1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,360 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind production of My 2 00:00:05,480 --> 00:00:14,560 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:17,599 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:21,280 Speaker 1: we're back with part three of our Aunt Wars episodes. Now. 5 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:23,400 Speaker 1: In the previous episodes, we've already covered a ton of 6 00:00:23,440 --> 00:00:27,720 Speaker 1: different topics, the evolution of you social insects like ants um. 7 00:00:28,080 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: We talked about the conflicts between army, ants and and 8 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,680 Speaker 1: everything in their path. We talked about theories of combat 9 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:38,839 Speaker 1: disparities and how those may apply to ants and and 10 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:42,159 Speaker 1: control the ways that's aunts sometimes select which members of 11 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: the colony go out to fight. We talked about the bivouax, 12 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:47,400 Speaker 1: the big war rig for the Queen made out of 13 00:00:47,520 --> 00:00:50,360 Speaker 1: army ants um. It's been it's been a great journey 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: so far, but we have to press on. That's right. 15 00:00:53,560 --> 00:00:55,080 Speaker 1: Uh So, one thing I want to talk about it 16 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:59,120 Speaker 1: at the very start here is the idea of empires 17 00:00:59,160 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 1: of the ants, because, as with human civilizations, apparently it's 18 00:01:03,200 --> 00:01:07,560 Speaker 1: the larger ant societies that spread the most violence. Smaller 19 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:10,240 Speaker 1: ant societies are less likely to engage in any kind 20 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: of protracted war against other ant species. But but here's 21 00:01:14,959 --> 00:01:18,600 Speaker 1: an interesting point raised by entomologists Shaun O'Donnell in Ant 22 00:01:18,600 --> 00:01:23,200 Speaker 1: Wars for Serious Science. Some species of highly successful invasive 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:28,479 Speaker 1: ants demonstrate unicolonality. Uh. They develop a willingness to identify 24 00:01:28,600 --> 00:01:32,240 Speaker 1: members of other colonies as part of their own, and 25 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:36,080 Speaker 1: the result is a super colony, a true empire of 26 00:01:36,120 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: the ants. Yeah. We discuss the super colony adaptation in 27 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: our episodes about the multiple species of ants known as 28 00:01:43,440 --> 00:01:47,240 Speaker 1: crazy ants, and this name comes from their rapid, almost 29 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:51,560 Speaker 1: frantic or radic looking movements sometimes when you like, if 30 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: you watch video of them moving around on the ground, 31 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,440 Speaker 1: it almost looks like flies buzzing around. It looks like 32 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:00,880 Speaker 1: they're flying. Yeah, it's it's it's visual, at least to us, 33 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:04,840 Speaker 1: starkly different from the sort of you know, linear lines 34 00:02:04,920 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: were used to seeing for ants. Yeah, but the super 35 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,480 Speaker 1: coloniality issue came up in our episodes on the mystery 36 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: of crazy ants supposedly being attracted to electricity or electrical appliances. 37 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:17,480 Speaker 1: Remember that where we were talking about all those stories 38 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: people had of like the their TV being full of 39 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: crazy ants and people didn't know why that was happening. 40 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,840 Speaker 1: That was, of course the raspberry crazy ant of the 41 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:29,640 Speaker 1: genus Nylanderia, and then we also talked about them in 42 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 1: our episodes on Christmas Island. Remember it was the invasive 43 00:02:32,480 --> 00:02:35,200 Speaker 1: species of crazy ant known as yellow crazy ants or 44 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: an apolo Lepis grass sillipps that was severely threatening the 45 00:02:40,560 --> 00:02:44,000 Speaker 1: Christmas Island crabs. It was actually colonies of those ants 46 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: that were spraying formic acid into the eyes of the 47 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,919 Speaker 1: crabs and into the leg joints until they were immobilized, 48 00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:51,880 Speaker 1: and then the ants just eat them. And there was 49 00:02:51,880 --> 00:02:56,880 Speaker 1: an interesting project to try to introduce a species of 50 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,959 Speaker 1: insect there too Christmas Island that would help cut down 51 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: on the populations of invasive ants. But anyway, it's the 52 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,760 Speaker 1: tendency for crazy ants to form super colonies that is 53 00:03:07,800 --> 00:03:12,160 Speaker 1: considered one factor in their success as an invasive species. UM. 54 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:16,079 Speaker 1: You know. So they're super colonial, meaning that when colonies 55 00:03:16,120 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: of the same species meet one another, instead of duking 56 00:03:19,800 --> 00:03:21,680 Speaker 1: it out and going to battle with one another, they 57 00:03:21,680 --> 00:03:24,320 Speaker 1: just act as if they were from the same colony. 58 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 1: They team up instead of antagonizing one another. Um. And 59 00:03:28,240 --> 00:03:31,799 Speaker 1: there are examples where people think they've detected gigantic super 60 00:03:31,840 --> 00:03:34,840 Speaker 1: colonies of these ants. One that we read in one 61 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 1: of those previous episodes was a New York Times article 62 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: that that quotes Edward Lebrun, who's an ecologist at the 63 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 1: University of Texas at Austin UM, and he apparently believes 64 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:48,960 Speaker 1: that there was a single super colony in the Texas 65 00:03:49,000 --> 00:03:52,000 Speaker 1: town called Iowa Colony. I know, that's confusing because we're 66 00:03:52,000 --> 00:03:54,360 Speaker 1: talking about ant colonies and it's in Texas, not Iowa. 67 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,960 Speaker 1: But that's a town. It's called Iowa Colony. And he 68 00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: believes that there was a super colony of Crazy. It's 69 00:04:00,560 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: occupying up to forty two hundred acres in that town 70 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:08,119 Speaker 1: and spreading two hundred meters a year in every direction. 71 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,240 Speaker 1: But that's by no means the only Aunt supercolony that's 72 00:04:12,240 --> 00:04:14,480 Speaker 1: been found there. There are other species and other super 73 00:04:14,480 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 1: colonies that have been found all over the continents. That's right. 74 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,719 Speaker 1: Mark W. Moten mentioned an extremely large super colony of 75 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:26,040 Speaker 1: Argentine Aunt that ranges from San Francisco to the Mexican border. 76 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,760 Speaker 1: Trillions strong and united. It's a it's a super colony, 77 00:04:31,040 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: and wars rage just perpetually along its borders. He writes. 78 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,560 Speaker 1: Each month, millions of Argentine ants die along battlefronts that 79 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: extend for miles around San Diego, where clashes occur with 80 00:04:42,080 --> 00:04:45,039 Speaker 1: three other colonies and wars that may have been going 81 00:04:45,120 --> 00:04:49,600 Speaker 1: on since the species arrived in the state a century ago. Wow. 82 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: And these wars, as we've discussed in our previous episodes, 83 00:04:52,440 --> 00:04:56,599 Speaker 1: that are far from random thrashings of aunt brutality. Uh. 84 00:04:56,640 --> 00:04:59,240 Speaker 1: These are wars that align with some of the same 85 00:04:59,279 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: mathematics and tactics and principles that we see at play 86 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:05,839 Speaker 1: in human military history. And we have another example of 87 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,680 Speaker 1: this to consider. Another interesting parallel that's drawn between the 88 00:05:09,720 --> 00:05:12,360 Speaker 1: wars of ants and the wars of humans, and that 89 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:15,840 Speaker 1: is uh, the the the this thing that we refer 90 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:21,080 Speaker 1: to as ant tournaments or ant tournament sites. Wow. So 91 00:05:21,200 --> 00:05:23,840 Speaker 1: for starters, you might need to dismiss whatever sort of 92 00:05:23,880 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: Mortal Kombat scenario is entering your mind here at the 93 00:05:26,560 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 1: thought of an ant tournament. Yeah, but don't worry, because 94 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:33,239 Speaker 1: the reality is much cooler than just like a single 95 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: or double elimination tournament for ants. Uh. So here's the 96 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: Here's an example that Moffatt, EO. Wilson and others bring 97 00:05:41,560 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 1: up frequently, and that is honey pot ants. Now, these 98 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 1: ants are astonishing creatures in their own right, even before 99 00:05:47,279 --> 00:05:50,479 Speaker 1: you get to the tournament issue. Uh. Their their way 100 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:54,159 Speaker 1: of storing food is something that you must see for yourself. 