1 00:00:03,040 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, the production of 2 00:00:05,360 --> 00:00:14,400 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hey are you welcome to Stuff to 3 00:00:14,440 --> 00:00:17,320 Speaker 1: Blow your Mind? My name is Robert Lamb, and I'm 4 00:00:17,400 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: Joe McCormick, and today we're gonna be talking about traps. 5 00:00:22,000 --> 00:00:25,160 Speaker 1: I think I've mentioned this in some Weird House Cinema episodes, 6 00:00:25,200 --> 00:00:28,120 Speaker 1: But for some reason, ever since I was a little kid, 7 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:33,479 Speaker 1: I have always loved movie scenes where the protagonists build 8 00:00:33,520 --> 00:00:36,360 Speaker 1: a trap to use against the villain or the monster. 9 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:39,520 Speaker 1: I remember, like Home Alone, when I was a little kid, 10 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 1: that that that whole sequence was a great It's sort 11 00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: of expands to fill my whole childhood impression of what 12 00:00:45,479 --> 00:00:48,080 Speaker 1: the movie was. And if you go back and watch 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:49,919 Speaker 1: it as an adult, it's kind of weird that it's 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: only like fifteen or twenty minutes of the runtime in 15 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:55,760 Speaker 1: in Home Alone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it does seem like 16 00:00:56,040 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 1: that's the main thing I remember. Yeah, they the traps, 17 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: the traps, and and certainly people feel certain nostalgia for them. 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,560 Speaker 1: My heart swells at the thought of a nail going 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:10,360 Speaker 1: into Daniel Stearn's foot. Um. But but also, yeah, I 20 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: remember other ones, like you know, Arnold Schwarzenegger builds a 21 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: bunch of traps in Predator. Um and but like this 22 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,399 Speaker 1: wasn't just when I was a kid. It still works 23 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: on me. I remember there was a sequence I just 24 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: loved in the more recent horror movie It follows where 25 00:01:25,760 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: the characters build a trap for the monster. Yeah, that's right. 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,560 Speaker 1: They that is very they have a very, very much 27 00:01:31,560 --> 00:01:34,760 Speaker 1: a kind of home alone's setup that they do there. 28 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,520 Speaker 1: Of course, it's not only the heroes that that have traps. 29 00:01:37,560 --> 00:01:39,920 Speaker 1: I always love a good villain trap as well, especially 30 00:01:40,319 --> 00:01:44,440 Speaker 1: the trap door ump. Trap door sequence is always a 31 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:47,200 Speaker 1: lot of fun. Um uh you know, be it something 32 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:50,080 Speaker 1: like in in Lynn Labyrinth. I love the trap when 33 00:01:50,080 --> 00:01:53,640 Speaker 1: the trap door springs on our hero and that. But 34 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: actually Tomorrow's Weird House Cinema also has a fun trap 35 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: door sequence. Uh oh yeah, so look forward to that. 36 00:02:01,760 --> 00:02:05,520 Speaker 1: Well yeah, on the side of the protagonists getting through 37 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: traps set for them. Another one of my favorite movie 38 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,079 Speaker 1: sequences as a child was the beginning of Raiders the 39 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:13,960 Speaker 1: Lost Art. Oh yeah, and when Indians going through all 40 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:16,480 Speaker 1: the traps. Something about it is just like deep in 41 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,840 Speaker 1: the brain, it's very satisfying. Wall to wall traps. Yeah, 42 00:02:22,040 --> 00:02:25,400 Speaker 1: that's that's a great sequence as well. Um, and all 43 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:27,519 Speaker 1: of these are great sequences in spite of the fact 44 00:02:27,600 --> 00:02:30,680 Speaker 1: that when you when you can, when you really think 45 00:02:30,880 --> 00:02:33,760 Speaker 1: long and hard about any of these scenarios, uh, you know, 46 00:02:33,800 --> 00:02:37,480 Speaker 1: the cracks definitely show would would all of these traps 47 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,880 Speaker 1: still be working in this ancient ruin that Indiana Jones 48 00:02:40,919 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: finds himself in. I don't know, it's it's a hard 49 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: argument to make their right, How did the spring trap 50 00:02:46,800 --> 00:02:49,640 Speaker 1: operate by you sticking your hand through a shaft of 51 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: light when it was made like thousands of years ago? Yeah? 52 00:02:53,960 --> 00:02:56,680 Speaker 1: Or you know, if it's duke and predator, like, how 53 00:02:56,720 --> 00:02:59,720 Speaker 1: does he um? How does he make this super powerful 54 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:02,800 Speaker 1: calm pound bow just in the space of a few 55 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: hours on an afternoon in the jungle? That's just standard 56 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 1: survival training and all these other various ewok traps that 57 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,480 Speaker 1: he builds didn't didn't you go to that camp? Did 58 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:15,560 Speaker 1: I build a bow like that at a camp? Now? 59 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:18,720 Speaker 1: I think we sharpened sticks, you know, that would be 60 00:03:18,800 --> 00:03:20,919 Speaker 1: that would be more believable. Right, he makes a spear 61 00:03:21,520 --> 00:03:24,920 Speaker 1: to battle, that's the way there. Yeah, but you know, 62 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: I think it probably speaks volumes for humans to be 63 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:29,600 Speaker 1: you know, to be saying all of this about traps, 64 00:03:29,600 --> 00:03:32,760 Speaker 1: and especially about you know, loving these cinematic treatments of traps, 65 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,080 Speaker 1: because because what are traps? Ultimately, very broadly speaking, they're clever, 66 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: tactical and or technological innovations that level the playing field 67 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: against predators, against prey, and even against fellow humans. Traps 68 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: are the sort of things that humans have been up 69 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:50,360 Speaker 1: to since prehistory. So of course we love traps, and 70 00:03:50,400 --> 00:03:53,720 Speaker 1: of course we admire things like traps that we find 71 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: another species. Right, So today we're going to be focusing 72 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 1: on some allegations of insects with the ability to build traps, 73 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:06,440 Speaker 1: specifically ants that do things that may in fact be 74 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:12,040 Speaker 1: biological evolutions that allow them to trap prey. Uh. Now, 75 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: there are some other animals that I think we could 76 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:18,240 Speaker 1: say more more clearly and and famously create traps. I 77 00:04:18,279 --> 00:04:22,760 Speaker 1: think the obvious example here would be spiders. Yes, yes, 78 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: spiders are the trap builders par excellence. Uh. You know, 79 00:04:26,120 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 1: there are no finer trap builders in the animal kingdom. 80 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,680 Speaker 1: Maybe you could make a case for human beings, um, 81 00:04:32,680 --> 00:04:35,280 Speaker 1: but personally I'm not in favor of that. I think, 82 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,960 Speaker 1: you know, well, building spiders especially are just such highly 83 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,120 Speaker 1: evolved trap masters. Every detail of their anatomy and behavior 84 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: enhances their trapping ability, and the trap is very much 85 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:49,400 Speaker 1: an extension of their own bodies in so many ways. 86 00:04:49,800 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 1: And we've covered this, and we've covered spiders in general 87 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:54,760 Speaker 1: numerous times in the show before, and we'll likely keep 88 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:57,240 Speaker 1: coming back to them. But yeah, that the spider, the 89 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,520 Speaker 1: spider is the trap maker. There's nothing else that the 90 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: spider really does. Um in anything else it does, the 91 00:05:04,480 --> 00:05:07,440 Speaker 1: web building spider is going to do in close proximity 92 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: to the web that it has built. Yeah. Another example 93 00:05:11,480 --> 00:05:14,880 Speaker 1: that's come up before, I think in our Sarlac episodes 94 00:05:15,080 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 1: was the ant lion. Yes, yeah, uh. This is a 95 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: case where we have predatory larvae that in some species 96 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: of antline anyway, set up at the bottom of sand 97 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,360 Speaker 1: pits that they dig, ready to lash out at anything 98 00:05:29,480 --> 00:05:32,640 Speaker 1: that disturbs their grains and you know, ventures down into 99 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:36,320 Speaker 1: the trap. Um. Again, not all ant lion species dig 100 00:05:36,360 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: trap pits, but some of the most famous ones do. 101 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: I remember. One of the great things we learned about 102 00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:45,760 Speaker 1: the ant lion was that, like you say, the it 103 00:05:45,880 --> 00:05:48,440 Speaker 1: is the ones that make traps. It is just the 104 00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,680 Speaker 1: larval period of their lifespan, their life cycle that they 105 00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:56,679 Speaker 1: make the traps. Then they later metamorphos into into another form. 106 00:05:57,279 --> 00:05:59,320 Speaker 1: But while they're in that larval stage, I think at 107 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:05,040 Speaker 1: least some of them never poop. Oh yeah, catching ants 108 00:06:05,080 --> 00:06:07,279 Speaker 1: and eating them and just like waiting, and it's like 109 00:06:07,480 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: if you had to wait until you turned eighteen to poop. 110 00:06:12,320 --> 00:06:14,359 Speaker 1: We'll go back and listen to that Sarlac episode if 111 00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:16,360 Speaker 1: you'd like to hear more about the ant lion. There's 112 00:06:16,400 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 1: also um the species of creature known as the worm lion, 113 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: and this is this is unrelated to the ant lion. 114 00:06:24,240 --> 00:06:27,120 Speaker 1: It's just a matter of convergent evolution that ends up 115 00:06:27,200 --> 00:06:31,920 Speaker 1: utilizing largely the exact same method again when it's a larva. 116 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: Uh though the pit itself in this case is generated 117 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:38,840 Speaker 1: via site a slightly different method, so it digs its 118 00:06:38,880 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: pit in a slightly different method, but it's still consumes 119 00:06:42,400 --> 00:06:44,839 Speaker 1: its prey in the same manner. But for me, at least, 120 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: if you ask me to make a list of non 121 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:51,320 Speaker 1: human animals that make traps, I could obviously go spiders. 