that 354 00:20:15,359 --> 00:20:18,919 Speaker 1: increases the likelihood that they're going to find, um, some 355 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:23,720 Speaker 1: of the generations of winged male drones that were raised 356 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:26,480 Speaker 1: in other nests, and they're going to have sex, and 357 00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: then they're going to go off and found their own 358 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:30,880 Speaker 1: nests after that. Now that they've been now that they've 359 00:20:30,920 --> 00:20:33,679 Speaker 1: gotten some sperm, that's right, And they can store the 360 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:36,359 Speaker 1: sperm for quite a long time. In some cases, the 361 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:40,359 Speaker 1: queen leafcutter ant can store viable sperm for up to 362 00:20:40,400 --> 00:20:43,959 Speaker 1: twenty years and just eat it out a little one 363 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,320 Speaker 1: little bit at a time. And these were dave used 364 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:51,120 Speaker 1: and just keep fertilized in generation after generation of eggs. Uh. 365 00:20:51,119 --> 00:20:52,919 Speaker 1: And I don't think we said the name of this 366 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: air sex there. Actually it's called nuptial flights. Yeah. I 367 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 1: remember in the Firefly episode they had like nuptial gifts. Yeah. 368 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,600 Speaker 1: I was like, we've talked about that somewhere. I looked 369 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,320 Speaker 1: it up. It was definitely fireflies. It's pretty amazing. And 370 00:21:05,359 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: then after that, you know, the males, as always, they 371 00:21:07,320 --> 00:21:10,040 Speaker 1: die off, and then hopefully you got a bunch of 372 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:14,040 Speaker 1: new colonies. Yeah. If so, this is like the one 373 00:21:14,119 --> 00:21:17,040 Speaker 1: time the queen is off on her own for about 374 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,160 Speaker 1: two or three weeks. She's like busy founding an entirely 375 00:21:20,200 --> 00:21:23,400 Speaker 1: new colony. Um. There's nobody there to feed her. Um. 376 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:25,959 Speaker 1: She's just laying a bunch of eggs and she's choosing 377 00:21:25,960 --> 00:21:29,240 Speaker 1: which or fertile, which to fertilize, which not. She's probably 378 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:31,240 Speaker 1: fertilizing most of them because she needs a lot of 379 00:21:31,280 --> 00:21:34,240 Speaker 1: workers right then, and not very many male drones to 380 00:21:34,280 --> 00:21:38,200 Speaker 1: have sex with, so she's basically just laying in fertilizing 381 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:42,920 Speaker 1: worker eggs, hatches them herself, and then once she successfully 382 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,840 Speaker 1: has a generation or two of workers under her belt, 383 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:48,880 Speaker 1: now her colonies got a pretty good chance of becoming 384 00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,639 Speaker 1: stable because the workers can start to take over. She 385 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: can do what she does, which is lay hundreds to 386 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,119 Speaker 1: thousands or hundreds of thousands of lay eggs every day, 387 00:21:57,160 --> 00:21:59,639 Speaker 1: that's right. So if you ever see ants flying around, 388 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,880 Speaker 1: you know what's going on. Yeah, and they're they're they're not. 389 00:22:03,320 --> 00:22:06,320 Speaker 1: Don't confuse them with termites. Apparently they do bear some similarities, 390 00:22:06,320 --> 00:22:08,000 Speaker 1: but if you look closely, you can you can tell 391 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,440 Speaker 1: the difference. Like just the color alone is a dead giveaway. Yeah, 392 00:22:11,480 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 1: I think termites are usually kind of white. Yeah, but 393 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:19,320 Speaker 1: the infestation in your house, it's it's probably termites, Yeah, 394 00:22:19,359 --> 00:22:22,320 Speaker 1: because the ants are flying around outside. They don't want 395 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:24,679 Speaker 1: to be inside right now, not for their nuptial flight, 396 00:22:25,040 --> 00:22:27,520 Speaker 1: that's right. So that must be like a pretty lonely 397 00:22:27,600 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 1: and scary two or three weeks for that that new queen, 398 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,359 Speaker 1: you know, I would say, So, I didn't get a 399 00:22:33,400 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: good sense of what the sort of survival rate for 400 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: that was. I didn't either. I'll bet it's all over 401 00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:41,200 Speaker 1: the place, because again, there's like ten thousand to fourteen 402 00:22:41,200 --> 00:22:44,639 Speaker 1: thousand species of ant, you know. Yeah, but it seems 403 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:48,240 