101 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,920 Speaker 1: You you should look up video of them. Yeah, because 102 00:05:57,080 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: their name honey pot ants. Because what happens is the 103 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:04,000 Speaker 1: workers will the workers have the ability to gorge themselves 104 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: unto their abdomens are enormously swelled and they look like 105 00:06:07,560 --> 00:06:12,200 Speaker 1: little honeypots, uh, just filled with liquid food. So instead 106 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,799 Speaker 1: of storing excess food within a stash within the colony 107 00:06:15,880 --> 00:06:18,200 Speaker 1: like a lot of ants do, uh, the honey pot 108 00:06:18,279 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: ants store it within themselves in these little mobile depositories 109 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:27,560 Speaker 1: that are themselves and swollen workers that we call replets. 110 00:06:27,760 --> 00:06:30,440 Speaker 1: And then if if you're another ant in the colony 111 00:06:30,480 --> 00:06:31,800 Speaker 1: you need a little food, will you come up to 112 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: one of the repletes uh? And I believe you, like 113 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:35,960 Speaker 1: you can touch their antenna and just the right way 114 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: and they'll regurgitate up some food for you. You you you, 115 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,240 Speaker 1: you poke your nestmate and it will barf up your dinner. Yeah. 116 00:06:43,279 --> 00:06:47,080 Speaker 1: They're like little vending machines. Ah. And I see you 117 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: included a picture of this in our in our notes 118 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,400 Speaker 1: here for me to look at, Joe. They're wondrous, they're beautiful. 119 00:06:52,400 --> 00:06:55,080 Speaker 1: They do look like little drugs. They're so swollen they 120 00:06:55,080 --> 00:06:58,880 Speaker 1: look like droplets of honey, or like extremely golden chickpeas. 121 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:02,119 Speaker 1: They're they're back lit in this image that I've shared 122 00:07:02,120 --> 00:07:04,919 Speaker 1: with Robert, and it makes their swollen abdomens look like 123 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: bits of amber. Now, in addition to this, there are 124 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,840 Speaker 1: there are other wrinkles to their their peculiarity. So they're 125 00:07:11,920 --> 00:07:16,520 Speaker 1: highly territorial. They frequently prey on foraging termites, and should 126 00:07:16,560 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: two different groups of honey pot ants happen upon the 127 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:24,280 Speaker 1: same resource, a tournament begins to determine who shall claim it. 128 00:07:25,040 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: So what happens is the workers from each colony circle 129 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 1: around each other, standing up as high as possible on 130 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: their legs, behavior that biologists called stilting. So yes, what 131 00:07:35,480 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: they're doing is they're trying to look as imposing as possible, 132 00:07:38,600 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 1: as large as possible. And basically the idea here seems 133 00:07:42,360 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: to be that that that the larger colonies of honey 134 00:07:46,320 --> 00:07:49,640 Speaker 1: pot ants tend to have larger individuals. So it's not 135 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: only a show of immediate force, like hey, look how 136 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:55,000 Speaker 1: big we are to get away from our resources. It's 137 00:07:55,040 --> 00:07:58,920 Speaker 1: also a show of what kind of backup forces you 138 00:07:59,000 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: have uh to call in. That's interesting. So it's just 139 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,400 Speaker 1: like you can almost count on the fact that if 140 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,320 Speaker 1: if this ant is big, all of her buddies are 141 00:08:07,360 --> 00:08:10,600 Speaker 1: big too. Yeah. It actually reminds me a little bit 142 00:08:10,640 --> 00:08:14,040 Speaker 1: of the Imperial invasion of hot and the Empire strikes 143 00:08:14,080 --> 00:08:17,600 Speaker 1: back with the deployment of those enormous A T eighties uh, 144 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:21,800 Speaker 1: which I recently saw described online as quote a giant 145 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,840 Speaker 1: impractical terror weapon. Absolutely, Why the legs? Why make your 146 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: all terrain attack vehicles so vulnerable to a simple harpoon 147 00:08:31,000 --> 00:08:35,920 Speaker 1: and tow cable? These these tall spindle legs make no sense. Well, yeah, 148 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,880 Speaker 1: if you think too hard about it. But as my 149 00:08:37,880 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: my son was recently telling me, we were watching the 150 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:43,320 Speaker 1: Clone War series and he said, you know, walkers are 151 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:45,200 Speaker 1: just always cool. It doesn't matter which side they're on, 152 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:48,880 Speaker 1: They're just cool. And it's true. But but I think 153 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: also you can look at it like, yes, it's a 154 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: it's an impractical terror weapon. It sends a message, Hey, 155 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: we're the Empire and we have resources on this scale 156 00:08:56,920 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: at our disposal, so you'd best just abandoned the ice anitis. 157 00:09:01,480 --> 00:09:04,319 Speaker 1: And so that's what the weaker honeypot and force ends 158 00:09:04,400 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 1: up doing this whole tournament. Uh. Practice limits the need 159 00:09:08,080 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 1: for conflict and avoids the need for full scale and war. 160 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:16,119 Speaker 1: The smaller ant army flees, but much like the rebel alliance, 161 00:09:16,360 --> 00:09:19,040 Speaker 1: they have to be darn sure that the forces there 162 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 1: uh they're seeding to don't follow them and trace them 163 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:27,439 Speaker 1: to their primary base, because the larger honeypot force will 164 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 1: attempt to do this and they will not hesitate to 165 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:33,480 Speaker 1: follow them back to their colony, decimate that colony, and 166 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:38,200 Speaker 1: then enslave the swollen repletes as their own food stores. Now, 167 00:09:38,360 --> 00:09:41,120 Speaker 1: this is really interesting, the idea that they make this 168 00:09:41,160 --> 00:09:44,040 Speaker 1: display and try and make a calculation about whether it's 169 00:09:44,080 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: worthwhile to fight. It's something that goes against the naive 170 00:09:47,840 --> 00:09:50,480 Speaker 1: version of the nature red and tooth and claw idea 171 00:09:50,520 --> 00:09:53,000 Speaker 1: that you know, animals are just always fighting and killing 172 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:55,880 Speaker 1: each other. It's always a violent struggle for survival. I 173 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: don't know how you could quantify this, but my gut 174 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:02,480 Speaker 1: feeling is that the vast majority of conflicts in nature 175 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:07,800 Speaker 1: never come to violence. There are displays between animals and 176 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: then one side backs down. Yeah, I believe we've talked 177 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:16,360 Speaker 1: about this before. And discussing like animal weapons and animal violence. 178 00:10:16,480 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 1: Is that, you know, how often does one animal outright 179 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: kill another? You know it? I mean certainly in predation. Yeah, 180 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:26,920 Speaker 1: apart from predation, like the idea of two animals fighting 181 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:29,680 Speaker 1: to the death in a scenario where one is not 182 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:32,400 Speaker 1: trying to eat the other is is more of a rarity. 183 00:10:32,559 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 1: But even so, It's like if you have a t 184 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,839 Speaker 1: rex and a triceratops, Like the t rex wants to 185 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 1: kill the the triceratops in this scenario, but it of 186 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 1: course does not want to be killed itself the you know, 187 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,719 Speaker 1: so it would potentially fight to the death. But on 188 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:50,800 Speaker 1: the other hand, they try Steratops doesn't want to eat 189 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:53,000 Speaker 1: the t rex. It just wants to not be eaten 190 00:10:53,559 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: by the t rex. Yeah, I mean, it just brings 191 00:10:56,520 --> 00:10:59,079 Speaker 1: to mind the fact that animals they don't want to 192 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:01,599 Speaker 1: lose a con licked, but probably even more than that, 193 00:11:01,679 --> 00:11:04,560 Speaker 1: they don't want to die. And so if if things 194 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: are not looking like a like a pretty clear wind 195 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: for them, they will very often just back down and 196 00:11:09,960 --> 00:11:13,679 Speaker 1: try to get away. Now EO. Wilson and biologists Burnt 197 00:11:13,800 --> 00:11:17,599 Speaker 1: a Whole Dobbler have have compared this tournament scenario to 198 00:11:17,720 --> 00:11:21,120 Speaker 1: these symbolic battles and the