122 00:06:51,360 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: I would have thought of the ant lion, maybe by 123 00:06:53,640 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: association the worm lion. But there before I was reading 124 00:06:58,040 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: up for this episode, I think I would have drawn 125 00:07:00,000 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: on a blank I wouldn't know what to go to next. Yeah, 126 00:07:03,600 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 1: and part of it comes down to just how are 127 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:10,320 Speaker 1: you going to going to define a trap? Uh? For example, 128 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:14,920 Speaker 1: here's here's an interesting potential example. Uh. We can discuss 129 00:07:15,480 --> 00:07:17,520 Speaker 1: that I read across read read about when I was 130 00:07:17,600 --> 00:07:22,320 Speaker 1: reading Gilbert Wald Bowlers How Not to Be Eaten, which 131 00:07:22,520 --> 00:07:25,280 Speaker 1: which is largely about insects, but there's a part where 132 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:29,080 Speaker 1: the author is discussing the burrowing owl. So these are 133 00:07:29,120 --> 00:07:33,400 Speaker 1: small birds native to the Great Plains in southern Florida. Um, 134 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:35,560 Speaker 1: I think they're about the size of a robin. I'm 135 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: to understand that. You know, they're small, little little guys, 136 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:41,800 Speaker 1: but they make their home in burrows that they did themselves. 137 00:07:42,480 --> 00:07:45,240 Speaker 1: And one of the interesting things that they do in 138 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:49,400 Speaker 1: addition to this, if this wasn't you know interesting enough already, 139 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,080 Speaker 1: is the burrowing owl will scatter horse or cow dung 140 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,440 Speaker 1: around the entrance to their burrows. And in you know, 141 00:07:56,520 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: times before European contact, this would have probably been bison dung. 142 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,280 Speaker 1: And the dung does seem to be important because if 143 00:08:04,480 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: if researchers remove the dung from the vicinity, the birds 144 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:10,040 Speaker 1: will just the bird will just go out and obtain 145 00:08:10,080 --> 00:08:13,240 Speaker 1: more dung and place it in the vicinity. So it's 146 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: it seems to be doing this intentionally. The theory is 147 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: that they place the dung to bait dung beetles, So 148 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:23,520 Speaker 1: they put the dung out dung beetles come, And indeed, 149 00:08:24,400 --> 00:08:27,200 Speaker 1: researchers have been able to tell that the owls eat 150 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: ten times more dung beetles than usual when the dung 151 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,400 Speaker 1: is out. Well, this will in fact mirror one of 152 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: the two examples of potential aunt trap making that I 153 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,000 Speaker 1: want to talk about later. Yeah, I mean it's but 154 00:08:40,000 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 1: but this is a great example. It's certainly clever. I 155 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 1: like it. But it kind of forces us to ask 156 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,360 Speaker 1: the question of a trap, like what is a trap? 157 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:52,560 Speaker 1: Is just merely baiting a trap? Um? That is a 158 00:08:52,559 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: good question, Yeah, because and um, how much does the 159 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:59,520 Speaker 1: trap structure have to be separate from your body in 160 00:08:59,600 --> 00:09:02,080 Speaker 1: order on as a as a constructed trap? And how 161 00:09:02,200 --> 00:09:03,960 Speaker 1: much does it have to how much work does it 162 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:06,960 Speaker 1: have to do for you? Yeah? And at what point 163 00:09:07,200 --> 00:09:11,360 Speaker 1: does an animal's behavior stop being a trap and just 164 00:09:11,440 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 1: become sneaky behavior, sneaky tactics, or or simply ambush predation. 165 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,359 Speaker 1: Because obviously there are plenty of examples of ambush predators 166 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:23,200 Speaker 1: on land and in the sea, and these include everything 167 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:25,800 Speaker 1: from well, the trap door spider for one, which I 168 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:28,920 Speaker 1: think is is definitely a case of of trap building 169 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:32,160 Speaker 1: because it's it's an ambush predator, but it builds a 170 00:09:32,240 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: silk hinge trap door to aid in those ambushes, right, 171 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:38,600 Speaker 1: so the trapdoor hides it. I think you could count 172 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 1: that as like infrastructure necessary to constitute a trap. Yeah, yeah, 173 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: I think that, Yeah, definitely with the trapdoor spider. But 174 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: then you also have just various camouflage predators, including things 175 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:53,720 Speaker 1: like frog fish, praying mantis is, chameleons, and more, which 176 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:57,920 Speaker 1: are not building anything. They're not altering their environment, but 177 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: they've evolved to look like a part of or environment. Uh, 178 00:10:01,440 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 1: and they have you know, often tremendous abilities of camouflage 179 00:10:04,920 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 1: that enable them to quickly ambush something that they want 180 00:10:08,240 --> 00:10:11,679 Speaker 1: to eat. Okay, that probably doesn't that doesn't really seem 181 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 1: like a trap to me, because they're just evolved to 182 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:19,360 Speaker 1: look that way and they do the actual hunting themselves, right. 183 00:10:19,400 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: And then of course we have various birds and cats 184 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:24,680 Speaker 1: and big cats even, uh that are just very stealthy 185 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: that are just very good at not being observed by 186 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:31,200 Speaker 1: the things they want to kill. So I was reading 187 00:10:31,240 --> 00:10:34,760 Speaker 1: a little bit about this in Douglas j Imland's excellent 188 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:37,120 Speaker 1: book Animal Weapons that have Referenced on the Show before, 189 00:10:37,800 --> 00:10:40,600 Speaker 1: and he points out that creatures such as this generally 190 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,079 Speaker 1: depend on quote, a quick strike weapon that immediately incapacitates 191 00:10:44,080 --> 00:10:48,200 Speaker 1: its victim. And of course these bioweapons might be enhanced 192 00:10:48,200 --> 00:10:51,480 Speaker 1: by special features, such as in various deep sea ambush 193 00:10:51,520 --> 00:10:55,120 Speaker 1: predators a bioluminescent lure, which again is not something they 194 00:10:55,120 --> 00:10:57,840 Speaker 1: have created or engineered out of their environment, but it 195 00:10:57,880 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 1: is a part of their body. So when we come 196 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:01,400 Speaker 1: back of this idea that what needs to be something 197 00:11:01,400 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: that's built, it needs to be something that's engineered, or 198 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: just a whole dug in the in the ground. Even um, 199 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:09,480 Speaker 1: we come back to that same question, well, why don't 200 00:11:09,480 --> 00:11:12,280 Speaker 1: we find more of this? And I actually found an 201 00:11:12,320 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: interesting paper title out there, why are pitfall Traps so 202 00:11:15,840 --> 00:11:20,400 Speaker 1: rare in the natural World? By G. D Ruxton and M. H. Hansel, 203 00:11:20,800 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: And it appeared in Evolutionary Ecology in two thousand and nine. 204 00:11:24,840 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: Interesting question. Yeah, So the authors here point out that 205 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: in order to lay a trap, you generally need either 206 00:11:30,559 --> 00:11:35,200 Speaker 1: advanced cognitive powers as with humans obviously, or you need 207 00:11:35,360 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 1: specialists self secreted materials as with spiders and catis fly 208 00:11:41,000 --> 00:11:45,800 Speaker 1: larvae thing which the Catasta catass fly larvae use that 209 00:11:45,880 --> 00:11:48,920 Speaker 1: their their secretions to create a net like even meshed 210 00:11:49,080 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: trap like a silk um trap in order to like 211 00:11:53,600 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: filter catch their prey. That makes sense. So humans can 212 00:11:57,840 --> 00:12:00,440 Speaker 1: create all kinds of traps because we have of you know, 213 00:12:00,520 --> 00:12:04,079 Speaker 1: cognitive powers that allow us to imagine what could be done. 214 00:12:04,480 --> 00:12:06,800 Speaker 1: How you know, other materials in the environment could be 215 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:12,120 Speaker 1: repurposed to uh, to passively ensnare or kill prey, animals 216 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:14,599 Speaker 1: and spiders and stuff. That that's just the trap you 217 00:12:14,640 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: could almost say, is a part of their body. Even 218 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,400 Speaker 1: though the web is a built thing. They're evolved to 219 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,560 Speaker 1: secrete the silk for the web out of their bodies, 220 00:12:22,880 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 1: and they have very instinctually driven behaviors for how they 221 00:12:26,559 --> 00:12:30,839 Speaker 1: extrude that silk where and in what patterns. Right, So 222 00:12:31,120 --> 00:12:36,200 Speaker 1: Ruxton enhansl here ultimately point out that, okay, we have 223 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,640 Speaker 1: the ant lion though, and of course the worm lion. Uh, 224 00:12:39,679 --> 00:12:42,839 Speaker 1: these are exceptions to the rule. Um they make use 225 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,640 Speaker 1: of a pitfall trap, and so the authors asked, why 226 00:12:45,720 --> 00:12:49,840 Speaker 1: is this basic tactic not more common in the animal world? 227 00:12:49,880 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: How hard is it, after all to dig a hole? 228 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: They're easy, they're cheap um, And yet you don't see 229 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:00,319 Speaker 1: this technique used by virtually anything outside of and of 230 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,280 Speaker 1: some ant lions and worm lions. Apparently, the lack of 231 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: more pitfall traps in nature was something of a mystery, 232 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,760 Speaker 1: or and remains something of a mystery. Yeah, that that 233 00:13:09,920 --> 00:13:12,240 Speaker 1: is interesting, Okay, so I it took me a second 234 00:13:12,240 --> 00:13:14,240 Speaker 1: to get the distinction they're making. But they're saying that 235 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,840 Speaker 1: the ant lion and the wormline would be kind of 236 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: an outlier because they don't have complex intelligence and imagination 237 00:13:21,040 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: like humans, so they're not inventing traps with cognitive powers. 