Speaker 1: like a big deal when it happens, when they finally 404 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,879 Speaker 1: reached that they're carrying capacity or whatever, and they're like, 405 00:22:51,880 --> 00:22:54,280 Speaker 1: all right, we gotta do this thing. It seems like 406 00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:56,440 Speaker 1: it's a. It's a big deal to kind of split 407 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: up that colony. One thing I didn't see is if 408 00:22:59,080 --> 00:23:02,199 Speaker 1: you could make a bard of um winged ants like 409 00:23:02,240 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: you could a swarm of bees, because they have, would 410 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,959 Speaker 1: be really impressive. Oh that just makes me itchy just 411 00:23:09,000 --> 00:23:12,120 Speaker 1: thinking about it. So maybe we should talk a little 412 00:23:12,119 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 1: bit about the leaf cutter ant. Uh. If you see 413 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:17,760 Speaker 1: videos of the leaf cutter, you've if you've seen any 414 00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:20,440 Speaker 1: documentary on ants, they probably talked a lot about the 415 00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:23,639 Speaker 1: leaf cutter because those are the ones that you know, 416 00:23:23,800 --> 00:23:27,119 Speaker 1: literally cut the leaf with those mandibles and you see them, 417 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,239 Speaker 1: you know, it looks like they gotta looks like they 418 00:23:29,320 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: got a carpet knife. And how cleanly they cut through 419 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,560 Speaker 1: that Christmas paper. It's really neat, uh leaf and then 420 00:23:36,680 --> 00:23:39,080 Speaker 1: one bit of leaf at a time, they're marching that 421 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: stuff out of there. Yeah, and I mean they these 422 00:23:41,640 --> 00:23:44,200 Speaker 1: leaves are enormous compared to the bodyway. But again, remember 423 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:46,720 Speaker 1: ants are super strong, and leaf cutter ants in particular 424 00:23:46,800 --> 00:23:49,960 Speaker 1: can be very strong. They we talked about how um 425 00:23:50,040 --> 00:23:54,920 Speaker 1: sometimes workers are divided up into different specialties. Leaf cutters 426 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:57,840 Speaker 1: are one of those where they have majors. They're the 427 00:23:57,840 --> 00:23:59,720 Speaker 1: biggest and the strongest of all of them, so they 428 00:23:59,720 --> 00:24:02,760 Speaker 1: carry enormous leaves compared to their body um. And they 429 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,880 Speaker 1: actually are basically like cutting down paths like machetes um 430 00:24:06,920 --> 00:24:09,359 Speaker 1: to to clear a path for the smaller ones. The 431 00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,760 Speaker 1: media and then the miniums that try the media do 432 00:24:12,920 --> 00:24:16,760 Speaker 1: carry a lot of the leaves. But the little miniums, 433 00:24:16,800 --> 00:24:19,960 Speaker 1: those little guys are just the farmers, uh, and they 434 00:24:20,040 --> 00:24:23,320 Speaker 1: tend to this fungus. And this is you know, it's 435 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:26,080 Speaker 1: pretty cool enough that they take these leaves, they cut 436 00:24:26,119 --> 00:24:29,359 Speaker 1: them up, and they transport them over these distances, uh, 437 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:32,719 Speaker 1: considering how heavy they are. But the really remarkable thing 438 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 1: about the leaf cutter is that they are just as 439 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:38,960 Speaker 1: the other ants um kind of raise the cattle of 440 00:24:39,000 --> 00:24:43,760 Speaker 1: these little apods. These are actual farmers of a fungus 441 00:24:44,440 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: and they have the symbiotic relationship with this fungus that 442 00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:52,640 Speaker 1: they farm underground. Yeah, so when they cut these leaves, 443 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: they're they're fertilizing the fungus with these leaves to to 444 00:24:56,119 --> 00:24:58,960 Speaker 1: let them decompose and let the fungus basically eat the leaves. 445 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,119 Speaker 1: The adults act really um drink the sap from the 446 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:05,960 Speaker 1: leaves because it's it's sweet. But they don't actually leave 447 00:25:06,000 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 1: the leaves. They leave the leaves for the fungus. And 448 00:25:08,720 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: the reason that they grow fungus and like, there's really 449 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:13,800 Speaker 1: no better word to describe what they do than farm. 450 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: They farm this fungus. They tend to it, they heal 451 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:19,040 Speaker 1: it when it's sick, they know how to harvest it, 452 00:25:19,080 --> 00:25:21,520 Speaker 1: they know how to get it to grow just right. Um, 453 00:25:21,560 --> 00:25:24,280 Speaker 1: the reason that they farm this fungus is because it 454 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:28,720 Speaker 1: produces a food that the ants harvest to feed their young, 455 00:25:28,920 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 1: to raise their young on. So symbiotic is right because 456 00:25:32,440 --> 00:25:35,920 Speaker 1: they definitely want this fungus to be as healthy as possible. 