highlands of New Guinea, the 199 00:11:21,200 --> 00:11:23,960 Speaker 1: initial phase of of a of a battle or war 200 00:11:24,280 --> 00:11:27,439 Speaker 1: in which the two sides square off at a distance, 201 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 1: and what they'll do. Yeah, this so the scrap at 202 00:11:29,960 --> 00:11:32,439 Speaker 1: a distance. They're not gonna immediately, you know, rush into 203 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:34,839 Speaker 1: each other like some sort of brave heart scenario. That's 204 00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:39,920 Speaker 1: cinematic um trope that we all have grown so used to. Instead, 205 00:11:39,960 --> 00:11:43,120 Speaker 1: they're gonna throw spears. They're gonna fire arrows at each other, 206 00:11:43,559 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: but with range and wooden shields in place, so there's 207 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:52,760 Speaker 1: actually like a a low possibility for fatality. And from 208 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,320 Speaker 1: here it might give way to a heated, closer battle, 209 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,160 Speaker 1: but the its aggressions might actually end right here. And 210 00:12:00,280 --> 00:12:03,319 Speaker 1: this apparently is something that one sees throughout the history 211 00:12:03,360 --> 00:12:08,400 Speaker 1: of human conflict, especially when it concerns smaller clans of fighters, 212 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:12,800 Speaker 1: because such groups like this simply don't have the resources 213 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:16,600 Speaker 1: to enter freely into a state of total warfare. Yeah, 214 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: I think that state is more common, as we were 215 00:12:18,920 --> 00:12:22,160 Speaker 1: talking about earlier, in in like larger empires where you 216 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: also have you know, the army that arrives on the 217 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:27,800 Speaker 1: battlefield also has the force of like a huge state 218 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,559 Speaker 1: behind it that will not let it walk away. It's 219 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:33,640 Speaker 1: a you know that that maybe the emperor back home 220 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,160 Speaker 1: is not going to be pleased. If you see that 221 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:38,640 Speaker 1: this battle doesn't look good for you and decide it's 222 00:12:38,679 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: better not to fight, yes, you'll find that he's not 223 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: as forgiving, right. So yeah, I think this is obviously 224 00:12:44,800 --> 00:12:47,920 Speaker 1: a smart strategy, and there's a reason humans do this 225 00:12:48,160 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: and ants do this. It makes sense to try to 226 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:53,679 Speaker 1: avoid conflict if you can. I also can't help but 227 00:12:53,760 --> 00:12:55,640 Speaker 1: wonder if there's a comparison to be made here. And 228 00:12:55,720 --> 00:12:57,800 Speaker 1: this is just me, this is not any of these 229 00:12:57,840 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: other commentators that I've read. They might have gotten into this, 230 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: and maybe I just haven't read it, But I wonder 231 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:05,160 Speaker 1: if you can make a comparison here to the proxy 232 00:13:05,240 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 1: wars between superpowers in the human world. You know, human 233 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:13,439 Speaker 1: cases in which each side certainly has immense resources, but 234 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:18,040 Speaker 1: in which case the destructive potential of atomic weaponry essentially 235 00:13:18,160 --> 00:13:22,640 Speaker 1: reduces both sides to smaller, more vulnerable clans on their 236 00:13:22,720 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: respective hillsides. There was something I was trying to look 237 00:13:25,880 --> 00:13:28,400 Speaker 1: up because this also made me think of the at 238 00:13:28,520 --> 00:13:34,079 Speaker 1: least epic literary tradition of the champion warfare. That is, 239 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:36,719 Speaker 1: you know, you read about it in the Iliad. It 240 00:13:36,760 --> 00:13:39,600 Speaker 1: shows up actually in a lot of of ancient epics 241 00:13:39,679 --> 00:13:43,480 Speaker 1: and stuff where armies will meet, but instead of you know, 242 00:13:43,600 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 1: the whole armies clashing with one another, they will each 243 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,839 Speaker 1: select their greatest fighter and then those two will fight 244 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: a duel that is supposed to, at least in some cases, 245 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,120 Speaker 1: symbolically settle the outcome of the fight. So think of 246 00:13:56,760 --> 00:13:59,920 Speaker 1: Hector versus Achilles. And I was looking for example, was 247 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,520 Speaker 1: do ants ever do this? So I was trying to 248 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:06,080 Speaker 1: find examples of champion warfare among ants, but I couldn't 249 00:14:06,120 --> 00:14:08,600 Speaker 1: find anything. I don't know if you've come across anything 250 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,160 Speaker 1: like that. But if there were an example of something 251 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,560 Speaker 1: like that, that would be really interesting, that would man that. Yeah, 252 00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 1: I didn't read anything about that in the sources I 253 00:14:19,040 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: was looking at it. I wonder how that would have 254 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:25,040 Speaker 1: something like that would evolve. You know, it's kind of 255 00:14:25,080 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: hard to imagine being a real state of affairs without 256 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, I guess symbolic thinking among I mean, 257 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:35,240 Speaker 1: maybe that is something that would be limited. I mean, 258 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:38,360 Speaker 1: it's even more than that. It's seems like something that's 259 00:14:38,400 --> 00:14:43,040 Speaker 1: more limited to epic poetry and storytelling than than happens 260 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:45,960 Speaker 1: in real life. Right, it kind of brings maybe it's 261 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:47,960 Speaker 1: the kind of story that makes the most sense for 262 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:50,840 Speaker 1: people that are so centered on the individual, you know, 263 00:14:51,320 --> 00:14:54,040 Speaker 1: like here is the individual in the war, the individual 264 00:14:54,440 --> 00:14:56,800 Speaker 1: that is changing the course of the battle. That sort 265 00:14:56,840 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: of thing um, and it enables you to to take 266 00:15:00,800 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: larger scenarios of battle that are more difficult to fathom 267 00:15:04,720 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: and putting them in a one on one scenario, like 268 00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:08,600 Speaker 1: in the last episode we were talking about the Lanchester 269 00:15:08,680 --> 00:15:10,760 Speaker 1: square law. You know, we can you know, we can 270 00:15:10,800 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 1: certainly imagine that in our head with forces of on 271 00:15:13,760 --> 00:15:16,040 Speaker 1: one side versus the other. But then you can also 272 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:18,560 Speaker 1: put it in the scenario of David and Goliath, right, 273 00:15:18,920 --> 00:15:22,720 Speaker 1: and there you instantly have this very individual based story 274 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: of smaller force and larger force. Even though it tells 275 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 1: it ultimately tells a story like if we were to 276 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,080 Speaker 1: take that and extrapolate it to just a smaller force 277 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,720 Speaker 1: against a larger force, uh, per those laws we were discussing, 278 00:15:35,840 --> 00:15:39,160 Speaker 1: that makes no sense, Like ultimately the Goliath force is 279 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:42,040 Speaker 1: going to win unless there is some sort of crazy 280 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,840 Speaker 1: you know, outside context event, right, or I mean it 281 00:15:45,960 --> 00:15:49,000 Speaker 1: depends on conditions, right, because not all combat is equivalent, 282 00:15:49,040 --> 00:15:51,880 Speaker 1: but yeah, generally. All right, on that note, we're going 283 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 1: to take a quick break, but when we come back, 284 00:15:53,840 --> 00:15:56,360 Speaker 1: we will get into some of these specialized units of 285 00:15:56,440 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: the ant war. All right, we're back, Robert. When you 286 00:16:02,760 --> 00:16:05,920 Speaker 1: were a kid, did you get one of those Star 287 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,360 Speaker 1: Wars visual encyclopedias and just like devour all of the 288 00:16:10,520 --> 00:16:14,880 Speaker 1: different types of Star Wars stormtroopers that we never saw 289 00:16:15,000 --> 00:16:17,280 Speaker 1: in the movies. Because in the movies you see the 290 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: main storm troopers. You see the ones in the snow 291 00:16:19,680 --> 00:16:22,560 Speaker 1: with like the big robes and capes almost I guess 292 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,600 Speaker 1: that's to keep warm or something. But then I remember 293 00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:28,000 Speaker 1: reading about these other types that never show up in 294 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 1: the movies, like lava troopers or something. I don't know. 295 00:16:31,880 --> 00:16:34,120 Speaker 1: Did you never read about this? Uh No, I've never 296 00:16:34,200 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 1: heard of lava troopers. Um. I mean, I'm trying. I'm 297 00:16:36,560 --> 00:16:39,160 Speaker 1: only vaguely remembering, but it seemed very interesting to me. 298 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,160 Speaker 1: I was like, why isn't there a movie about that? 299 00:16:41,680 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's drawing on the idea that, of course, 300 00:16:44,640 --> 00:16:47,360 Speaker 1: you would have different types of specialized units for different 301 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,960 Speaker 1: terrain yeah, I, uh Star Wars specific I never had 302 00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:55,000 Speaker 1: that book, but certainly just by virtue of being into 303 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,280 Speaker 1: like miniature war games and even even you know, playing 304 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 1: of games I don't play, or collecting, I love to 305 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 1: just pour over the army list like okay, here your 306 00:17:03,280 --> 00:17:05,760 Speaker 1: here your ranking files, and okay, here your specialist. Here 307 00:17:05,800 --> 00:17:08,960 Speaker 1: you're you're fast moving troops. Here are you're heavy troops. 