238 00:13:25,480 --> 00:13:29,040 Speaker 1: But they also don't secrete a material that constitutes the 239 00:13:29,040 --> 00:13:31,840 Speaker 1: basis of the trap like a spider. They're literally just 240 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:34,520 Speaker 1: building a trap out of the dead environment around of 241 00:13:34,559 --> 00:13:37,520 Speaker 1: them by digging a conically shaped hole in such a 242 00:13:37,559 --> 00:13:39,880 Speaker 1: pattern that that ants get stuck in it when they 243 00:13:39,880 --> 00:13:42,960 Speaker 1: fall down the side. But and and why is that 244 00:13:43,080 --> 00:13:45,200 Speaker 1: so rare, because it would seem like that that should 245 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:49,959 Speaker 1: be a strategy that lots of animals could easily employ. Right, Yeah, again, 246 00:13:50,480 --> 00:13:55,400 Speaker 1: holes are ultimately easy to make, low energy? Why not? Why? Why? 247 00:13:55,520 --> 00:13:57,440 Speaker 1: Why is? Why is this cat not making a hole 248 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,480 Speaker 1: and using that as part of its hunting tactics? So what? What? 249 00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: What are their thoughts on this? Like, why would why 250 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: wouldn't we see this more often? Well, they proposed to 251 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,320 Speaker 1: speculative reasons for the lack of pitfall traps in nature. 252 00:14:09,600 --> 00:14:13,120 Speaker 1: The first one is pitfall traps may require a specialist 253 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:16,360 Speaker 1: micro habitat. In other words, you can't do this just anywhere. 254 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,640 Speaker 1: Conditions have to be just right, uh, such as you know, 255 00:14:19,720 --> 00:14:21,160 Speaker 1: we can look at the ant lions, they have to 256 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:22,920 Speaker 1: be kind of sandy conditions, you know, you have to 257 00:14:22,920 --> 00:14:26,680 Speaker 1: have that kind of granular environment. Um. So it's the 258 00:14:26,760 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: kind of tactic that a potential trap builder would not 259 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,200 Speaker 1: necessarily be able to employ all over the place. You 260 00:14:33,240 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: would have to depend on us, again, on a specialist 261 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,000 Speaker 1: micro habitat. I think I recall from our Starlac episode 262 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:41,760 Speaker 1: where we had a segment about the ant lion that 263 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:43,960 Speaker 1: they needed the grains of soil to be of a 264 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: particular size, like the sandy grains above or below a 265 00:14:48,880 --> 00:14:52,480 Speaker 1: certain diameter threshold would not work very well for making 266 00:14:52,480 --> 00:14:56,600 Speaker 1: the traps. Yeah. Yeah. Now, the second point is that 267 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:00,280 Speaker 1: with the ant lion in particular, the trap targets small prey, 268 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: and since they may be more functionally tied to their 269 00:15:02,840 --> 00:15:05,720 Speaker 1: trapped and spiders are traps of this nature, could serve 270 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:09,080 Speaker 1: as like basically a major bull's eye for potential predators. 271 00:15:09,080 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 1: And indeed the main predators of ant lions and worm 272 00:15:11,680 --> 00:15:15,360 Speaker 1: lions are birds who know what to look for. That's 273 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:17,520 Speaker 1: a really good point. So by building a trap and 274 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:19,760 Speaker 1: then sitting in it and waiting for your prey to 275 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: fall in, you were also usually going to be making 276 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:25,720 Speaker 1: a structure that makes it easy for things that want 277 00:15:25,720 --> 00:15:28,040 Speaker 1: to eat you too, I defind where you are. You know, 278 00:15:28,080 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: they don't have to look too hard because you've made 279 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:32,360 Speaker 1: a big hole in the ground, right and uh, and 280 00:15:32,440 --> 00:15:34,760 Speaker 1: spiders just have a little more leeway with the situation. Now, 281 00:15:34,760 --> 00:15:37,600 Speaker 1: I should point out Hansel also wrote an entire book 282 00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:39,800 Speaker 1: which I'm gonna reference here in a minute. He spends 283 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,160 Speaker 1: a lot of time in that book talking about spiders 284 00:15:43,280 --> 00:15:46,440 Speaker 1: and how you know, some sometimes spider webs are very visible, 285 00:15:47,000 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: h in other times they're not, and how that plays 286 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: into the you know, the ultimately kind of complex relationship 287 00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:58,680 Speaker 1: between spiders and uh, and the creatures that would eat spiders. Um. 288 00:15:58,880 --> 00:16:02,440 Speaker 1: But but just thinking about this as the trap being 289 00:16:02,480 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: this conspicuous thing. This we actually see this in a 290 00:16:05,280 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 1: lot of our fantastic trap fiction. You know that moment 291 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:11,640 Speaker 1: when the target of the clever cinematic trap, especially if 292 00:16:11,640 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: it's laid by the protagonists. Uh, the the enemy almost 293 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:19,720 Speaker 1: sets it off, right, like the predator almost triggers the 294 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:24,200 Speaker 1: trip line you've prepared. But then something happens right the uh, 295 00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:26,880 Speaker 1: the monster deduces that the trap is there, or it 296 00:16:26,920 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: suspects that something is a little off. Oh and maybe 297 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:33,680 Speaker 1: even the presence of a trap is how the hero 298 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: knows that they have stumbled across the bad guys hideout. 299 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,800 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, um. It even reminds me a bit of 300 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:43,240 Speaker 1: our recent weird house selection the Lift. This was the 301 00:16:43,320 --> 00:16:46,800 Speaker 1: killer elevator movie. Uh, the killer elevator in this or 302 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:50,440 Speaker 1: I guess you were more specifically the weird bio brain 303 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,600 Speaker 1: that's been installed in the elevator shaft to power these elevators. 304 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:58,600 Speaker 1: It's kind of an obligate trap predator. Um. But it's 305 00:16:58,640 --> 00:17:01,960 Speaker 1: so tied to that in ironment that it's a little tricky. 306 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:03,920 Speaker 1: Like it it's not able to pull off every kill, 307 00:17:04,359 --> 00:17:07,359 Speaker 1: and it's eventually destroyed by prey that is too clever 308 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:11,919 Speaker 1: for it. Brilliant analogy. This this is true. The killer 309 00:17:11,960 --> 00:17:16,200 Speaker 1: Elevator is an obligate trap predator. I also have to 310 00:17:16,240 --> 00:17:18,399 Speaker 1: point out, speaking of the Star Lack, is that recent 311 00:17:18,640 --> 00:17:22,159 Speaker 1: Mandalorian episodes have also, you know, sort of played with 312 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,159 Speaker 1: this idea. Yeah. Yeah, the Mighty Star, like the Star 313 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,640 Speaker 1: looks pretty impressive, but they make it clear that even 314 00:17:26,640 --> 00:17:29,320 Speaker 1: these great trap predators can be a consumed by the 315 00:17:29,400 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: mighty crate dragon that lives in the deserts of Tate 316 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:36,439 Speaker 1: wein uh, so knowing you're there being you know, this 317 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: identifiable organism in the sand that can have a huge 318 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,639 Speaker 1: downside to it. Now, I was trying to think of 319 00:17:41,680 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: counterpoints to the idea that okay, so, uh sitting at 320 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:47,840 Speaker 1: the bottom of a pitfall trap and waiting for prey 321 00:17:47,920 --> 00:17:50,120 Speaker 1: to fall into you and then eating that that makes 322 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:54,840 Speaker 1: you vulnerable to two predators that want to find you. Well, well, 323 00:17:54,840 --> 00:17:57,080 Speaker 1: what if you just make pitfall traps and then you 324 00:17:57,119 --> 00:17:59,440 Speaker 1: go away and then you you know, leave them there 325 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:01,359 Speaker 1: and then come act like a human hunter might do 326 00:18:01,480 --> 00:18:02,920 Speaker 1: you know, leave a trap out in the woods and 327 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: then come and see what it collected, lobster traps or something. 328 00:18:07,119 --> 00:18:09,360 Speaker 1: But but I can see downsides to that as well, 329 00:18:09,400 --> 00:18:12,359 Speaker 1: because if it's just a pit trap, you could imagine that, well, 330 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:14,880 Speaker 1: something might fall in there, but then something else might 331 00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:18,400 Speaker 1: eat it before you get to it, um so or 332 00:18:18,520 --> 00:18:20,320 Speaker 1: it might you know, if you have to make these 333 00:18:20,359 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: all over the place, you might spend a lot of 334 00:18:22,240 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: energy going around from one to the other. So is 335 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,880 Speaker 1: that really all that much better than just hunting? Well, 336 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: and then it kind of comes back to this idea 337 00:18:29,840 --> 00:18:34,440 Speaker 1: that that the trap laid by an animal, especially um 338 00:18:34,600 --> 00:18:37,560 Speaker 1: still requires the lethal mechanism, and in the case of 339 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:40,439 Speaker 1: the ant line, the lethal lethal mechanism is itself. It 340 00:18:40,520 --> 00:18:45,080 Speaker 1: is still essentially uh an ambush predator like again, like 341 00:18:45,119 --> 00:18:48,360 Speaker 1: Emlyn says, quote a quick strike weapon that immediately incapacitates 342 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: its victim. That, yeah, that I can't believe. I didn't 343 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:51,879 Speaker 1: think of that. That's of course a good point. You 344 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,640 Speaker 1: have to find a way to kill the prey. So 345 00:18:55,840 --> 00:18:57,960 Speaker 1: I mentioned that that Hanzel has a has a whole 346 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:00,359 Speaker 1: book that deals with with with some of this a 347 00:19:00,359 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: little bit, but just sort of the broader picture of 348 00:19:02,400 --> 00:19:06,800 Speaker 1: animals building things it's titled animal architecture, and I was 349 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:09,160 Speaker 1: reading through this a bit. He contends that we're