457 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,240 Speaker 1: So the fungus really thrives in the presence of these ants, 458 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:42,760 Speaker 1: and the fungus in turn provides the ants with food 459 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:46,120 Speaker 1: for their young, but also in some cases chuck um 460 00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,520 Speaker 1: antibiotics like ana microbials that that the fungus produces the 461 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:53,360 Speaker 1: ants will coat them their bodies with and it will 462 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,919 Speaker 1: prevent them from being infected as well. Yeah, and not 463 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:00,120 Speaker 1: only that, if they if they need to split off 464 00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,920 Speaker 1: they don't like growings and fly up and have arab 465 00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,440 Speaker 1: nuturals or whatever, they just leave. But just like you 466 00:26:06,480 --> 00:26:11,120 Speaker 1: would carry the a sour dough mother, uh to your 467 00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:14,120 Speaker 1: to your new bakery. They actually carry a big chunk 468 00:26:14,119 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: of that fungus over to start their new crop in 469 00:26:17,119 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: their new home. That's so cool. It's amazing, it really is, 470 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,679 Speaker 1: especially if you imagine the fungus having a face and 471 00:26:24,840 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: talking right and also being really grateful for the help. 472 00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:32,440 Speaker 1: I think in the in the in the movie they did, 473 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,479 Speaker 1: in the animated film they did. I think of it 474 00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,120 Speaker 1: as kind of like looking like have you ever seen 475 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:42,040 Speaker 1: that movie basket Case? Have I seen what was that? No, terrible, 476 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:45,280 Speaker 1: terrible b horror movie from like the late seventies, yea, 477 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:48,000 Speaker 1: like the guy carried his brother around in a basket. 478 00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: I don't think I saw that, but I think I 479 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 1: remember that when I worked at Vision Video in college. 480 00:26:52,359 --> 00:26:55,760 Speaker 1: So bad. It's really really bad, But it looks kind 481 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,640 Speaker 1: of like a little piece of fungus that you would 482 00:26:57,640 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: carry to a new ant cole. This is what kept 483 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: flashing through my head. I wish you would get out 484 00:27:04,280 --> 00:27:06,280 Speaker 1: of my head. But I need to look at that 485 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:09,199 Speaker 1: poster or that movie box because it's it's in my 486 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,520 Speaker 1: brain somewhere. I just can't call it up. Let's let's 487 00:27:12,560 --> 00:27:15,199 Speaker 1: watch that movie together tonight. All right, let's do it. 488 00:27:16,119 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 1: I'll truf butter. Oh man, you're making me hungry. You 489 00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:24,760 Speaker 1: first you wanted a twinkie, Now you want some popcorn 490 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,879 Speaker 1: with truffle butter. Alright, what I really want to do 491 00:27:27,960 --> 00:27:30,280 Speaker 1: is take a break and then we will finish up 492 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:33,560 Speaker 1: all about ants at least for now, unless we said, 493 00:27:33,600 --> 00:27:35,920 Speaker 1: he come back and to this well again and we'll 494 00:27:35,920 --> 00:28:03,160 Speaker 1: talk about how they communicate via these pheromones right after this. Okay, Chuck, 495 00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:05,439 Speaker 1: So I think we said at the top of the 496 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,639 Speaker 1: first episode that pheromones are basically they may be the 497 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:14,800 Speaker 1: thing that ants use to to um to to carry 498 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:17,879 Speaker 1: out just about all of their individual behavior, which collectively, 499 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:20,120 Speaker 1: if you put millions of ants together doing the same thing, 500 00:28:20,200 --> 00:28:24,000 Speaker 1: knowing what they're supposed to do, much more complex behaviors emerged. 