308 00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:13,520 Speaker 1: Here are your infiltration units. Here you're close combat units. 309 00:17:13,600 --> 00:17:17,840 Speaker 1: There's there's something um yeah, just just endlessly appealing about 310 00:17:18,560 --> 00:17:20,760 Speaker 1: about going through the rank and file of a system 311 00:17:20,840 --> 00:17:23,720 Speaker 1: like that totally. Uh. And of course it shouldn't come 312 00:17:23,760 --> 00:17:26,840 Speaker 1: as any surprise that many different kinds of ants have 313 00:17:27,000 --> 00:17:31,160 Speaker 1: their own specialized units. Yes, absolutely, So we're gonna discuss 314 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: some of these. We're not gonna be of course, we're 315 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:34,800 Speaker 1: not gonna be able to really do justice to the 316 00:17:35,080 --> 00:17:38,359 Speaker 1: entire rich diversity of the ant world, you know, plenty 317 00:17:38,400 --> 00:17:40,399 Speaker 1: of which is still being discovered and is yet to 318 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:44,359 Speaker 1: be uh discovered by scientists. Uh, but we'll touch on 319 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:46,760 Speaker 1: some highlights here that are known. So first I want 320 00:17:46,800 --> 00:17:49,359 Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about specialized defenses. Uh. You know, 321 00:17:49,440 --> 00:17:52,480 Speaker 1: we've talked so much about offense with ants. Uh, but 322 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 1: but sometimes said there is a particular defensive strategy in 323 00:17:56,000 --> 00:18:00,640 Speaker 1: mind as well. Zoologist and entomologist Sean O'Donnell points out 324 00:18:00,760 --> 00:18:03,480 Speaker 1: that leaf cutter ants and army ants are both dominant 325 00:18:03,520 --> 00:18:06,399 Speaker 1: ants species, and when they wage war, those wars can 326 00:18:06,480 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: wage for days. So it's a it's a classic matchup 327 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,640 Speaker 1: in many respects, right, It's a ravaging warriors on one 328 00:18:12,720 --> 00:18:16,440 Speaker 1: side and foraging agriculturists on the other. Right, So you 329 00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,000 Speaker 1: would think of the army answers primarily like rating carnivores 330 00:18:20,119 --> 00:18:22,720 Speaker 1: that are on the attack, and the leaf cutter ants 331 00:18:22,800 --> 00:18:26,440 Speaker 1: are there their cultivators of their environment, right, Yeah, So 332 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:29,919 Speaker 1: leaf cutter ants very famously depend on their workers. They 333 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:32,520 Speaker 1: have to go out, they have to cut the leaf portions, 334 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:35,560 Speaker 1: bring the leaf portions back, and then those leaf portions 335 00:18:35,600 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: are used to grow their precious fruit crop, which is 336 00:18:38,080 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: a fungus I believe, right, Yeah, fungus that is uh 337 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:44,160 Speaker 1: if I remember correctly, extinct in the wild is purely 338 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:49,280 Speaker 1: domesticated by ants long before humans came on the scene. Unbelievable. 339 00:18:50,000 --> 00:18:51,719 Speaker 1: So it's mostly the work of these you know, these 340 00:18:51,760 --> 00:18:54,680 Speaker 1: female workers. But there they do have a cast of 341 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,919 Speaker 1: larger soldiers, and apparently they were something of a mystery 342 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: for a while. Researchers would look at them and they 343 00:19:00,400 --> 00:19:02,240 Speaker 1: would ask, what are these guys for. They don't seem 344 00:19:02,280 --> 00:19:04,359 Speaker 1: to be doing anything, they don't seem to have a purpose. 345 00:19:04,880 --> 00:19:09,040 Speaker 1: But by seating army and invasions in leaf cutter nests, 346 00:19:09,600 --> 00:19:12,200 Speaker 1: researchers were able to discover that they seem to be 347 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:16,320 Speaker 1: specialists just for army ant invasions, sent to the front 348 00:19:16,359 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 1: lines by the thousands uh to in an attempt to 349 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: defend the colony. Even though it does seem like they 350 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:25,920 Speaker 1: tend to fail in the end, but I mean even 351 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:28,520 Speaker 1: in cases where they fail, it's possible they could be say, 352 00:19:28,600 --> 00:19:31,920 Speaker 1: buying time for the rest of the colony. Yeah, and 353 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,960 Speaker 1: it's interesting to look at that. That's that reality in 354 00:19:36,160 --> 00:19:38,720 Speaker 1: terms of how other ant species deal with army ants, 355 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:41,960 Speaker 1: because apparently you very roughly you kind of have you 356 00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:44,239 Speaker 1: have two extremes. On one hand, those who just put 357 00:19:44,359 --> 00:19:46,280 Speaker 1: up a fight, they're like army answer attacking, We're going 358 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: to fight them back, We're gonna give it everything we have. 359 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:51,840 Speaker 1: But then you also have some varieties of ants that 360 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 1: evacuate everybody at the first sign of an attack. The 361 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:57,840 Speaker 1: army answer coming, So pack it all up. We're getting 362 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,080 Speaker 1: out of here. But then they can move back in 363 00:20:00,320 --> 00:20:02,960 Speaker 1: after the invaders have left, because their army ants they're 364 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:04,520 Speaker 1: not gonna live there. They're not gonna hang out in 365 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: your colony and wait for you to come back. They're 366 00:20:06,440 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 1: they're they're here for the goods, and if the goods 367 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,840 Speaker 1: are not here, they have to keep moving. Now here's 368 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:17,160 Speaker 1: another just super interesting adaptation. Um. In the last episode, 369 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,760 Speaker 1: I mentioned Douglas j Emlin's book Animal Weapons, which deals 370 00:20:20,800 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 1: with the evolution of bioweapons and organisms as well as 371 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:26,680 Speaker 1: the development of tool based weapons and humans, and he 372 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: discusses the feodole aunt genus, in which individuals fall into 373 00:20:30,800 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: various casts. So there, of course the reproductive male and females. 374 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:38,199 Speaker 1: They're the small workers, they're larger workers. And then there 375 00:20:38,240 --> 00:20:41,320 Speaker 1: are the soldiers and the soldiers of this genus boast 376 00:20:41,440 --> 00:20:47,160 Speaker 1: quote grossly enlarged heads, jaws, and teeth. These are these 377 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:50,040 Speaker 1: a particular ants are also known as the big headed ants. 378 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:53,399 Speaker 1: But then he also goes on to discuss another genus 379 00:20:53,480 --> 00:20:57,320 Speaker 1: of ants. This is Odonto marcus uh, the trap jaw 380 00:20:57,440 --> 00:21:01,280 Speaker 1: ants whose lock and release jawstra uture functions a lot 381 00:21:01,400 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: like a mantis shrimp. You know, there's all this stored 382 00:21:04,920 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 1: potential energy like a crossbow that has been pulled back 383 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:12,680 Speaker 1: and locked. So when these jaws shut on these trap 384 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:15,159 Speaker 1: jaw ants, they can shut it speeds a one hundred 385 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:18,560 Speaker 1: and forty three miles per hour, so they slam shut 386 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,240 Speaker 1: really fast. Right, and here's where it gets That was 387 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:27,120 Speaker 1: a stupid restatement of what you said, but let's keep it. Okay, Yes, 388 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:31,399 Speaker 1: very very fast, especially on this scale too. Right. Um, 389 00:21:31,800 --> 00:21:33,800 Speaker 1: but but here's where he gets even more interason. This 390 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: is where he gets kind of cunning because the trap 391 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: jaw ants, of course, they can release this bite at 392 00:21:38,359 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 1: their adversaries, but they can also unleash this bite at 393 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,840 Speaker 1: the ground and in doing so launch themselves backwards through 394 00:21:46,920 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: the air twenty body lengths as a successful escape tactic. 