not 350 00:19:09,200 --> 00:19:11,639 Speaker 1: looking at traps when we're looking at cases of an 351 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: animal baiting another animal, because traps are a kind of 352 00:19:15,400 --> 00:19:21,439 Speaker 1: subset of animal architecture, an engineered space that aids and capture. Okay, so, 353 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,720 Speaker 1: by his metric here, what the burrowing owl does by 354 00:19:25,720 --> 00:19:28,919 Speaker 1: by leaving dung out around its nest and having this 355 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,080 Speaker 1: attract insects to it, that would not count as a 356 00:19:32,119 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: trap because it is not a structure that in any 357 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:38,680 Speaker 1: way aids and capture. It just attracts prey to a site. Oh, 358 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: by the way, I want to also speak speaking of 359 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,960 Speaker 1: the burrowing owl again, I want to throw in that 360 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:46,440 Speaker 1: that while some burrowing owls do build their own burrows, 361 00:19:46,440 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: they're also burrowing owls that acquire the burrows of other creatures. Anyway, 362 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,639 Speaker 1: I want to read this quote from Hansel here. I 363 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,600 Speaker 1: think he puts it rather well, uh, concerning the animal 364 00:19:57,680 --> 00:20:01,320 Speaker 1: architecture and traps quote. Whereas a house can just be 365 00:20:01,359 --> 00:20:04,199 Speaker 1: a barrier between the builder and the outside world, a 366 00:20:04,280 --> 00:20:08,600 Speaker 1: trap has a dynamic relationship between itself and the prey. 367 00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,160 Speaker 1: The prey needs to approach the trap in a particular 368 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,720 Speaker 1: orientation to it, and then needs to be restrained by it. 369 00:20:15,160 --> 00:20:18,359 Speaker 1: Traps are therefore more complex than homes and need to 370 00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:21,520 Speaker 1: be more precisely engineered, and then he goes on to 371 00:20:21,600 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 1: point out the quote among the vertebrates, trap builders were 372 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: apparently absent until the recent history of man. Now he 373 00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: cites human mental capacity once more for the construction of 374 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:35,440 Speaker 1: such traps, noting quote, Virtually all non human trap builders 375 00:20:35,680 --> 00:20:39,880 Speaker 1: use self secreted materials, and the capture principle they adopt 376 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 1: is the net. The exceptions are simple in design and operation, 377 00:20:44,240 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: as well as rare, and then he goes on to 378 00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:52,400 Speaker 1: specifically mentioned ant lions, uh, worm lions um and larval 379 00:20:52,560 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: dip tira. But anyway, a large takeaway here is that 380 00:21:01,960 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: trap building is not as widespread in the animal kingdom 381 00:21:06,640 --> 00:21:09,080 Speaker 1: as you might expect. Humans make a lot of traps. 382 00:21:09,400 --> 00:21:13,199 Speaker 1: There are some very specialized animals, especially some invertebrates, that 383 00:21:13,320 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: use traps made of materials that they secrete from their 384 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:21,520 Speaker 1: own bodies, but generally, trap building is not a very 385 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:26,000 Speaker 1: widespread hunting strategy among animals of planet Earth, in which 386 00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,480 Speaker 1: case it would be very interesting to find examples of 387 00:21:28,560 --> 00:21:31,760 Speaker 1: animals such as ants that make traps in order to 388 00:21:31,760 --> 00:21:34,600 Speaker 1: get their nutrition. And I guess that's a good segue 389 00:21:34,680 --> 00:21:37,920 Speaker 1: to what I to the main focus of today's episode, 390 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:39,919 Speaker 1: which was a couple of examples I came across of 391 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:45,280 Speaker 1: ants that do something that could be interpreted as building 392 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,439 Speaker 1: traps as a hunting strategy. Yeah, and I mean it 393 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: it would make sense that we might find something like 394 00:21:51,080 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: this in the ant world because ants are masters of 395 00:21:55,119 --> 00:22:00,240 Speaker 1: construction there, they alter their environment. They're capable of of 396 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: practicing um agriculture. Uh. They as we've discussed in previous 397 00:22:04,760 --> 00:22:08,439 Speaker 1: episode the show, Uh, they engage in complex conflicts that 398 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:12,320 Speaker 1: we may might well compare to warfare. They can solve 399 00:22:12,440 --> 00:22:15,399 Speaker 1: problems there. I mean, the list goes on and on. 400 00:22:15,440 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: Ants are amazing um as as of course, as as 401 00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:23,840 Speaker 1: the now lady oh Wilson was fond of reminding us, Um, 402 00:22:23,880 --> 00:22:27,440 Speaker 1: you know, ants, there are incredible creatures that we've We've 403 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: covered them numerous times in the show before we're covering today, 404 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:32,520 Speaker 1: and I'm sure we'll cover them again exactly. So the 405 00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:35,920 Speaker 1: first example I want to talk about I found so interesting, 406 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,840 Speaker 1: and this one also has some interesting differences in interpretations 407 00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 1: that came across. But just to to start with the 408 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: basic report. I was reading about this in a paper 409 00:22:45,560 --> 00:22:49,720 Speaker 1: published in Nature in the year two thousand five by A. 410 00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:56,439 Speaker 1: Land Jean Pascal, Jean Solano, Julian Iralay, Bruno Corbara, and 411 00:22:56,720 --> 00:23:03,240 Speaker 1: Jerome Oriville called arboreal ants build traps to capture prey uh. 412 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:06,320 Speaker 1: And also as a supplement to the paper in Nature, 413 00:23:06,400 --> 00:23:09,280 Speaker 1: I was reading a summary feature that was also in 414 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:13,040 Speaker 1: Nature by Nourrell Tawie published in April two thousand five, 415 00:23:13,680 --> 00:23:17,879 Speaker 1: called Amazonian ants ambush prey. So here's the deal. There's 416 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:22,840 Speaker 1: a plant in the Amazon called her tell Phisophora or 417 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: maybe Physophora p h y s O p h O 418 00:23:26,119 --> 00:23:29,399 Speaker 1: r A. I'm gonna try to say phiz opera. So 419 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: these here here teleplants. Plants in this genus are woody 420 00:23:34,160 --> 00:23:37,639 Speaker 1: trees or shrubs. I've seen them called both trees and shrubs, 421 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:40,000 Speaker 1: but there if you're trying to picture them as a tree, 422 00:23:40,080 --> 00:23:42,960 Speaker 1: you should be imagining a small tree. So woody stems 423 00:23:43,000 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: but not like you know, sky high. Plants in this 424 00:23:46,280 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 1: genus are found in the tropics across multiple continents, but 425 00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:53,640 Speaker 1: their diversity is concentrated around the Amazon, and they typically 426 00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:57,800 Speaker 1: have flowers that are pollinated by butterflies. And this one 427 00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:01,159 Speaker 1: species in particular here tell a phiz offerra, is what 428 00:24:01,359 --> 00:24:04,840 Speaker 1: the authors of the paper call an ant plant. This 429 00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 1: is a plant species that is known to have a 430 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:13,439 Speaker 1: specific biological relationship with a species of ant uh and 431 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: these can be found throughout the world. They're they're very 432 00:24:17,040 --> 00:24:20,919 Speaker 1: common mutualis ums or you know, various kinds of symbiotic 433 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:26,000 Speaker 1: relationships between ant colonies and the trees or plants they inhabit. Now, 434 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: this plant in particular has a relationship with the arboreal 435 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:35,240 Speaker 1: ant alomeras decim articulatus, and they live on the body 436 00:24:35,320 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 1: of the plant, forming colony centers in what the authors 437 00:24:38,960 --> 00:24:42,720 Speaker 1: of the paper called leaf pouches. They're these little bull 438 00:24:42,960 --> 00:24:46,040 Speaker 1: looking things that can usually be found at the places 439 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: where the branches split into leaves. They look like the 440 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:51,960 Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to describe. They're just these little 441 00:24:52,000 --> 00:24:55,919 Speaker 1: like green lobes or orbs, and apparently the ants like 442 00:24:56,000 --> 00:24:59,760 Speaker 1: to get inside those and make nests in there. Now 443 00:24:59,800 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: all already, one of the things that's that I'm reminded 444 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,800 Speaker 1: of is the idea of like a specialist micro habitat. 445 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:08,240 Speaker 1: And if you have a situation where a plant is 446 00:25:08,240 --> 00:25:11,320 Speaker 1: is the home to the ants that they have this uh, 447 00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,879 Speaker 1: this this ant plant relationship in place. Um, you know 448 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,200 Speaker 1: that the plant itself is kind of the environment. It's 449 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:19,600 Speaker 1: kind of the micro habitat that the the ant is 450 00:25:20,040 --> 00:25:23,359 Speaker 1: the master of. That's exactly right. But the interesting thing is, 451 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: of course ants being builders, some ants will form complex, 452 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,040 Speaker 1: you know, dugout colonies in the ground or or other 453 00:25:30,119 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: types of interesting engineered environments. They can also engineer the 454 00:25:34,520 --> 00:25:38,720 Speaker 1: micro habitat of the surface of a plant, and that's 455 00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,720 Speaker 1: what we're gonna be talking about in this case. So 456 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:43,600 Speaker 1: uh oh, and I should say that the colonies that 457 00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: were looked at in this two thousand five paper were 458 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: from French guyana in in northern South America. But so, 459 00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:54,960 Speaker 1: what you find in these plants that are occupied by 460 00:25:55,000 --> 00:25:59,160 Speaker 1: their by their familiar ant species is that along the 461 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: stems of the host plant, the ants will build what 462 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:07,360 Speaker 1: the authors of this paper called galleried structures, or sometimes 463 00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:10,440 Speaker 1: they just say galleries. It's kind of