501 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,760 Speaker 1: But it seems to largely come down to these pheromones, 502 00:28:27,800 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: which are kind of like since um that the ants 503 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,400 Speaker 1: pick up kind of like noses using their antenna instead. 504 00:28:35,960 --> 00:28:40,160 Speaker 1: It's kind of like a language almost two. Because they're communicating. 505 00:28:40,840 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 1: I mean we should also say that they also uh, 506 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:48,520 Speaker 1: they can like drum on their abdomen to raise an alarm. 507 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: They can make different sounds like crickets. Uh, they can 508 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:55,280 Speaker 1: they can rub different parts of their body. They can 509 00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:00,440 Speaker 1: rub their legs against their exoskeleton, is called stridulation. They 510 00:29:00,440 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 1: can vibrate their mandibles. So they do sort of speak 511 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: in some ways and here in some ways, But it 512 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,920 Speaker 1: seems like it seems almost secondary to what's going on 513 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,040 Speaker 1: with this this pheromone thing. Yeah, because there's just so 514 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,560 Speaker 1: many different pheromones, and they produce pheromones from a special 515 00:29:17,600 --> 00:29:21,440 Speaker 1: scent gland um and the they you I don't know 516 00:29:22,120 --> 00:29:26,640 Speaker 1: how they differentiate pheromones when they're producing them, but different 517 00:29:26,840 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: It seems like they have different pheromones for different things 518 00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:33,040 Speaker 1: that they're trying to signal, like there's an alarm signal. Um. 519 00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:35,760 Speaker 1: They use pheromones to recruit some ants to go do 520 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: something like if if one's maybe tending to the nest 521 00:29:39,120 --> 00:29:42,040 Speaker 1: and another one needs help tunneling, it will it will 522 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,560 Speaker 1: create some pheromones signal and recruit the other aunt to 523 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:48,240 Speaker 1: come help. It um. They mark territory with it um. 524 00:29:48,320 --> 00:29:51,640 Speaker 1: They will, uh, they will use it to discourage rivals, 525 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 1: like if somebody's trying to lay eggs or cannibalize eggs. 526 00:29:54,760 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: They can use pheromones for that kind of stuff. Basically 527 00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:01,080 Speaker 1: almost all of their communications seems to be pheromones, and 528 00:30:01,120 --> 00:30:05,920 Speaker 1: that communication is really varied and wide. Yeah. So a 529 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: great example Dave uses is if there's an intruder, if 530 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,800 Speaker 1: like a spider comes upon an ant nest, the ants 531 00:30:12,840 --> 00:30:14,960 Speaker 1: that see the spider come in that are I guess, 532 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:17,320 Speaker 1: you know, these soldier ants standing guard near the opening. 533 00:30:17,960 --> 00:30:20,880 Speaker 1: They will start to admit the alarm pheromone I guess, 534 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:26,040 Speaker 1: along with beating on their abdomens uh for this alarm vibration, 535 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:29,520 Speaker 1: and then it becomes sort of like a game of telephone. 536 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:34,280 Speaker 1: The next closest ants here this stuff. Some of them might, 537 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:36,480 Speaker 1: depending on what their job is, rush up to help 538 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:39,520 Speaker 1: if they're like soldier ants or you know, or guard 539 00:30:39,560 --> 00:30:42,600 Speaker 1: ants that will help guard the nest. Others run back 540 00:30:43,040 --> 00:30:46,160 Speaker 1: and they admit pheromones to tell everyone else, and then 541 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 1: they all start emitting pheromones, and it's essentially like a 542 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:53,040 Speaker 1: volume knob going up until everyone knows what's happening, or 543 00:30:53,120 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: until the emergency is over or both. Yeah, and the 544 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: emergency is signaled as over because the pheromones start to 545 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:02,320 Speaker 1: ail off. And one of the things about pheromones that 546 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:06,120 Speaker 1: we understand is that they're volatile organic compounds, which means 547 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: they dissipate fairly quickly because again they're volatile at room 548 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: temperature in the air. Um So as long as you 549 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,160 Speaker 1: don't have a bunch of ants all pumping out this 550 00:31:14,240 --> 00:31:16,959 Speaker 1: warning pheromone at the same time, the volume is going 551 00:31:17,000 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: to start to dissipate and turn down, and eventually the 552 00:31:19,880 --> 00:31:24,920 Speaker 1: the emergency subsides, and so the ants respond to pheromones, 553 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:27,720 Speaker 1: so their response to the pheromone is going to subside 554 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: as well, and everything will go back to normal because 555 00:31:30,000 --> 00:31:34,120 Speaker 1: the emergency is over right. So if you've ever uh 556 00:31:34,200 --> 00:31:36,280 Speaker 1: and this happens to me, I don't have an ant 557 00:31:36,320 --> 00:31:39,840 Speaker 1: problem here, but when we go to the lake sometimes, uh, 558 00:31:39,880 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: we have ant problems there because it's out in the 559 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: middle of the woods, of course. But I will, you know, 560 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,400 Speaker 1: clean up really good, I think at the end of 561 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,080 Speaker 1: the night, and if I leave a crumb of a 562 00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:54,640 Speaker 1: Twinkie out there, I'll come back the next morning just 563 00:31:54,800 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: infested with these long lines of ants. And I'm always like, 564 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,600 Speaker 1: how do they know it's there? How do tell everyone 565 00:32:00,600 --> 00:32:03,360 Speaker 1: else it's there? And now I know it's pheromones. It's 566 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:06,440 Speaker 1: the same thing as if the spider invades, some ant 567 00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:11,320 Speaker 1: sees this twinky crumb and amidst this pheromone, it's like, hey, everybody, 568 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:15,000 Speaker 1: there's some twinkie over here. Uh, you know, come eat 569 00:32:15,520 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: and it eats a little bit and then amidst a pheromone. 570 00:32:18,560 --> 00:32:22,040 Speaker 1: And that what's kind of remarkable is the pheromones. Um. 571 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,080 Speaker 1: It's not just a pheromone like they differ. They can 572 00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: differ what the pheromone is in the intensity of it 573 00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:30,840 Speaker 1: to tell everyone, like what kind of food it is, 574 00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:33,080 Speaker 1: or how much food there is, and how many of 575 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: you should come and try to eat the crumb. Yeah, 576 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:37,640 Speaker 1: there's no way that the ants at your lakehouse haven't 577 00:32:37,640 --> 00:32:40,320 Speaker 1: developed a special pheromone for twinkies if you're leaving them 578 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:44,479 Speaker 1: out that much. No, so the and but just like 579 00:32:44,520 --> 00:32:49,040 Speaker 1: with the emergency, like the the um, those other descriptions 580 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:51,480 Speaker 1: not just foods here, but this kind of food or 581 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:54,840 Speaker 1: this much food that can be um that can be 582 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:58,360 Speaker 1: described by like variations in the intensity. So if there's 583 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:00,880 Speaker 1: a lot of food, you know, of the ants really 584 00:33:00,880 --> 00:33:03,560 Speaker 1: going to exclaim that there's a bunch of food with pheromones, 585 00:33:03,640 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: it's gonna attract more ants and they're going to exclaim, 586 00:33:06,120 --> 00:33:08,680 Speaker 1: and just like with that emergency alarm, the volume is 587 00:33:08,720 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: going to be turned up. And then because it's a 588 00:33:10,760 --> 00:33:14,680 Speaker 1: volatile organic compound, as the food depletes, the ants that 589 00:33:14,720 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: are coming along and grabbing the food are going to 590 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:21,720 Speaker 1: leave a more and more muted exclamation, so that that 591 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,560 Speaker 1: trail is going to eventually dissipate and no ants going 592 00:33:24,600 --> 00:33:27,560 Speaker 1: to follow it anymore because there's no food there anymore. Yeah, 593 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: I mean, it literally takes the place of the ant 594 00:33:29,680 --> 00:33:33,280 Speaker 1: yelling back, hey, there's a lot of food, and then 595 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,040 Speaker 1: the last ant saying, hey, we pretty much ate everything. 