395 00:21:52,280 --> 00:21:55,480 Speaker 1: So this reminds me of indungeons and dragons. There's this 396 00:21:55,560 --> 00:21:58,920 Speaker 1: ability that rogues have called the cunning action ability that 397 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:02,720 Speaker 1: allows them to effect actively disengage in backtrack out of battle, 398 00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:05,359 Speaker 1: so they're able to strike it an enemy and then 399 00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,720 Speaker 1: get out of there really quick of so the enemy 400 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:11,640 Speaker 1: can't smite them back the next round. Um. Yeah, Yeah, 401 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:13,520 Speaker 1: it's it's so it's it's crazy to think. It's almost 402 00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: like they have jet packs these ants. Yeah, I was 403 00:22:16,440 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: trying to think of what a what a human technological 404 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: comparison would be. I was thinking about, like, I guess 405 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: escape pods or ejector seats from fighter planes, or or 406 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 1: just like maybe like it's kind of like a sky hook. 407 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,480 Speaker 1: Maybe a plane flies over just picks you up. Yeah. Yeah, 408 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:35,800 Speaker 1: I don't even know if there is truly a direct 409 00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:40,400 Speaker 1: because when we're when we're talking about retreat and effectively, um, 410 00:22:41,000 --> 00:22:44,080 Speaker 1: you know, backing your forces out in a military scenario. 411 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:47,920 Speaker 1: I mean generally it's a very delicate situation with with 412 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:51,320 Speaker 1: with human military forces. I can't think of anything offhand 413 00:22:51,359 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: it seems like a direct parallel to this. Now, a 414 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 1: lot of ants boast chemical weapons. We touched on this 415 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,280 Speaker 1: in the very first episode where we talked about the 416 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:01,920 Speaker 1: basic evolution of ants, in which early on it seems 417 00:23:01,960 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: like you had more like powerful stings that were aimed 418 00:23:05,840 --> 00:23:11,119 Speaker 1: at large pit for instance, vertebrate threats to the the ants. 419 00:23:11,200 --> 00:23:15,639 Speaker 1: But then the the evolutionary pressure becomes more focused on 420 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:18,919 Speaker 1: uh at warfare, and there so therefore you see all 421 00:23:18,960 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 1: these various um adaptations emerge where it's more about waging 422 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:26,240 Speaker 1: war against ants, and sometimes it takes a place of 423 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:30,399 Speaker 1: new chemical weapons that they may use. So a very 424 00:23:30,480 --> 00:23:32,840 Speaker 1: famous one, of course would be formic acid. The word 425 00:23:32,920 --> 00:23:37,000 Speaker 1: formic coming from the word for ants formic a day. Yeah, 426 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,480 Speaker 1: and so that's what we see with the the formic 427 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:42,359 Speaker 1: acid of the formica would ants. So these ants can 428 00:23:42,359 --> 00:23:45,440 Speaker 1: spray formic acid from the tips of their abdomen. In fact, 429 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: formic acid was first extracted in six seventy one by 430 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: the English naturalist John Ray. Is John Ray, the guy 431 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:56,159 Speaker 1: we talked about who was doing the experiments with with 432 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:58,840 Speaker 1: ants and formic acid and was comparing it to urine. 433 00:23:59,359 --> 00:24:01,320 Speaker 1: I don't think it is. I had to pull him 434 00:24:01,400 --> 00:24:05,080 Speaker 1: up and granted a lot of these individuals with portraits 435 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:10,440 Speaker 1: from from the late seventeen early eighteenth century, UH kind 436 00:24:10,480 --> 00:24:12,400 Speaker 1: of look the same to me. But um, I don't 437 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:16,520 Speaker 1: think we touched on him before. Could be wrong, But anyway, 438 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: the formic acid of these ants that this is a 439 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:22,560 Speaker 1: great example of one variety of of reverally in and 440 00:24:22,640 --> 00:24:25,239 Speaker 1: of itself, amazing chemical weapons that have been developed by 441 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:29,400 Speaker 1: UH that have evolved in these ants species. But there 442 00:24:29,480 --> 00:24:32,879 Speaker 1: are even more exotic examples to look at, and in 443 00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,040 Speaker 1: this we're getting into the topic of exploding ants, which 444 00:24:36,400 --> 00:24:39,239 Speaker 1: this is so good. Yeah, and this is a lot 445 00:24:39,280 --> 00:24:42,320 Speaker 1: of you probably heard about about examples of this before, 446 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:45,359 Speaker 1: because I mean, it's just such an amazing topic and 447 00:24:45,400 --> 00:24:48,679 Speaker 1: it's certainly made the rounds in science communication and science journalism. 448 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 1: Uh and in fact, I think we've probably mentioned it 449 00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:53,639 Speaker 1: on the show in the past. However, we're going to 450 00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:56,119 Speaker 1: touch on some new stuff as well here, like the 451 00:24:56,480 --> 00:24:58,960 Speaker 1: new findings new species that have been discovered just in 452 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,320 Speaker 1: the last uh year or so so um well, one 453 00:25:02,359 --> 00:25:04,560 Speaker 1: in one example that comes up a lot is uh 454 00:25:04,920 --> 00:25:09,399 Speaker 1: Camponatis sunders of Malaysia and Brunei, whose bodies are riddled 455 00:25:09,440 --> 00:25:12,800 Speaker 1: with poison sacks, and so when they attack. When they're attacked, 456 00:25:13,080 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: they constrict and rupture, fatally, forcing sticky poison out of 457 00:25:16,880 --> 00:25:20,440 Speaker 1: their mouth, anus and through their exoskeleton. And again, don't 458 00:25:20,480 --> 00:25:23,760 Speaker 1: think of this as of the individual in this scenario, 459 00:25:24,200 --> 00:25:27,360 Speaker 1: Think of the group. Think of the colony, the good 460 00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: of the colony. So this is a situation where the 461 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: individual is a biological weapon and they can readily sacrifice 462 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:40,439 Speaker 1: themselves to do damage against or in some way slow 463 00:25:40,600 --> 00:25:44,920 Speaker 1: down an invading species. Yeah. I mean again, think of 464 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:46,879 Speaker 1: the colony as an organism. So this is sort of 465 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:49,920 Speaker 1: like an animal with poison skin. The ant is sort 466 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: of like the skin of the poison arrow frog, right, 467 00:25:54,080 --> 00:25:56,399 Speaker 1: And but in this case they can they can like 468 00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,840 Speaker 1: bear down and burst themselves like a like a like 469 00:26:00,000 --> 00:26:07,879 Speaker 1: a cooked sausage, you know. Uh, yeah, exactly. Uh. This 470 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: is called autopsis, and it's involved independently in a number 471 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:16,440 Speaker 1: of termite species as well. But uh, but you see 472 00:26:16,480 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: different varieties of it the kind of shed light on 473 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:22,159 Speaker 1: how this seems to have evolved. So sometimes you'll have 474 00:26:22,320 --> 00:26:26,959 Speaker 1: an autopsis utilizing species it simply defecates on their enemies. 475 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: Get too close and I'm going to poop onto you. 476 00:26:30,280 --> 00:26:34,320 Speaker 1: Other times you see it more a situation where they're, uh, 477 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: they're bearing down, like they're pooping so hard that they're 478 00:26:36,680 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: going to ruptures or abdomen. And from this we get 479 00:26:39,320 --> 00:26:46,040 Speaker 1: into sort of more exaggerated modes of just absolute abdominal explosion. 480 00:26:46,480 --> 00:26:48,160 Speaker 1: And in fact, like I was saying, there's a there's 481 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 1: a nice new example of this that's come out. I 482 00:26:51,119 --> 00:26:55,160 Speaker 1: was just reading in April Establishments published in Zoo Keys 483 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:59,200 Speaker 1: via lacity at all about another variety of exploding at 484 00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:06,960 Speaker 1: known as uh Colobopsis explodings explodons. I love this explodings 485 00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,200 Speaker 1: a k a. Yellow do ants, but we're just gonna 486 00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:12,879 Speaker 1: call him explodings because that's that's clearly where the fun is. 487 00:27:13,480 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: So this is a wonderfully fascinating species because minor workers 488 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 1: in the colony have this exploding ability. Uh. They can 489 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:25,639 Speaker 1: burst themselves into this yellow chemical goo that is kind 490 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:28,320 Speaker 1: of like a spice that you know, again will kill 491 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,720 Speaker 1: or slow down or or aggravate damage an invader. But 492 00:27:32,800 --> 00:27:37,480 Speaker 1: then they also have um have these larger major type 493 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:40,439 Speaker 1: workers and they're referred to as door keepers because they 494 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: have quote big plug shaped heads which they use to 495 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:47,680 Speaker 1: block intruders in the tunnels. Pause to appreciate this for 496 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:50,960 Speaker 1: a moment. So this is something that other species event 497 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,240 Speaker 1: have have a version of this too, specialized members that 498 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:59,399 Speaker 1: essentially have a locked door for ahead. It's like this 499 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: is a sinating bio mechanical way to raise the drawbridge 500 00:28:03,359 --> 00:28:05,359 Speaker 1: on your colony. Right, These would be ants that have dug, 501 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: you know, excavated colonies with tunnels, and the ants themselves 502 00:28:09,720 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 1: to become part of the defensive structure by closing the 503 00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:16,600 Speaker 1: entrances of the tunnels with their heads. Yeah, this is amazing. 