hard to describe 464 00:26:10,480 --> 00:26:15,479 Speaker 1: exactly what this is, but imagine a kind of platform 465 00:26:15,600 --> 00:26:19,760 Speaker 1: built out over the surface of the stem of the plant, 466 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:23,480 Speaker 1: and it's a platform that the ants can crawl underneath, 467 00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:27,639 Speaker 1: and then this platform has a kind of spongy texture, 468 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:31,440 Speaker 1: almost as if it's or honeycomb texture. It's aligned with 469 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:35,160 Speaker 1: all these holes in the platform that the ants can 470 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:38,400 Speaker 1: crawl in and out through. Generally, generally the holes are 471 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,399 Speaker 1: just slightly larger than the diameter of one of the 472 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: worker ants heads. So they're these platforms raised above the 473 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,480 Speaker 1: stem of the plant. Ants crawl underneath them, but then 474 00:26:48,560 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: crawl up and up and down in and out through 475 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: the holes in the platform. Yeah, it is kind of 476 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,720 Speaker 1: difficult to describe it because it is so different from 477 00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:00,359 Speaker 1: something that that humans would for the most part build, 478 00:27:00,840 --> 00:27:03,320 Speaker 1: you know, the um you know, by virtue of the 479 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: ants being far more mobile and sort of living in 480 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,919 Speaker 1: a in a more three dimensional space than human beings 481 00:27:09,960 --> 00:27:12,360 Speaker 1: tend to. By the way, these are great to look up, 482 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: probably unless you suffer from trip to phobia, in which 483 00:27:15,600 --> 00:27:18,280 Speaker 1: case stay far away if you're if you're freaked out 484 00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:21,720 Speaker 1: by things like lotus pods, uh and um and random 485 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,360 Speaker 1: holes and things, yeah, you might you might want to 486 00:27:24,400 --> 00:27:27,359 Speaker 1: avoid this particular Google image search. Now, how do the 487 00:27:27,359 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: ants build these galleries, Well, they apparently make them by 488 00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:35,879 Speaker 1: cutting off tricombs from the stems of the plant. Tricombs 489 00:27:36,000 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: is a word that comes from the Greek word for hairs. 490 00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:42,560 Speaker 1: These are small, little fibery appendages that poke out from 491 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,920 Speaker 1: the surface of a plant. You've probably seen lots of 492 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: plants before that have little hairy things all over the 493 00:27:47,800 --> 00:27:50,760 Speaker 1: stem or the leaves. Those are tricombs, and they do 494 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:53,760 Speaker 1: look a lot like hairs. So the worker ants will 495 00:27:54,080 --> 00:27:59,040 Speaker 1: move along the stem of a of a Hairtella Fhizophora plant, 496 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,120 Speaker 1: clearing away the tricombs and then just to read from 497 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:06,720 Speaker 1: the language used in the paper here quote, then using 498 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: uncut tricombs as pillars. They build the galleries vault by 499 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:17,399 Speaker 1: binding cut tricombs together with a compound that they regurgitate later. 500 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:21,719 Speaker 1: This structure is reinforced by the mycelium of a complex 501 00:28:21,760 --> 00:28:26,320 Speaker 1: of sooty mold species that has been manipulated by the ants. 502 00:28:26,760 --> 00:28:30,560 Speaker 1: Fungal growth starts around the holes and then spreads rapidly 503 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:34,360 Speaker 1: to the rest of the structure. So I think you 504 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,800 Speaker 1: you heard that right. So these ants build their galleries 505 00:28:38,240 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: along the stem of the plant by cutting the hairs 506 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:44,280 Speaker 1: off of the plant where they live, then using those 507 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:48,240 Speaker 1: hairs as building materials along with their own barf as 508 00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:52,320 Speaker 1: a kind of mortar, and then holding everything together by 509 00:28:52,440 --> 00:28:56,719 Speaker 1: seating it with mold or fungus that they farm, So 510 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: they have a kind of agricultural project. Were farming fungal 511 00:29:01,440 --> 00:29:05,640 Speaker 1: rebar that they used to reinforce the galleries that they build. 512 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,320 Speaker 1: And in quotes given to the press, I've seen the 513 00:29:08,360 --> 00:29:14,000 Speaker 1: authors of the study compare this composite material to fiberglass. Wow. Yeah, 514 00:29:14,080 --> 00:29:17,000 Speaker 1: that does seem like a good comparison. Oh man, I mean, 515 00:29:17,040 --> 00:29:19,600 Speaker 1: it's just so amazing that it's not just like this 516 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,840 Speaker 1: physical um act, but they're actually have seating it with uh, 517 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:27,960 Speaker 1: with this this mold. Oh man, they're kind of they're 518 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:31,280 Speaker 1: they're building it, but they're also kind of growing it. 519 00:29:31,280 --> 00:29:35,000 Speaker 1: It's amazing, and and they tend to it as it grows. 520 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:37,760 Speaker 1: So I wanted to read another section from the study 521 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: where they talk about the evidence that the ants are 522 00:29:40,440 --> 00:29:45,960 Speaker 1: actively tending the fungus as it reinforces these structures. They say, quote, 523 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:49,360 Speaker 1: we noted that the stems of thirty four young seedlings, 524 00:29:49,560 --> 00:29:53,400 Speaker 1: which had not yet developed leaf pouches, did not bear fungus. 525 00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: Nine saplings raised in a greenhouse in the absence of 526 00:29:57,240 --> 00:30:01,240 Speaker 1: Alamira's that's the the ants di developed leaf pouches, but 527 00:30:01,400 --> 00:30:06,000 Speaker 1: never bore fungus. However, fifteen saplings raised in the presence 528 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:10,240 Speaker 1: of ants bore my celia, whose development was limited to 529 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:14,480 Speaker 1: the galleries. When we eliminated the associated ants from five 530 00:30:14,560 --> 00:30:18,000 Speaker 1: of the fifteen, the fungus on the galleries grew into 531 00:30:18,040 --> 00:30:21,920 Speaker 1: a disorganized structure, and none of the nine new stems 532 00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:25,360 Speaker 1: that developed bore any fungus at all. Okay, so the 533 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:28,080 Speaker 1: fungus is only showing up on the plant when the 534 00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: ants are there on the plant. And if you take 535 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,080 Speaker 1: the ants away from the plant after they've been using 536 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: the fungus to reinforce their their galleries, the fungus kind 537 00:30:36,880 --> 00:30:39,280 Speaker 1: of grows out of control and what they call a 538 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,040 Speaker 1: disorganized structure. But with the ants still there, it stays 539 00:30:43,120 --> 00:30:46,040 Speaker 1: nice and tightly formed around the holes in the galleries. 540 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,000 Speaker 1: So they're they're tending their garden. It's like a living 541 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: and I don't know, it's like if you have to 542 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:55,800 Speaker 1: have maintenance workers constantly sort of gardening and tending to 543 00:30:55,960 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: the fungus that held up your skyscrapers. But but but 544 00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:03,520 Speaker 1: here's where we start getting to the trapping. So the 545 00:31:03,600 --> 00:31:06,640 Speaker 1: authors of this study say that they noticed that sometimes 546 00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:11,120 Speaker 1: larger insects would become immobilized on the surface of the galleries. 547 00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:15,040 Speaker 1: So you got these these spongy surfaces, ants crawling underneath them, 548 00:31:15,360 --> 00:31:18,400 Speaker 1: and sometimes like a locust or a butterfly, some bigger 549 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: insect lands on the gallery and then it gets stuck. 550 00:31:22,600 --> 00:31:26,240 Speaker 1: What's going on here, Well, they started to investigate whether 551 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 1: the galleries could be functioning as a type of trap. 552 00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,000 Speaker 1: And here's what they say about how the ambush works quote. 553 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:37,520 Speaker 1: Our observations revealed that Alomiris workers hide in the galleries 554 00:31:37,520 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: with their heads just under the holes, mandibles wide open, 555 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:46,200 Speaker 1: seemingly waiting for an insect to land. To kill the insect, 556 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:50,360 Speaker 1: they grasp its free legs, antenna, or wings and move 557 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:53,200 Speaker 1: in and out of the holes in opposite directions until 558 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,680 Speaker 1: the prey is progressively stretched against the gallery and swarms 559 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:00,920 Speaker 1: of workers can sting it the and then slide the 560 00:32:00,960 --> 00:32:03,800 Speaker 1: prey over the top of the gallery, again moving in 561 00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 1: and out of the holes, but this time in the 562 00:32:06,400 --> 00:32:09,959 Speaker 1: same direction. They move it slowly towards a leaf pouch 563 00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:12,760 Speaker 1: where they carve it up. Oh, and then once they 564 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,200 Speaker 1: get to one of these population centers of the colony, 565 00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: you know, these these nests, nest sites in the leaf pouches. Uh. 566 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: They tend to feed bits of protein from the insect 567 00:32:22,400 --> 00:32:26,760 Speaker 1: to their young. Well yeah, this is amazing and suitably 568 00:32:27,360 --> 00:32:30,400 Speaker 1: brutal for the world of ants. So this this, this 569 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: larger creature lands or walks on to the structure. Um, 570 00:32:35,440 --> 00:32:37,600 Speaker 1: you know, they're reaching out of holes to pull it 571 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 1: straight down and then they transfer it to a place 572 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,080 Speaker 1: where they can carve it up. Right. Uh So yeah, 573 00:32:44,240 --> 00:32:47,560 Speaker 1: there's no sentimentality in the world of ants. They're just like, okay, 574 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:49,800 Speaker 1: this is edible. It's time to get to butcher in. 575 00:32:50,960 --> 00:32:54,680 Speaker 1: But anyway, these observations reveal this this fascinating three way 576 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: interaction between the plant, the fungus, and the ant all 577 00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: sort of ving together in this this this uh three 578 00:33:02,760 --> 00:33:07,320 Speaker 1: way life cycle essentially that apparently serves the purpose of 579 00:33:07,840 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 1: creating a trap to get larger insects. You know these stuff. 