596 00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:39,120 Speaker 1: It's parties over. Yeah. Like they can't do that, So 597 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:42,800 Speaker 1: they use the pheromones, right, and they think that pheromones Again, 598 00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,600 Speaker 1: it's really tough to to overstate the importance of them 599 00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:48,520 Speaker 1: for for every kind of ant behavior. And there's a 600 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: there's a m I'm not quite sure what what field 601 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: that belongs to, but there's a concept called stigmer g 602 00:33:57,280 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 1: which basically says that UM it describes a behavior or 603 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:05,360 Speaker 1: a trait or an action that's carried out based on 604 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,360 Speaker 1: some sort of signal that's left there. And so ants 605 00:34:08,440 --> 00:34:12,240 Speaker 1: really respond to things like um if a litter made 606 00:34:12,560 --> 00:34:15,880 Speaker 1: or a nest made is doing something, another ant is 607 00:34:16,000 --> 00:34:18,359 Speaker 1: much more likely to do that same thing, and they 608 00:34:18,400 --> 00:34:20,799 Speaker 1: think it's because the a signal is left. Every time 609 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:23,040 Speaker 1: and AUNT does something, it leaves a signal. Whether it's 610 00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:25,080 Speaker 1: not doing it on purpose, it's not thinking about this, 611 00:34:25,440 --> 00:34:29,200 Speaker 1: it's just part of this set of codes that ants follow, 612 00:34:29,600 --> 00:34:31,919 Speaker 1: which if you run into this if if you are 613 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:34,359 Speaker 1: on a ball and there's water and you run into 614 00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:37,680 Speaker 1: the edge of that ball, you form raft Like it's 615 00:34:37,760 --> 00:34:40,840 Speaker 1: just this kind of binary set of very simple codes 616 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: that ants seem to follow. And what code or what 617 00:34:44,760 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 1: set of codes is triggered um depends on what pheromone 618 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,879 Speaker 1: the ant is either laying down for the next ant 619 00:34:51,040 --> 00:34:53,759 Speaker 1: or is picking up from the last hand. Yeah, I 620 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:59,040 Speaker 1: love lamp exactly. Uh. They also can communicate via touch. 621 00:34:59,080 --> 00:35:02,319 Speaker 1: If you've ever uh gone to your kitchen counter like 622 00:35:02,400 --> 00:35:05,680 Speaker 1: I have, and you've seen ants walking in a trail, 623 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 1: you've probably seen a little two way street happening where 624 00:35:09,640 --> 00:35:11,320 Speaker 1: a bunch of ants are going in one direction and 625 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: a bunch of ants right next to him are going 626 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: in the other direction. And if you look really really close, 627 00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:18,239 Speaker 1: if you have like a magnifying glass, maybe you might 628 00:35:18,280 --> 00:35:21,359 Speaker 1: notice the sunshine. Oh no, no, no, don't ever do that. 629 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: Uh yeah, just get down there with your eyeballs. Then, um, 630 00:35:25,800 --> 00:35:28,520 Speaker 1: they might be touching each other. That might be there 631 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,359 Speaker 1: and intenta might be touching. They may be stroking each 632 00:35:31,400 --> 00:35:35,759 Speaker 1: other's exoskeleton, and they Scientists basically think that these are 633 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:41,520 Speaker 1: also um communicative signals to one another again saying hey, 634 00:35:41,719 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: there's some great twinkie over there. Sometimes someone might even 635 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:46,840 Speaker 1: have a little bit of a twinkie he'll give to 636 00:35:46,880 --> 00:35:50,360 Speaker 1: someone midway through the line and say, hey, hey, buddy, 637 00:35:50,440 --> 00:35:53,200 Speaker 1: this is what's waiting down there. Pass it down, and 638 00:35:53,440 --> 00:35:56,319 Speaker 1: that game of telephone happens again. Yeah, mouth to mouth 639 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:59,960 Speaker 1: food transfer it, which is nice, but I guess it's 640 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:02,399 Speaker 1: better than mouth ainus food transfer, like you were talking 641 00:36:02,400 --> 00:36:05,799 Speaker 1: about earlier. Depends what you're into. I saw another explanation 642 00:36:05,880 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: for why aunts do that, because if you look closely, 643 00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:11,279 Speaker 1: pretty much every ant does that to every ant that 644 00:36:11,320 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: they come across, going in the opposite direction. And I 645 00:36:14,040 --> 00:36:17,640 Speaker 1: find one theory right now. One theory is that they're 646 00:36:18,280 --> 00:36:20,480 Speaker 1: examining the ant to make sure it's one of their 647 00:36:20,520 --> 00:36:23,960 Speaker 1: nest mates and not an intruder from another joining in 648 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:25,919 Speaker 1: the fun, which makes a lot of sense as well. 649 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,480 Speaker 1: Every time I see ants doing that, I just go 650 00:36:28,560 --> 00:36:31,720 Speaker 1: in my head, good game, good game, good game game. 651 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:36,040 Speaker 1: Yeah right, that's one of my favorite parts of Days 652 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,719 Speaker 1: and Confused is just like the nostalgia. They're like any 653 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 1: kid who's ever played Little knows that completely forced an 654 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: enthusiastic good game line that you gotta walk down good stuff. 