504 00:28:16,680 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: I also point out I believe there's another variety of 505 00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: ant that seals its entrances with stones, and we'll get 506 00:28:21,359 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: into some stone examples here in a bet. But I 507 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: want to get back to explodings though. So this is 508 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 1: a particularly elegant adaptation for defense. But it also, at 509 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:34,440 Speaker 1: least on the surface, seems to buck the trend we 510 00:28:34,520 --> 00:28:38,160 Speaker 1: see earlier with marauder ants. For the marauders, the majors 511 00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,120 Speaker 1: of the big guns, they're the A T S T 512 00:28:40,240 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 1: s that move into tear apart enemies that have been 513 00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: bogged down amid the individually less impressive miners. For explodons, 514 00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:51,640 Speaker 1: the majors are the plug heads, so they functioned mostly 515 00:28:51,720 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 1: as barricade engines. Perhaps you know, one can make a 516 00:28:55,000 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: loose comparison to like a mobile field generator in Star 517 00:28:58,320 --> 00:29:02,960 Speaker 1: Wars or something. In with explodings. The majors rarely leave 518 00:29:03,040 --> 00:29:07,320 Speaker 1: the nest. They're they're purely domestic defenses. It's the miners, however, 519 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 1: that packed the explosive punch that are that are self detonating, 520 00:29:11,280 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: uh sacrificing themselves UH ending their lives in an attempt 521 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: to strike out against the invaders. So these are literally 522 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,440 Speaker 1: suicide missions. Yeah yeah, Like what apparently will happen is 523 00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 1: um Like with the Marauder miners, the Explodings miners are 524 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: indeed the first wave. So there's an attack on the 525 00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:35,120 Speaker 1: nest then they pour into battle. They latch onto an 526 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:37,920 Speaker 1: enemy with their mandibles, and then they hold their abdomen 527 00:29:38,280 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 1: close to their grappled enemy. Then they bear down and 528 00:29:41,160 --> 00:29:45,040 Speaker 1: they burst oozing out of a thick spiced yellow goo 529 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:49,640 Speaker 1: that again either kills them or hinders the attacker. And 530 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,640 Speaker 1: then again the marauder style, the Explodings majors burst in 531 00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: with their plug heads to barricade the tunnels against increased invasion. 532 00:29:58,280 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 1: And I guess one of the interesting things to think 533 00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:02,520 Speaker 1: about year is that we're really getting into a whole 534 00:30:02,640 --> 00:30:07,640 Speaker 1: specialized realm evant warfare, defensive warfare fought within the nest um, 535 00:30:08,000 --> 00:30:13,280 Speaker 1: you know, defensive urban warfare UH specialists here tunnel warfare specialists, 536 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:16,280 Speaker 1: which is something of course we see tunnel warfare and 537 00:30:16,400 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: urban warfare in human scenarios. And it makes me think 538 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:24,080 Speaker 1: back to the linear Lanchester's linear loft that we discussed 539 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 1: in the last episode Yeah again as a refresher, the 540 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:30,880 Speaker 1: linear law tends to apply more to UH conflicts that 541 00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:34,600 Speaker 1: are close something closer to a series of sequential duels, 542 00:30:34,760 --> 00:30:38,960 Speaker 1: where a force with larger numbers can't use the square 543 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: power of those larger numbers too easily overwhelm smaller forces. Uh. 544 00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,400 Speaker 1: You use defenses to your advantage to try to limit 545 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: the scope of how much battle can take place at 546 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:51,720 Speaker 1: the same time. And a classic way to do this 547 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,920 Speaker 1: is to create choke points to create tunnels. Yeah. And 548 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: so this species would seem a master at chuckpoints. So 549 00:30:57,480 --> 00:31:00,960 Speaker 1: you're you're pouring into their uh to their home, and 550 00:31:01,200 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 1: you've got, you know, hundreds of of soldier ants that 551 00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: their at their disposal. Like they have numbers on their side, 552 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,840 Speaker 1: but they have specialists that can explode uh and a 553 00:31:10,920 --> 00:31:14,480 Speaker 1: specialists that can seal off the tunnel. UH. So, which 554 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:16,320 Speaker 1: it gives us seems to give them, uh, you know, 555 00:31:16,600 --> 00:31:18,920 Speaker 1: more or less equal footing with the invaders. And I 556 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,120 Speaker 1: want to stress again that explode ens is a newly 557 00:31:22,240 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 1: discovered variety of self sacrificing aunt first written about in 558 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 1: and so more remains to be explored about them, but 559 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,800 Speaker 1: also in general. It just drives home how many aunt 560 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:35,760 Speaker 1: species are out there in the world that we just 561 00:31:36,040 --> 00:31:38,920 Speaker 1: that we haven't fully documented yet, how many, how many 562 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:43,560 Speaker 1: strange and wonderful adaptations are out there, They just simply 563 00:31:43,640 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 1: haven't been chronicled yet. Isn't that amazing? Just just to 564 00:31:47,520 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: know that there's so much more to learn that will 565 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: be things like this, just bizarre, amazing adaptations that already exist. 566 00:31:56,080 --> 00:31:58,520 Speaker 1: It's not like they're gonna come into being in the future. 567 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:00,960 Speaker 1: I mean, obviously new species will come into being. They're 568 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,880 Speaker 1: already out there. We just never looked at them before, 569 00:32:03,920 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 1: or never at least never documented them in a in 570 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:09,600 Speaker 1: a thorough way. Absolutely. All right, on that note, we're 571 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:11,920 Speaker 1: gonna take one last break, but when we come back 572 00:32:12,160 --> 00:32:17,480 Speaker 1: we'll discuss the Stone Age tactics of bicolor ants. Than 573 00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,920 Speaker 1: all right, we're back. So the next variety of and 574 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:24,080 Speaker 1: I want to touch on is the dory Meyer mix 575 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,880 Speaker 1: bicolor ants. So if you have the higher ground, you 576 00:32:27,960 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: know all you need is gravity and mass. Right, soldiers 577 00:32:30,320 --> 00:32:32,560 Speaker 1: can defend cliffs or the walls of a castle by 578 00:32:32,640 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 1: dropping stones on the heads of attackers. But of course 579 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:39,200 Speaker 1: you can also go on the offense particularly via the 580 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:43,000 Speaker 1: technologies and the human realm of bombardment. An enemy might 581 00:32:43,080 --> 00:32:47,120 Speaker 1: drop things such as stones, bodies, or explosives upon an 582 00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:49,760 Speaker 1: enemy city. Yeah, in the human realm. I mean, one 583 00:32:49,800 --> 00:32:51,760 Speaker 1: way you can think about the evolution of an air 584 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,360 Speaker 1: force is that it is a it is a force 585 00:32:54,440 --> 00:32:59,520 Speaker 1: evolved to give you permanent high ground. Uh. And sometimes 586 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,680 Speaker 1: ants definitely take advantage of this. In particular, these dory 587 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,520 Speaker 1: miromix by color ants of arizona um previously known as 588 00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 1: Cono mirma by color ants, they were discovered back in 589 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:15,200 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy nine by Moglik and Alpert to actually use 590 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:21,200 Speaker 1: small stones to drop um on their adversaries. Basically ant 591 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: tool use. Yeah, now, I mean, I