580 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,720 Speaker 1: Oh I don't think I mentioned, but the Alamira's decim 581 00:33:14,800 --> 00:33:18,280 Speaker 1: articulatus ants are very small. It's a it's a structure 582 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:22,600 Speaker 1: that allows these tiny ants apparently to capture kill and 583 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,760 Speaker 1: butcher much much larger prey. All right, And of course 584 00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:29,680 Speaker 1: the plant, out of all of this gets some slight 585 00:33:29,800 --> 00:33:34,440 Speaker 1: mutilation from the ants, but is protected from larger insects 586 00:33:34,480 --> 00:33:37,200 Speaker 1: that would otherwise uh not on it and do more 587 00:33:37,240 --> 00:33:39,760 Speaker 1: harm to it than just you know, creating an interesting 588 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:42,880 Speaker 1: lattice work out of its body. Presumably, I mean, I 589 00:33:43,120 --> 00:33:45,880 Speaker 1: think often there is such a relationship going on. The 590 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,320 Speaker 1: insect also provides a benefit to the plant somehow, uh 591 00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:51,560 Speaker 1: though in the sources I was reading, it wasn't clear 592 00:33:51,600 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: to me exactly if it's known what what the major 593 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:57,360 Speaker 1: benefit provided by the ants is. But I would guess 594 00:33:57,400 --> 00:34:02,360 Speaker 1: that's right, that they're probably protecting the plant from from 595 00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: herbivore large herbivore insects that would chew it sleeves down 596 00:34:06,280 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 1: or something. But I don't know for sure. I gotta 597 00:34:07,920 --> 00:34:10,120 Speaker 1: admit r And then of course we also have to 598 00:34:10,120 --> 00:34:12,920 Speaker 1: do always realize that in the natural world the line 599 00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:18,640 Speaker 1: between parasitism and symbiosis is sometimes a bit thin. These 600 00:34:18,640 --> 00:34:22,520 Speaker 1: are not relationships that are governed by strict contracts, so 601 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:24,320 Speaker 1: you might see a little bit of push and pull 602 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,319 Speaker 1: over the course of evolutionary history. Yeah, ants will take 603 00:34:29,360 --> 00:34:32,800 Speaker 1: whatever they can get, right, so you be careful about 604 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:37,120 Speaker 1: entering into a bargain with with with the ants. But 605 00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 1: on the other side of all this, I wanted to 606 00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:43,000 Speaker 1: come back on it because I found a book where 607 00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:47,160 Speaker 1: the trap interpretation of these structures has been challenged. And 608 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,000 Speaker 1: in fact, this book was by somebody who's come up 609 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:52,000 Speaker 1: on the on I think episodes we did about ants 610 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 1: last year, the biologist Mark W. Moffatt. Yes, yes, yeah, 611 00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: so he has a book called Adventures among Ants that 612 00:35:00,800 --> 00:35:03,239 Speaker 1: was that came out in two thousand ten University of 613 00:35:03,280 --> 00:35:07,400 Speaker 1: California Press. And in this book I found a section 614 00:35:07,400 --> 00:35:12,239 Speaker 1: where Moffatt argues that the trap interpretation of these structures 615 00:35:12,320 --> 00:35:16,879 Speaker 1: built by Alamiras desim articulatus is in fact a misinterpretation. 616 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:19,080 Speaker 1: Now I'm not sure he's right about this, but I 617 00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:21,799 Speaker 1: do want to explain what he claims. So it's a 618 00:35:21,800 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: bit of background. In In the section of the book 619 00:35:25,360 --> 00:35:29,720 Speaker 1: directly preceding this, Moffatt has been talking about his observations 620 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:33,320 Speaker 1: of various species of army ants on rating parties to 621 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:38,400 Speaker 1: forage for food and also on defensive patrols to protect 622 00:35:38,560 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 1: the colony and the rating column from threats. And one 623 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,359 Speaker 1: of his observations in this in this preceding section is 624 00:35:45,400 --> 00:35:48,880 Speaker 1: how difficult it is sometimes to tell the difference between 625 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:54,120 Speaker 1: these two behaviors and how easily one bleeds into the other. So, 626 00:35:54,719 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: according to de Mofat, for most army ants, their defensive 627 00:35:58,360 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: attacks on a creature that is received to be threatening, 628 00:36:01,239 --> 00:36:04,680 Speaker 1: the rating column can quickly turn into a foraging rate 629 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,840 Speaker 1: in itself. So if the threat is killed, it is 630 00:36:07,880 --> 00:36:10,759 Speaker 1: pretty much immediately chopped up into pieces and carried away 631 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: as food. So it's kind of like if you imagine 632 00:36:14,080 --> 00:36:17,480 Speaker 1: every monster movie ended with the heroes butchering and eating 633 00:36:17,520 --> 00:36:20,400 Speaker 1: the monster after they finally defeated it. Well, we do 634 00:36:20,480 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: see that sometimes. In fact that that occurs in the 635 00:36:23,360 --> 00:36:26,720 Speaker 1: Mandalorian but um in the case of the Great Dragon. 636 00:36:26,800 --> 00:36:30,520 Speaker 1: But but yeah, we should see more more consumption of 637 00:36:30,560 --> 00:36:33,279 Speaker 1: the drag of the dragons and monsters and so forth. 638 00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: Use every part of the monster be responsible. Well, I 639 00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:38,839 Speaker 1: don't know, I mean that's you know, our humans are 640 00:36:38,840 --> 00:36:40,680 Speaker 1: different than ants. I mean, ants are not going to 641 00:36:40,840 --> 00:36:43,400 Speaker 1: let anything go to waste. Humans after you fought a monster, 642 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,239 Speaker 1: you might just want to have nothing to do with it. 643 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 1: To each species their own. But anyway, so from here, 644 00:36:49,560 --> 00:36:52,399 Speaker 1: Moffatt moves on to describing the aunt I've been talking 645 00:36:52,400 --> 00:36:57,520 Speaker 1: about Elmira's decim articulatus, and he's describing its living situation. 646 00:36:57,680 --> 00:37:00,200 Speaker 1: The one distinction he makes I couldn't find out what 647 00:37:00,239 --> 00:37:04,400 Speaker 1: was what was the disconnect here? But he said, you 648 00:37:04,440 --> 00:37:06,960 Speaker 1: remember how I said that the ants build these gallery 649 00:37:06,960 --> 00:37:09,640 Speaker 1: structures out of tricombs cut from the plants, a little 650 00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 1: plant hairs, mixed with their own regurgitation or vomit, and 651 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:17,120 Speaker 1: then uh and then lined with the mycelium of the 652 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,279 Speaker 1: fungus that they cultivate. Moffatt describes it the same way, 653 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 1: but he mentions feces rather than vomit. And I don't 654 00:37:23,280 --> 00:37:26,799 Speaker 1: know who's right there, but anyway, Moffatt gives a few 655 00:37:26,800 --> 00:37:30,760 Speaker 1: reasons that he had doubts about the generally accepted interpretation 656 00:37:30,840 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 1: of this structure as a trap, specifically as a trap, 657 00:37:35,200 --> 00:37:38,520 Speaker 1: because he says a trap implies that, for example, a 658 00:37:38,719 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: locust landing on the ant gallery would not have landed 659 00:37:42,520 --> 00:37:45,279 Speaker 1: there if it saw the ants. The trap would be 660 00:37:45,719 --> 00:37:49,680 Speaker 1: performing the function of hiding the ants, so you know, 661 00:37:49,719 --> 00:37:52,719 Speaker 1: they're hidden beneath the vault of the gallery, so that 662 00:37:52,800 --> 00:37:55,640 Speaker 1: the prey insect feels it's safe enough to land and 663 00:37:55,680 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: then they jump out and grab it. Okay, this would 664 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,839 Speaker 1: be in keeping with say the trapdoors Fighter. Uh, would 665 00:38:01,880 --> 00:38:04,600 Speaker 1: probably be a great example of this. Yeah, yeah, I 666 00:38:04,640 --> 00:38:07,560 Speaker 1: think that's that's comparable. That that's how it would function 667 00:38:07,600 --> 00:38:10,759 Speaker 1: as a trap. But Moffatt writes that he thinks this 668 00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:14,680 Speaker 1: is unlikely because he doubts that grasshoppers would really be 669 00:38:14,719 --> 00:38:19,520 Speaker 1: able to notice the tiny workers of this ant species anyway, quote, 670 00:38:19,520 --> 00:38:23,720 Speaker 1: particularly in mid leap, or that they would be able 671 00:38:23,719 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: to change course in mid leap after noticing them. So 672 00:38:26,640 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: he was a little iffy on that. He's like, I'm 673 00:38:29,040 --> 00:38:32,360 Speaker 1: not sure that the trap would really serve much purpose 674 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,560 Speaker 1: if it's supposed to be hiding the ants from the 675 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:37,759 Speaker 1: prey animal, because these are these are insects that are 676 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:41,640 Speaker 1: much larger than the ants anyway. Right, So he's saying, basically, 677 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:43,920 Speaker 1: he's saying like this might be if this was a trap, 678 00:38:44,320 --> 00:38:46,799 Speaker 1: which he doesn't think it is. Uh, it would be 679 00:38:46,800 --> 00:38:50,440 Speaker 1: a preposterous trap. Uh, an unnecessary trap. And while again 680 00:38:50,480 --> 00:38:54,520 Speaker 1: we love unnecessarily complex and preposterous traps in our cinema, 681 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,440 Speaker 1: we're not talking about cinema here. We're talking about evolution 682 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,840 Speaker 1: and full of sufficient yeah. Yeah, and things need to 683 00:39:01,840 --> 00:39:05,319 Speaker 1: be ruthlessly efficient and if it's not ruthlessly efficient. Uh, 684 00:39:05,360 --> 00:39:07,680 Speaker 1: it is going to change or go away. But anyway, 685 00:39:07,800 --> 00:39:10,399 Speaker 1: those are his suspicions, so he decided to put them 686 00:39:10,400 --> 00:39:13,839 Speaker 1: to the test. So he tells a story of that 687 00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:16,759 Speaker 1: that he was studying colonies of this ant in the 688 00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,560 Speaker 1: wild in Ecuador, and he put together a test to 689 00:39:20,800 --> 00:39:24,840 Speaker 1: interrogate the trap interpretation. So to read from the section 690 00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:27,760 Speaker 1: of Mofet's book where he describes this test, he says, quote, 691 00:39:28,120 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: I hung a mosquito net over a plant with a 692 00:39:30,640 --> 00:39:35,839 Speaker 1: thriving Alamira's colony, added a hundred grasshoppers and katie DIDs 693 00:39:35,880 --> 00:39:39,239 Speaker 1: and sat inside for the next five mornings, an unusual 694 00:39:39,280 --> 00:39:42,200 Speaker 1: case of using a mosquito net to keep insects in 695 00:39:42,200 --> 00:39:46,279 Speaker 1: instead of out. Even after the grasshoppers settled down, they 696 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,840 Speaker 1: were indiscriminate in their movements, hopping