655 00:36:49,160 --> 00:36:53,120 Speaker 1: What else do we have here? Oh boy, chok? We 656 00:36:53,120 --> 00:36:57,440 Speaker 1: should we should um branch off into another standalone podcast 657 00:36:57,480 --> 00:37:02,359 Speaker 1: called aunt rant. Uh all right, let's talk a little 658 00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:04,080 Speaker 1: bit more about nesting, and I think that's kind of 659 00:37:04,120 --> 00:37:06,759 Speaker 1: all we've got. Um if you look and how they 660 00:37:06,800 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 1: build their nest, you know, a lot of researchers have 661 00:37:08,600 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: been looking at this. Uh. Speaking of which, this made 662 00:37:12,080 --> 00:37:14,320 Speaker 1: me want to buy an aunt farm for my daughter 663 00:37:14,320 --> 00:37:18,120 Speaker 1: for Christmas. But when I looked into him, I read 664 00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 1: reviews where it seems like about a third of the 665 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,000 Speaker 1: review said the ants just sat around and waited to 666 00:37:23,080 --> 00:37:26,160 Speaker 1: die in front of my daughter or my son, and 667 00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:30,320 Speaker 1: it was traumatic. I don't really agree with keeping anything enclosed, 668 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:32,680 Speaker 1: I know, I just the whole thing felt wrong, and 669 00:37:32,680 --> 00:37:37,040 Speaker 1: so I didn't get it. Good for you, Jack, I mean, 670 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,120 Speaker 1: it was a little selfish and that I didn't want 671 00:37:39,440 --> 00:37:43,279 Speaker 1: a bad experience to happen. But then I thought, you know, 672 00:37:43,360 --> 00:37:47,239 Speaker 1: you're also getting ants shipped through the mail. I know 673 00:37:47,239 --> 00:37:49,280 Speaker 1: there shipped at a certain temperatures so they stay alive. 674 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,000 Speaker 1: And you know, also saw success stories were like, oh man, 675 00:37:52,000 --> 00:37:53,879 Speaker 1: they did great and they lived their whole lifespan. But 676 00:37:54,200 --> 00:37:58,880 Speaker 1: it just wasn't worth it at the risk. So anyone 677 00:37:58,880 --> 00:38:00,799 Speaker 1: should do is order some of his answer the mail 678 00:38:00,800 --> 00:38:05,839 Speaker 1: and just release them into your or just release them 679 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: onto my daughter while she's asleep and immobile and see 680 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:14,240 Speaker 1: what happens. But researchers obviously have been studying ant nests 681 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,160 Speaker 1: and colonies for a long long time, and uh, you 682 00:38:18,200 --> 00:38:21,440 Speaker 1: know all those tunnels that look like little sponges, mentioned 683 00:38:21,440 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 1: the one on YouTube where they actually filled it with concrete, 684 00:38:23,360 --> 00:38:26,840 Speaker 1: which is pretty amazing. But they decided to take this 685 00:38:26,880 --> 00:38:29,799 Speaker 1: stuff and put it into like a computer model to 686 00:38:29,880 --> 00:38:32,880 Speaker 1: see what what happened when it came out the other side. 687 00:38:33,239 --> 00:38:34,719 Speaker 1: And one of the things they learned was they have 688 00:38:34,800 --> 00:38:38,239 Speaker 1: these very basic rules that kind of governed everything they did, 689 00:38:38,800 --> 00:38:42,560 Speaker 1: one of which was each ant would pick up at 690 00:38:42,560 --> 00:38:45,560 Speaker 1: a very very steady rate two grains of dirt or 691 00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: sand per minute and carry it. Which that seems like 692 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,200 Speaker 1: a clue right there. If they're following some sort of 693 00:38:51,239 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: time scale, especially if it corresponds to our understanding of time, 694 00:38:55,960 --> 00:38:59,239 Speaker 1: that seems significant. You know, Yeah, I mean, I guess 695 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:01,560 Speaker 1: they would do that because that's the most efficient rate 696 00:39:01,560 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: of work, like the most efficient speed of work I guess, 697 00:39:06,040 --> 00:39:09,279 Speaker 1: like without getting overly tired or not getting enough done, 698 00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:11,320 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I think that's another example 699 00:39:11,360 --> 00:39:14,239 Speaker 1: though that we like we watch ants do things and 700 00:39:14,320 --> 00:39:17,400 Speaker 1: we don't understand exactly why, we just know it works 701 00:39:17,440 --> 00:39:21,240 Speaker 1: really well. Yeah, uh, what else did they see? Um? 702 00:39:21,280 --> 00:39:23,759 Speaker 1: They also saw that, um, there was a preference for 703 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:28,320 Speaker 1: dropping that grain that they were tunneling out excavating by 704 00:39:28,360 --> 00:39:33,120 Speaker 1: another more another recently dropped piece of grain, which I 705 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,839 Speaker 1: think is an example of that stigma g where they 706 00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,879 Speaker 1: there was like some yeah, they just saw like they're 707 00:39:39,920 --> 00:39:44,839 Speaker 1: just their behaviors triggered by by somebody else's behavior. Right, 708 00:39:45,280 --> 00:39:47,040 Speaker 1: And then the last thing they saw they saw these 709 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:50,360 Speaker 1: three basic rules, was they would drop them closer to 710 00:39:50,360 --> 00:39:53,719 Speaker 1: the grains that were already dropped by another ant. And 711 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,959 Speaker 1: they think that it's like a pheromone marker, Like hey, 712 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:58,600 Speaker 1: I dropped this grain here, like this is where we're 713 00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:03,959 Speaker 1: building this thing, right, And so they created this. They 714 00:40:04,000 --> 00:40:07,680 Speaker 1: they followed these ants movements like they really studied and 715 00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:10,160 Speaker 1: tracked real ants, and then they created a computer model 716 00:40:10,200 --> 00:40:15,320 Speaker 1: that simulated ants just following these three rules. And apparently 717 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,920 Speaker 1: the model created something that looked a heck of a 718 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,439 Speaker 1: lot like an ant nest that you would see in 719 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,480 Speaker 1: in nature, so much so that there were connections that 720 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: were developed between chambers. And these researchers were like, we 721 00:40:28,280 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 1: didn't tell it to create connections that just happened on 722 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,960 Speaker 1: its own. It's a great example of that emergent behavior 723 00:40:35,440 --> 00:40:38,960 Speaker 1: um that that comes from the collective actions of a 724 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,879 Speaker 1: bunch of individuals is doing their own thing. Yeah. I mean, 725 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:44,520 Speaker 1: and they have these you know, if you look at 726 00:40:44,560 --> 00:40:47,839 Speaker 1: this concrete when they excavated it was they have these 727 00:40:47,880 --> 00:40:50,000 Speaker 1: big chambers. They have these tubes and then these big 728 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:54,040 Speaker 1: rooms basically, and each of these rooms as a function. Uh, 729 00:40:54,080 --> 00:40:56,319 Speaker 1: they're not just like let's just make a little space here. 730 00:40:56,680 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 1: You know. They take care of their dad a lot 731 00:40:58,160 --> 00:41:01,600 Speaker 1: of times, and uh, you know, I don't think they 732 00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:05,160 Speaker 1: quite bury them, but they tend to they're dead. Uh, 733 00:41:05,280 --> 00:41:08,440 Speaker 1: it's it's remarkable. Yeah, they have aunt cemeteries that they 734 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:12,480 Speaker 1: dump bodies on. It's pretty cool, very cool. So there 735 00:41:12,560 --> 00:41:15,760 Speaker 1: was one last thing I saw. Um there's a type 736 00:41:15,760 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: of ant that basically engages in nursing where if you 737 00:41:19,640 --> 00:41:22,440 Speaker 1: these ants raid termite mounds and the termites sometimes will 738 00:41:22,480 --> 00:41:25,080 Speaker 1: take a leg or two, and if you're just missing 739 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:28,000 Speaker 1: a leg or two, you will be carried back by 740 00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:32,200 Speaker 1: basically paramedic ants to the nest and then nursed back 741 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: to health with an antibiotic that the ants produced themselves. Wow, 742 00:41:38,320 --> 00:41:43,759 Speaker 1: aunt Rant, chuck, aunt Rant, You got anything else? I 743 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,600 Speaker 1: got nothing else? We think Joey, Joey from Tucson. Thanks Joey. 744 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,520 Speaker 1: Great idea, great idea for ants. We had no idea 745 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: it was going to be a two parter in this 746 00:41:52,840 --> 00:41:56,799 Speaker 1: remarkable remarkable indeed. And if you want to be like 747 00:41:56,880 --> 00:41:59,640 Speaker 1: Joey and get in touch with us to let us 748 00:41:59,680 --> 00:42:02,960 Speaker 1: know topic you'd like to suggest, who knows, it might 749 00:42:03,000 --> 00:42:06,319 Speaker 1: even become an incredible two parter. You can reach out 750 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:10,160 Speaker 1: to us via email at stuff podcast at i heart 751 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:16,040 Speaker 1: radio dot com. Stuff you Should Know is a production 752 00:42:16,080 --> 00:42:19,040 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts my heart Radio, 753 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,360 Speaker 1: visit the iHeart Radio app. Apple podcasts, or wherever you 754 00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:26,600 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. H