guess when you 592 00:33:26,800 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 1: think about aunt tool use, you do have to like 593 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:30,920 Speaker 1: take a step back and think about what ants are 594 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 1: always doing their manipulating, uh, the soil. They're manipulating little 595 00:33:37,280 --> 00:33:41,600 Speaker 1: grains of sand and moving them around, and this is 596 00:33:41,640 --> 00:33:43,960 Speaker 1: just kind of a byproduct of that. What are else 597 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:48,400 Speaker 1: are you doing with those pieces of the ground. So basically, 598 00:33:48,720 --> 00:33:52,200 Speaker 1: the researchers back in seventy nine observed that workers surrounding 599 00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,440 Speaker 1: the nest would pick up small stones and other objects 600 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: and drop them down the nest entrances of rival nests 601 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: that were reasonably close by. Now, comparing it to bombardment 602 00:34:03,800 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: might be a bit much, but it is at the 603 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:10,800 Speaker 1: very least active interference in a competitors industry, So so 604 00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: perhaps one might think of it more as uh like 605 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,400 Speaker 1: industrial sabotage. I don't know, I mean, it's it seems 606 00:34:16,400 --> 00:34:18,120 Speaker 1: like that would sort of count. I mean, it's using 607 00:34:18,200 --> 00:34:21,440 Speaker 1: gravity and high ground to your advantage in the attack 608 00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,760 Speaker 1: on the enemy's infrastructure. So in many ways it seems 609 00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: a lot like bombing or shelling. Yeah, yeah, I mean 610 00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:30,280 Speaker 1: I think you could make an argument for it. Again, 611 00:34:30,800 --> 00:34:33,520 Speaker 1: going back to our first episode, nothing in the ant 612 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:35,680 Speaker 1: world is gonna be one to one right with the 613 00:34:35,760 --> 00:34:40,120 Speaker 1: human world. But uh, like Moffatt said, you know, good comparisons, 614 00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,160 Speaker 1: you know, worthy comparisons are not going to be direct 615 00:34:43,239 --> 00:34:46,480 Speaker 1: one to once. But there are a few other possible 616 00:34:46,560 --> 00:34:50,399 Speaker 1: cases of soil and pebble based tool used by ants um, 617 00:34:50,800 --> 00:34:53,080 Speaker 1: which again shouldn't be really all that surprising given their 618 00:34:53,080 --> 00:34:58,120 Speaker 1: intense manipulation of the Earth. Four sixty five paper from 619 00:34:58,239 --> 00:35:01,719 Speaker 1: Lynn at All reported paved and ants using soil to 620 00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:06,560 Speaker 1: attack bees and the desert harvester ant will apparently drop 621 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,360 Speaker 1: bits of soil into honey water and then carry the 622 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,600 Speaker 1: soil particles back as a way to bring the honey 623 00:35:12,640 --> 00:35:16,520 Speaker 1: water to the nest. This was This was via a 624 00:35:16,600 --> 00:35:20,319 Speaker 1: study conducted eighty four by Philip McDonald of the New 625 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:24,480 Speaker 1: York Intomological Society, and it it seems to be related 626 00:35:24,560 --> 00:35:28,759 Speaker 1: to the similar use of of of soil to cover 627 00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:33,960 Speaker 1: up liquids that ants cannot just outright remove. Okay, So 628 00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,720 Speaker 1: the idea here is that you come across a liquid 629 00:35:36,880 --> 00:35:39,279 Speaker 1: food source that you want to bring back to the nest. 630 00:35:39,440 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: You obviously you can't carry liquid the same way you 631 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,640 Speaker 1: could carry like a part of another insect's body back 632 00:35:44,760 --> 00:35:48,640 Speaker 1: is food, so they will pour like soil into the 633 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:52,520 Speaker 1: liquid to create a sponge full of sugar, and then 634 00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,920 Speaker 1: carry that soil sponge, the sugary soil sponge back towards 635 00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 1: the queen. That seems to be the case here. Now, Uh, 636 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: it's it's possible that this is something that more is 637 00:36:04,239 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 1: obvious in experimental scenarios. I'm not entirely certain on that, 638 00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:12,600 Speaker 1: but it certainly underlines like what is possible using the 639 00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: properties of soil at that scale and Again, it seems 640 00:36:16,400 --> 00:36:21,080 Speaker 1: like the more uh usual activity that you see is 641 00:36:21,160 --> 00:36:23,160 Speaker 1: like there's some sort of sale poison or a chemical. 642 00:36:23,600 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: The ants don't know what to do with that. They 643 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:27,680 Speaker 1: can't really interact with it directly, but they can put 644 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:30,000 Speaker 1: soil on it. They can essentially bury it. They can 645 00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:33,960 Speaker 1: cover it up, like kicking soil onto a smoldering camp 646 00:36:34,040 --> 00:36:36,600 Speaker 1: fire or something. Yeah. So yeah, I would imagine that 647 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:39,640 Speaker 1: these studies alleging some form of ant tool use, like 648 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,160 Speaker 1: most of the studies alleging types of tool use and animals, 649 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:47,360 Speaker 1: probably have encountered some dispute, you know about interpretation of 650 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:50,440 Speaker 1: the behaviors. Uh. That seems like that always comes up. 651 00:36:50,840 --> 00:36:53,400 Speaker 1: Now here's another one that's pretty interesting. This is an 652 00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:56,800 Speaker 1: example brought up by moffat Uh concerning the so called 653 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:01,040 Speaker 1: slave maker ants. So slave making is also known is 654 00:37:01,280 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 1: u duosis in the biology world. So these are cases 655 00:37:05,040 --> 00:37:09,360 Speaker 1: where you'll have ants that are brood parasites that in 656 00:37:09,480 --> 00:37:13,400 Speaker 1: some species rely on the practice absolutely, but another species 657 00:37:13,640 --> 00:37:16,560 Speaker 1: are not obligate slave makers. So basically what they do 658 00:37:16,960 --> 00:37:20,840 Speaker 1: is they invade a colony, they capture the brood of 659 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: another ant. Usually they're capturing the young and generally it 660 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:28,239 Speaker 1: is a very specific species that they're focusing on, and 661 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:30,799 Speaker 1: then they bring those young back to their own nest 662 00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 1: where they're made to work, while members of the slave 663 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:38,000 Speaker 1: maker species itself just focus on rating more nests for 664 00:37:38,160 --> 00:37:42,160 Speaker 1: more workers. Now, Moffatt shares that while slave making ants 665 00:37:42,239 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 1: are generally heavily armored, heavily armed with superior fighting abilities, 666 00:37:47,760 --> 00:37:52,400 Speaker 1: some species use a propaganda chemical uh is the term 667 00:37:52,520 --> 00:37:56,399 Speaker 1: he uses to throw off the enemy during raids. Uh. 668 00:37:56,680 --> 00:37:58,279 Speaker 1: So you have to think about this, right. You may 669 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:00,440 Speaker 1: be big and strong, but it goes back to that 670 00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,680 Speaker 1: linear law that if you're going in to invade a colony, 671 00:38:04,680 --> 00:38:07,080 Speaker 1: if you're gonna go into the thick of it, then 672 00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:11,160 Speaker 1: great armor, great weapons, that's only gonna get you so 673 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,399 Speaker 1: far if you're outnumbered. But if you have some sort 674 00:38:14,480 --> 00:38:18,920 Speaker 1: of chemical um advantage, if you're able to trick the 675 00:38:19,040 --> 00:38:22,960 Speaker 1: others into thinking you're supposed to be there, then do 676 00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,080 Speaker 1: you have an enormous advantage. Doesn't matter about their superior numbers. 677 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,720 Speaker 1: And so in these cases, these propaganda chemical using slave 678 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,560 Speaker 1: maker ants, they can often carry all of this out 679 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,480 Speaker 1: without any fighting or killing taking place. You know, it's 680 00:38:37,520 --> 00:38:40,800 Speaker 1: not just forms of rival ants there. It almost seems 681 00:38:40,840 --> 00:38:44,000 Speaker 1: like there is a whole genre across different types of 682 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:51,080 Speaker 1: animals that's just adaptations for the safe infiltration of ant colonies. Yeah, 683 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:56,120 Speaker 1: Mermica philes. So the the whole classification of animals that 684 00:38:56,239 --> 00:39:00,160 Speaker 1: have have come to depend upon the ants and in 685 00:39:00,360 --> 00:39:03,359 Speaker 1: many cases use some sort of chemical signal to trick 686 00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: the colon into thinking they're supposed to be there. Now 687 00:39:06,080 --> 00:39:10,000 Speaker 1: here's another example just of of general sort of ant 688 00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:14,040 Speaker 1: war um strategies that is that has brought up mof 689 00:39:14,080 --> 00:39:16,520 Speaker 1: it brings this one up as well. Uh, weaver ants. 690 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: So we've answered not merely an army on the move, 691 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:23,480 Speaker 1: but they hold and control territory. They spread their workers 692 00:39:23,560 --> 00:39:27,800 Speaker 1: out across it and then focus resources around key choke points. 