from where the ants 697 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:53,120 Speaker 1: hid under the structures to where aunts strolled in full view, 698 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:55,960 Speaker 1: to where there were no ants at all. When they 699 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,399 Speaker 1: landed among the ants, even on the structures that got 700 00:39:59,400 --> 00:40:03,240 Speaker 1: away on hurt. Certainly, if the structures served as traps, 701 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:07,640 Speaker 1: they were inefficient ones. So he's saying in his observations here, 702 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:12,920 Speaker 1: he's seeing very little correlation between the structures and the 703 00:40:13,000 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: hunting behaviors of the ants or the behaviors of the 704 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:20,840 Speaker 1: prey insects, So what purpose does he believe the galleries 705 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: are serving. Well, he points out that the galleries tend 706 00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: to run along the stems of the tree, connecting each 707 00:40:28,480 --> 00:40:32,360 Speaker 1: nest pouch to to another nest pouch, and they quote 708 00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:35,920 Speaker 1: contain a highway of workers commuting from nest to nest. 709 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,799 Speaker 1: And then he points out that other insects, including other 710 00:40:38,840 --> 00:40:43,520 Speaker 1: ant species, do sometimes build various types of physical covers 711 00:40:44,080 --> 00:40:48,000 Speaker 1: over their trails, which are generally interpreted to be defensive 712 00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:52,040 Speaker 1: in nature. For example, some marauder and driver ants have 713 00:40:52,200 --> 00:40:55,920 Speaker 1: been observed to build soil covers over their trails. So 714 00:40:56,040 --> 00:40:57,759 Speaker 1: could that be what's going on in this case? Could 715 00:40:57,800 --> 00:41:01,319 Speaker 1: these galleries that the ants build at actually be defensive 716 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: in nature? Another strike here, According to Moffatt, he observed 717 00:41:05,719 --> 00:41:09,080 Speaker 1: that the workers at his study site did not actually 718 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,759 Speaker 1: sit and wait at the holes in these galleries, as 719 00:41:11,760 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: you might expect them to do if they were planning 720 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,799 Speaker 1: an ambush. He says that when conditions were normal, so 721 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,359 Speaker 1: like if the colony is not in an agitated state, 722 00:41:20,480 --> 00:41:23,080 Speaker 1: things are just sort of going along normally most of 723 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:27,160 Speaker 1: the gaps in the gallery structures were unoccupied, but he 724 00:41:27,200 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 1: says this changed when there appeared to be some kind 725 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,319 Speaker 1: of threat to the colony. Quote, after a day of 726 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,520 Speaker 1: pulling grasshoppers from my hair, I noticed interlopers of another ant, 727 00:41:37,880 --> 00:41:41,880 Speaker 1: a species of fidoli or big headed ant, climbing the 728 00:41:41,880 --> 00:41:46,000 Speaker 1: plant to pin down a wounded grasshopper missed by the Elamiras. 729 00:41:46,560 --> 00:41:50,480 Speaker 1: Upon the arrival of the fidoli ants, the Alamiris workers 730 00:41:50,560 --> 00:41:53,799 Speaker 1: began to guard each of the several dozen entrances to 731 00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,680 Speaker 1: their arcade. And that's the arcade, is what he's calling 732 00:41:56,719 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 1: the things that the other authors called the galleries, the 733 00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:03,600 Speaker 1: several dozen entrances to their arcade nearest the commotion caused 734 00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 1: by the intruders. These guards, aided by nest mates roaming 735 00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:11,399 Speaker 1: the arcade surface, also caught and killed one fight ali 736 00:42:11,600 --> 00:42:15,440 Speaker 1: and carried it off. So, based on these observations, Moffatt 737 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:19,520 Speaker 1: argues that the galleries are more likely defensive to protect 738 00:42:19,640 --> 00:42:23,479 Speaker 1: trails of workers moving from one leaf pouch to the other, 739 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:27,160 Speaker 1: but that when something attacks or threatens the colony, the 740 00:42:27,239 --> 00:42:31,880 Speaker 1: workers quickly shift their behavior from travel to defense, and 741 00:42:31,880 --> 00:42:35,160 Speaker 1: then they occupy the holes and start biting violently at 742 00:42:35,200 --> 00:42:38,000 Speaker 1: anything that comes near. And of course, if they are 743 00:42:38,040 --> 00:42:41,880 Speaker 1: able to immobilize an attacker, or not necessarily an attacker, 744 00:42:41,880 --> 00:42:44,719 Speaker 1: if they're able to immobilize whatever it is that put 745 00:42:44,760 --> 00:42:48,520 Speaker 1: them on the defense, they immediately shift rolls again and 746 00:42:48,600 --> 00:42:51,680 Speaker 1: turn that threat into food and begin butchering it for 747 00:42:51,719 --> 00:42:54,720 Speaker 1: the colony again, to to cook the monster, so speak. 748 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:57,600 Speaker 1: So we might be better to think of these as 749 00:42:57,719 --> 00:43:01,560 Speaker 1: defensive fortifications, kind of like to use like a medieval 750 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:05,480 Speaker 1: castle or fortress scenario. It's kind of like the various 751 00:43:05,600 --> 00:43:10,920 Speaker 1: uh crinulations and murder holes and uh and and aero slits, 752 00:43:11,480 --> 00:43:14,520 Speaker 1: except with the with the with the added point that 753 00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:17,160 Speaker 1: in this case the occupants of the castle or fortress 754 00:43:17,360 --> 00:43:20,520 Speaker 1: would eat those that they killed defending it. Right, That's 755 00:43:20,560 --> 00:43:23,319 Speaker 1: what Moffatt argues, uh And So to to finish up 756 00:43:23,360 --> 00:43:25,359 Speaker 1: his section, he says in the end quote in this 757 00:43:25,400 --> 00:43:28,680 Speaker 1: way the organization of a super organism. He's referring to 758 00:43:28,719 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: ants there because I think you can make the argument that, 759 00:43:31,520 --> 00:43:34,399 Speaker 1: you know, an ant colony might be best understood as 760 00:43:34,560 --> 00:43:37,880 Speaker 1: one organism rather than many. It is a super organism 761 00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:41,759 Speaker 1: composed of many different bodies, he says it quote can 762 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:45,240 Speaker 1: be more responsive than the tissues in a body. Trail 763 00:43:45,320 --> 00:43:48,920 Speaker 1: bound workers can shift seamlessly in their behavior from transport 764 00:43:48,960 --> 00:43:52,879 Speaker 1: to protection to predation. It's as if one's liver could 765 00:43:53,000 --> 00:43:56,800 Speaker 1: change function when the heart is incapacitated and pump blood. 766 00:43:58,080 --> 00:44:01,000 Speaker 1: So obviously I don't know who's right here. Moffatt's book 767 00:44:01,040 --> 00:44:03,560 Speaker 1: is more than ten years old at this point. Uh, 768 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:06,800 Speaker 1: And most of the things I read about this ant species, 769 00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:12,360 Speaker 1: alameirastsim articulatas still described the galleries as ambush traps and 770 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:15,080 Speaker 1: and I'm not sure which interpretation is correct, but I 771 00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:18,400 Speaker 1: do think either way, Moffatt makes a very interesting point 772 00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:22,040 Speaker 1: about the fluidity of function when it comes to ant behavior. 773 00:44:22,040 --> 00:44:26,560 Speaker 1: How you know one moment's enemy is the next moment's lunch, right, Yeah? 774 00:44:26,600 --> 00:44:28,920 Speaker 1: Like that, Like the ant colony is not just trying 775 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,840 Speaker 1: to do one thing. Um, it has a lot of 776 00:44:31,880 --> 00:44:35,840 Speaker 1: objectives and it has again this fluidity of function. Whereas 777 00:44:35,840 --> 00:44:38,359 Speaker 1: it's it's far easier to look at at a web 778 00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:41,320 Speaker 1: building spider and know what's up. You know that the 779 00:44:42,520 --> 00:44:45,360 Speaker 1: web is it's uh is its purpose, The web is 780 00:44:45,440 --> 00:44:48,359 Speaker 1: kind of its soul, uh, And there's no question about 781 00:44:48,440 --> 00:44:51,279 Speaker 1: why it constructed. The web I guess also that this 782 00:44:51,400 --> 00:44:54,480 Speaker 1: raises another question about what counts as a quote trap, 783 00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,800 Speaker 1: because assuming for a second that Moffatt's interpretation is correct. 784 00:44:58,800 --> 00:45:00,799 Speaker 1: I don't know it is, but if he's right that 785 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:04,719 Speaker 1: these structures are primarily to defend the ant trails, but 786 00:45:04,840 --> 00:45:08,120 Speaker 1: then when some when a threat presents itself, they turn 787 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:10,840 Speaker 1: around and use the holes in the galleries as murder 788 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:14,640 Speaker 1: holes and then eat whatever they can immobilize, does that 789 00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:18,120 Speaker 1: count as a trap? Like? How how specialized does a 790 00:45:18,160 --> 00:45:21,440 Speaker 1: structure have to be for the purpose of catching prey 791 00:45:21,600 --> 00:45:24,560 Speaker 1: in order to be thought of as a trap, Because 792 00:45:24,600 --> 00:45:27,440 Speaker 1: you can imagine other examples where an animal builds a 793 00:45:27,480 --> 00:45:30,400 Speaker 1: structure that's primarily defensive in some way. It's more like 794 00:45:30,440 --> 00:45:32,360 Speaker 1: the home from the example you talked about at the 795 00:45:32,400 --> 00:45:34,720 Speaker 1: beginning in that book. You know it's a barrier between 796 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:37,359 Speaker 1: you and the outside world. Yet it has some kind 797 00:45:37,440 --> 00:45:41,399 Speaker 1: of feature that like another animal or something could get 798 00:45:41,440 --> 00:45:45,319 Speaker 1: stuck on or something. You know, it's somehow allows you 799 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:50,160 Speaker 1: to sometimes opportunistically harvest from the structure and then eat 800 00:45:50,239 --> 00:45:53,000 Speaker 1: from it. And does that count as a trap? Now? 801 00:45:53,040 --> 00:45:55,120 Speaker 1: I haven't seen this movie in a very long time, 802 00:45:55,440 --> 00:45:58,719 Speaker 1: but but I think there might be something comparable and 803 00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:01,719 Speaker 1: Home Alone too, am I oh lost in New York, 804 00:46:01,760 --> 00:46:04,360 Speaker 1: the one with Tim Curry. What Tim Curry is in 805 00:46:04,440 --> 00:46:06,440 Speaker 1: that one? I think he plays a he plays a 806 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:10,120 Speaker 1: snooty bell hop or something that sounds about right. Yeah, 807 00:46:10,160 --> 00:46:12,839 Speaker 1: but yeah, I think the uh Actually, we were trying 808 00:46:12,880 --> 00:46:14,839 Speaker 1: to figure what this out, what this was, and Seth 809 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:17,960 Speaker 1: just chimed in to let us know he was right. Um. 810 00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:20,640 Speaker 1: The house where he builds the traps in Home Alone 811 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:24,360 Speaker 1: two is a house that's like under renovation, so it 812 00:46:24,440 --> 00:46:27,440 Speaker 1: already has featured Like all the traps don't have to 813 00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,319 Speaker 1: be imagined from scratch. There are already features of the house. 