693 00:39:28,160 --> 00:39:32,360 Speaker 1: They even establish leafy barrack nests in the crowns of trees. 694 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: And Moffatt points out that that we've answered therefore less 695 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,880 Speaker 1: rigid compared to army ants. Quote. Weavers, in contrast, wander 696 00:39:39,960 --> 00:39:42,400 Speaker 1: more freely and are more versatile in their response to 697 00:39:42,440 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: opportunities and threats. The difference in style calls to mind 698 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:49,160 Speaker 1: the contrast between the rigidity of Frederick the Great's armies 699 00:39:49,360 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 1: and the flexibility and mobility of Napoleon Bonaparte troops. That's interesting. Yeah. 700 00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: So so the idea is that if a weaver aunt 701 00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:59,920 Speaker 1: does encounter a problem in the empire, he uses their 702 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,960 Speaker 1: recruitment pheromone to call in reinforcements from the immediate area, 703 00:40:04,480 --> 00:40:07,760 Speaker 1: as opposed to just having like one war gang ravaging 704 00:40:07,840 --> 00:40:10,680 Speaker 1: around the territory. So, again, these are not This is 705 00:40:10,760 --> 00:40:13,640 Speaker 1: not an attempt to create an exhaustive list of all 706 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:17,680 Speaker 1: the amazing adaptations that ants have developed to wage wars 707 00:40:17,719 --> 00:40:21,040 Speaker 1: against each other defend against each other, but hopefully it 708 00:40:21,440 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: helps provide uh more of an idea of the rich 709 00:40:24,560 --> 00:40:27,360 Speaker 1: diversity out there. This is one of my favorite types 710 00:40:27,400 --> 00:40:29,919 Speaker 1: of topics that that frequently comes up on the show. 711 00:40:29,960 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 1: It's one of those where you feel like you've gotten 712 00:40:32,480 --> 00:40:36,200 Speaker 1: just a tiny glimpse, you know, behind through through a 713 00:40:36,280 --> 00:40:39,640 Speaker 1: curtain or through a window into a vast uh you know, 714 00:40:39,920 --> 00:40:44,360 Speaker 1: mansion of possibilities and and and rich relationships, uh that 715 00:40:44,640 --> 00:40:47,760 Speaker 1: that you don't even think about most of your waking hours, 716 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:53,279 Speaker 1: that you know that the world is just shocking. Yeah. Absolutely, 717 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,120 Speaker 1: and um and I think it's really interesting to look 718 00:40:57,160 --> 00:41:00,640 Speaker 1: at the work of of your Wilson mof it uh 719 00:41:00,719 --> 00:41:04,759 Speaker 1: and others when they compare ants to the human world, 720 00:41:04,800 --> 00:41:07,960 Speaker 1: Because on one hand, it helps us better understand the ants, right, 721 00:41:08,400 --> 00:41:10,520 Speaker 1: you know, that's how humans work. Like, if we can 722 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:15,040 Speaker 1: see ourselves reflected to some degree and another organism, then 723 00:41:15,160 --> 00:41:17,880 Speaker 1: we can understand that organism better, even if it's you know, 724 00:41:17,960 --> 00:41:22,279 Speaker 1: we're kind of anthropomorphizing to get there. But then on 725 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:24,600 Speaker 1: the other hand, it does seem like we potentially have 726 00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:27,520 Speaker 1: a lot to learn about what we are, right, we're 727 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:31,080 Speaker 1: getting into, you know, the sociobiology of V. O. Wilson 728 00:41:31,200 --> 00:41:34,000 Speaker 1: or can or you know, certainly Moffatt gets into this 729 00:41:34,040 --> 00:41:36,399 Speaker 1: a lot in his book The Human Swarm, where he's 730 00:41:36,680 --> 00:41:38,759 Speaker 1: he's he's not just looking at the ant world, he's 731 00:41:38,920 --> 00:41:41,480 Speaker 1: he's moving from there into the human world and trying 732 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:43,640 Speaker 1: to make sense of what we're doing. Yeah, and of course, 733 00:41:43,760 --> 00:41:47,440 Speaker 1: you know, we're we're incredibly different creatures than ants, but 734 00:41:47,960 --> 00:41:50,640 Speaker 1: some of the same resource dynamics and things like that 735 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:52,640 Speaker 1: are always going to be in play no matter what 736 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:57,160 Speaker 1: species you're talking about. Yeah. In that E. O. Wilson documentary, 737 00:41:57,200 --> 00:42:00,760 Speaker 1: I believe he shares this quote, Uh, he said, quote 738 00:42:00,800 --> 00:42:03,480 Speaker 1: the real problem of humanity is the following. We have 739 00:42:03,640 --> 00:42:09,279 Speaker 1: Paleolithic emotions, medieval institutions and godlike technology, and it is 740 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:13,040 Speaker 1: terrifyingly dangerous and it is now approaching a point of 741 00:42:13,120 --> 00:42:16,279 Speaker 1: crisis overall. I think in many ways that's true, and 742 00:42:16,600 --> 00:42:18,839 Speaker 1: it brings to mind, you know, something that's been sort 743 00:42:18,880 --> 00:42:22,920 Speaker 1: of simmering for me throughout these episodes is that what 744 00:42:23,080 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: I would hope we could learn by by looking at 745 00:42:25,600 --> 00:42:28,800 Speaker 1: the warfare of other organized species like you social insects, 746 00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,600 Speaker 1: and uh, comparing that to to get perspective on human 747 00:42:32,680 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 1: life is not that we learn how better to wage 748 00:42:36,239 --> 00:42:38,839 Speaker 1: war through it, but maybe how not to wage war 749 00:42:39,000 --> 00:42:42,840 Speaker 1: and how to avoid war. Yeah. Yeah, there's sort of 750 00:42:42,840 --> 00:42:45,960 Speaker 1: the lesson that we don't need to live like ants. Um. 751 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:48,960 Speaker 1: I mean, because ants, for all the comparisons we've made, 752 00:42:49,040 --> 00:42:51,840 Speaker 1: you know, they're they're free of these human burdens that 753 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:54,799 Speaker 1: we mentioned, you know, they're emotionless. There, their ways, while 754 00:42:54,840 --> 00:42:57,360 Speaker 1: comparable to human institutions in some way, are free of 755 00:42:57,480 --> 00:43:00,360 Speaker 1: institutional constraints or Robert. While I agree with you in 756 00:43:00,400 --> 00:43:02,279 Speaker 1: a sense about that, though, I would I would be 757 00:43:02,320 --> 00:43:06,319 Speaker 1: careful about the idea that they're emotionless given our well true, yes, 758 00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:09,200 Speaker 1: our our invertebrate emotions episode. But yeah, we we don't know. 759 00:43:09,400 --> 00:43:12,640 Speaker 1: We don't think that they have complex inner lives the 760 00:43:12,719 --> 00:43:15,040 Speaker 1: way that we do, even though they have these internal 761 00:43:15,200 --> 00:43:18,680 Speaker 1: states that you could probably recognize as being something like 762 00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:22,839 Speaker 1: fear or joy. Possibly, right, Yeah, I mean I think 763 00:43:22,880 --> 00:43:26,560 Speaker 1: I have heard before. I forget who there was an entomology. 764 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,080 Speaker 1: I don't think it was Wilson Um. Maybe it was 765 00:43:29,160 --> 00:43:33,840 Speaker 1: Moffett and an NPR piece talking about the watching ants 766 00:43:33,880 --> 00:43:38,040 Speaker 1: and feeling that some ants had almost a personality. So 767 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,080 Speaker 1: you're you're correct, I shouldn't be too fast to dismiss 768 00:43:41,160 --> 00:43:47,120 Speaker 1: them as emotionless, though an individual ant soldier is well 769 00:43:47,320 --> 00:43:49,880 Speaker 1: far I think, far less of an individual than a 770 00:43:50,000 --> 00:43:51,960 Speaker 1: than a human. I think we can we can at 771 00:43:52,040 --> 00:43:54,880 Speaker 1: least focus on that um and then in terms of 772 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,000 Speaker 1: like what they can do. I mean, certainly they are 773 00:43:57,040 --> 00:43:59,840 Speaker 1: a powerful force within the ecosystem. It's been observed that 774 00:44:00,520 --> 00:44:04,799 Speaker 1: if all humans died today, ants would can proceed just fine, 775 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:07,279 Speaker 1: but if all the ants died, the world would be 776 00:44:07,680 --> 00:44:10,799 Speaker 1: in a state of absolute chaos. All right, we're gonna 777 00:44:10,800 --> 00:44:13,759 Speaker 1: go ahead and close it out right there. We hope 778 00:44:13,760 --> 00:44:17,239 Speaker 1: you've enjoyed this three part look at aunt warfare. But 779 00:44:17,680 --> 00:44:20,600 Speaker 1: obviously there's so so much in the ant world, we 780 00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:22,960 Speaker 1: can easily return. Probably we will return at some point 781 00:44:23,040 --> 00:44:26,440 Speaker 1: in the future to discuss ants once more, especially as 782 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:31,080 Speaker 1: researchers continue to make new discoveries totally in the meantime, 783 00:44:31,080 --> 00:44:32,600 Speaker 1: if you would like to check out other episodes of 784 00:44:32,640 --> 00:44:35,000 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, you can find us wherever 785 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:37,800 Speaker 1: you get your podcasts and wherever that happens to be. 786 00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,600 Speaker 1: We just asked that you rate, review, and subscribe. Huge 787 00:44:40,640 --> 00:44:44,160 Speaker 1: thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth Nicholas Johnson. 788 00:44:44,480 --> 00:44:45,960 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us 789 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:48,800 Speaker 1: with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest 790 00:44:48,840 --> 00:44:50,879 Speaker 1: a topic for the future, or just to say hello, 791 00:44:51,280 --> 00:44:53,919 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact that's Stuff to Blow 792 00:44:54,000 --> 00:45:03,840 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind is 793 00:45:03,880 --> 00:45:06,560 Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my 794 00:45:06,640 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 1: Heart Radio, visit the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 795 00:45:09,640 --> 00:45:11,400 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.