814 00:46:31,320 --> 00:46:33,000 Speaker 1: I don't remember exactly what they are, but there are 815 00:46:33,000 --> 00:46:43,480 Speaker 1: things that are dangerous about it already. Okay, yeah, but 816 00:46:43,719 --> 00:46:46,120 Speaker 1: I wanted to talk about my second example of ants 817 00:46:46,160 --> 00:46:49,760 Speaker 1: potentially doing something that you could interpret as a trap, 818 00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:55,320 Speaker 1: and this one also involves using foreign materials around the nest. 819 00:46:55,640 --> 00:46:58,600 Speaker 1: So the second example was described in a paper that 820 00:46:58,640 --> 00:47:02,000 Speaker 1: I was reading published in twenty nineteen in the journal 821 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:09,040 Speaker 1: Ecological Entomology by A. Nacio Gomez Diego, Santiago Ricardo Campos, 822 00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:13,960 Speaker 1: and Geraldo Vasconcelos. It was called why do Fight Ali? 823 00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:19,759 Speaker 1: Oxyops ants place feathers around their nests. And I also 824 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:22,719 Speaker 1: got some additional information from reading an article about the 825 00:47:22,719 --> 00:47:26,440 Speaker 1: study published in Scientific American by Joshua rap Learn in 826 00:47:26,480 --> 00:47:29,840 Speaker 1: November twenty nineteen. But here's the deal. So there is 827 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:33,840 Speaker 1: this species of ant called fidoli oxyops. We were already 828 00:47:33,840 --> 00:47:36,560 Speaker 1: talking about some fidoli ants in the last example because 829 00:47:36,840 --> 00:47:40,719 Speaker 1: the remember the fidoli ants invaded the tree and then 830 00:47:41,040 --> 00:47:44,160 Speaker 1: they got kind of butchered by the by the Alamira's aunts. 831 00:47:44,600 --> 00:47:47,760 Speaker 1: But fidoli answer a genus known as the big head ants, 832 00:47:48,400 --> 00:47:52,319 Speaker 1: and this species, in particular, Fidoli oxyops, is native to 833 00:47:52,320 --> 00:47:57,480 Speaker 1: South American savannahs. So these should be you know, grasslands ants. 834 00:47:57,520 --> 00:48:01,360 Speaker 1: Sometimes they appear to do something pretty we beard. They 835 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:07,400 Speaker 1: collect feathers and place them around the entrance of their nests. 836 00:48:07,560 --> 00:48:10,480 Speaker 1: So if you imagine the nest is buried, the entrance 837 00:48:10,600 --> 00:48:13,400 Speaker 1: is basically a hole in the ground, and then you 838 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:17,080 Speaker 1: might just find feathers all around the whole, scattered around 839 00:48:17,080 --> 00:48:20,040 Speaker 1: on the ground outside the hole. That's weird. It might 840 00:48:20,080 --> 00:48:22,800 Speaker 1: make it look like the ants ate a live chicken 841 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:25,400 Speaker 1: or something, but that is not what happened. They appear 842 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:28,520 Speaker 1: to collect the feathers and put them there. Yeah, it 843 00:48:28,600 --> 00:48:30,600 Speaker 1: kind of looks like there's a hole in the ground 844 00:48:30,800 --> 00:48:33,640 Speaker 1: and like a bird was sucked down that hole. And 845 00:48:33,680 --> 00:48:37,360 Speaker 1: if this is the cartoonish remnants of that incident, I 846 00:48:37,400 --> 00:48:39,759 Speaker 1: thought the same thing. Yeah, I was like pop and 847 00:48:39,800 --> 00:48:42,840 Speaker 1: then just puff of feathers they settle around it. But no, 848 00:48:43,000 --> 00:48:45,120 Speaker 1: that is not what has happened. The ants put the 849 00:48:45,160 --> 00:48:49,800 Speaker 1: feathers there. Uh. Strange. So this paper published in twenty 850 00:48:49,920 --> 00:48:54,560 Speaker 1: nineteen in in Ecological Anthropology, it claims that these feathers 851 00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:59,800 Speaker 1: function as bait to attract prey animals, which then tumble 852 00:49:00,160 --> 00:49:03,960 Speaker 1: into the nest entrance as if it were a pit trap. 853 00:49:04,640 --> 00:49:07,239 Speaker 1: And the Scientific American article actually reports a bit of 854 00:49:07,280 --> 00:49:09,800 Speaker 1: the background on the paper. It says that the studies 855 00:49:09,840 --> 00:49:14,000 Speaker 1: first author in Nacio Gomez, is an ecologist at the 856 00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:18,760 Speaker 1: Federal University of Visosa and Brazil, and while walking around 857 00:49:18,760 --> 00:49:22,680 Speaker 1: city parks and his college campus, he noticed examples of 858 00:49:22,719 --> 00:49:27,200 Speaker 1: these ant nest entrances with feathers all around him. Apparently 859 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,560 Speaker 1: this had been observed before. And also I was looking 860 00:49:30,560 --> 00:49:35,000 Speaker 1: at another paper about this ant species. Finally oxy ops. Uh. 861 00:49:35,040 --> 00:49:37,920 Speaker 1: This one was by Diego a cise at all from 862 00:49:38,719 --> 00:49:41,440 Speaker 1: one and this paper said that in addition to feathers, 863 00:49:41,840 --> 00:49:45,920 Speaker 1: there will sometimes be other objects around these nest and entrances, 864 00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:51,799 Speaker 1: including shells, flower, pedals, and seeds. But this study in 865 00:49:51,840 --> 00:49:56,000 Speaker 1: particular was was focusing on the feathers, and uh so, 866 00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,920 Speaker 1: so he noticed these feathers around the entrances, and he 867 00:49:58,960 --> 00:50:02,279 Speaker 1: wondered was the deal with this? Apparently this had been 868 00:50:02,280 --> 00:50:05,560 Speaker 1: observed before, and there were already a couple of untested 869 00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:09,839 Speaker 1: hypotheses in the scientific literature about what the feathers were 870 00:50:09,880 --> 00:50:13,360 Speaker 1: doing there. One idea was that the feathers could collect 871 00:50:13,640 --> 00:50:16,840 Speaker 1: do in arid regions, so they would help provide the 872 00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:20,520 Speaker 1: ants with water in the mornings. And the other idea 873 00:50:20,600 --> 00:50:23,759 Speaker 1: was that somehow the feathers could serve as lures, attracting 874 00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:27,440 Speaker 1: prey to the nest. And so the twenty nineteen study 875 00:50:27,520 --> 00:50:31,880 Speaker 1: tested both ideas. In one experiment, the researchers supplied the 876 00:50:31,960 --> 00:50:35,120 Speaker 1: ant colonies with water soaked cotton balls, so made sure 877 00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:37,920 Speaker 1: they had access to plenty of water, But the ants 878 00:50:37,960 --> 00:50:40,600 Speaker 1: in these cases preferred to collect feathers anyway. It did 879 00:50:40,600 --> 00:50:43,520 Speaker 1: not seem like access to water played any role in 880 00:50:43,520 --> 00:50:47,239 Speaker 1: in their their desire to collect feathers, and this could 881 00:50:47,280 --> 00:50:50,760 Speaker 1: be evidence that the feathers were not primarily for collecting water. 882 00:50:51,360 --> 00:50:54,320 Speaker 1: But another test was designed to see if feathers scattered 883 00:50:54,360 --> 00:50:57,839 Speaker 1: on the ground would attract prey. So they tested this 884 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:01,680 Speaker 1: with artificial traps that were made to resemble the nest 885 00:51:01,840 --> 00:51:05,040 Speaker 1: entrances of these ants, and the team found that if 886 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:07,520 Speaker 1: you put out a trap and scatter feathers around it, 887 00:51:07,719 --> 00:51:11,600 Speaker 1: for some reason, it will tend to trap more just 888 00:51:11,680 --> 00:51:15,120 Speaker 1: sort of uh, wanderers, you know, arthropods that are out 889 00:51:15,120 --> 00:51:20,200 Speaker 1: on the ground than traps without feathers, And so interesting question, 890 00:51:20,320 --> 00:51:22,680 Speaker 1: why would they do that. Why would a hole in 891 00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:25,640 Speaker 1: the ground surrounded by feathers get more bugs to fall 892 00:51:25,680 --> 00:51:29,320 Speaker 1: into it. It's not known, but Gomez suggests that maybe 893 00:51:29,320 --> 00:51:32,080 Speaker 1: it's something about the smell of the feathers, something about 894 00:51:32,080 --> 00:51:35,400 Speaker 1: the visual appearance. Maybe a quote he gives to the 895 00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:39,000 Speaker 1: Scientific American article, he says, just in general, soil insects 896 00:51:39,040 --> 00:51:43,280 Speaker 1: are quote very curious. So maybe putting an unusual item 897 00:51:43,360 --> 00:51:46,080 Speaker 1: around the entrance to the nest will just tend to 898 00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:49,040 Speaker 1: get wandering bugs to walk up to it and see 899 00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,879 Speaker 1: if it's something of use to them. But I think 900 00:51:52,880 --> 00:51:56,680 Speaker 1: this would not count just as baiting the way the 901 00:51:57,000 --> 00:52:00,160 Speaker 1: way the burrowing out owl example, would with the how 902 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:03,160 Speaker 1: dung or the bison dung, because in this case it's 903 00:52:03,200 --> 00:52:06,160 Speaker 1: not just to get the insects close to the nest. 904 00:52:06,960 --> 00:52:10,400 Speaker 1: In this case, the actual nest entrances basically holes in 905 00:52:10,440 --> 00:52:14,160 Speaker 1: the ground, function quite well as pit traps because once 906 00:52:14,440 --> 00:52:17,919 Speaker 1: the prey insect falls in, they have difficulty climbing back out, 907 00:52:17,960 --> 00:52:21,600 Speaker 1: and the ants will rather quickly grab and butcher them. Now, 908 00:52:21,680 --> 00:52:25,480 Speaker 1: this is clearly not the only way this ant species 909 00:52:25,520 --> 00:52:28,680 Speaker 1: has to acquire prey. Fight only oxyops do leave the 910 00:52:28,719 --> 00:52:32,120 Speaker 1: nest to acquire prey. They forage like other ant species. 911 00:52:32,680 --> 00:52:35,640 Speaker 1: But it's possible that using the nest as a pit 912 00:52:35,760 --> 00:52:38,719 Speaker 1: trap and surrounding it with feathers as some kind of 913 00:52:39,040 --> 00:52:43,640 Speaker 1: UH evolved behavior for luring more insects into the hole 914 00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:48,440 Speaker 1: UH that helps the colony supplement their diet during especially 915 00:52:48,440 --> 00:52:50,719 Speaker 1: times of the years, such as the dry season in 916 00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:54,200 Speaker 1: this region, when prey is more scarce, harder to come by. 917 00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:57,480 Speaker 1: So they wouldn't be obligate trap builders. They would they 918 00:52:57,520 --> 00:52:59,960 Speaker 1: would be sort of they would have like a trap 919 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:02,520 Speaker 1: business on the side. I guess you would say, yes, 920 00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:05,160 Speaker 1: it is. If the trap interpretation is correct, it seems 921 00:53:05,160 --> 00:53:08,240 Speaker 1: like this would be a supplemental role in getting extra 922 00:53:08,520 --> 00:53:13,040 Speaker 1: food to them, extra diet diversity, especially in times when 923 00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:15,880 Speaker 1: they're they're going to be getting less in their foraging, 924 00:53:16,239 --> 00:53:19,520 Speaker 1: or maybe when they're doing less foraging. Okay, yeah, because 925 00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:24,400 Speaker 1: there you know, again they're altering their immediate environment anyway. 926 00:53:24,520 --> 00:53:28,640 Speaker 1: Um there so, and then again, a whole like this 927 00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:33,759 Speaker 1: is not a huge energy investment. Um, the whole getting 928 00:53:33,800 --> 00:53:37,480 Speaker 1: already part of the nest. I guess the question is 929 00:53:38,080 --> 00:53:40,399 Speaker 1: coming back to those those reasons that were put forth 930 00:53:40,600 --> 00:53:44,640 Speaker 1: um earlier, that we don't see more pit traps. Does 931 00:53:44,719 --> 00:53:48,440 Speaker 1: this would this make the the ant population more visible 932 00:53:48,480 --> 00:53:52,759 Speaker 1: to potential predators? Um? I mean maybe maybe so, maybe not. 933 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:56,480 Speaker 1: Maybe maybe the animals that would be interested in eating 934 00:53:56,480 --> 00:53:59,800 Speaker 1: the ants already would be able to detect their presence. 935 00:54:00,120 --> 00:54:03,640 Speaker 1: And then again, also the ants have more capabilities than 936 00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:06,040 Speaker 1: that one little larva at the bottom of a small pit. 937 00:54:06,200 --> 00:54:08,480 Speaker 1: You know, we're not dealing with one organism. We're dealing 938 00:54:08,520 --> 00:54:13,279 Speaker 1: with this, um uh, this entire colony of organisms that 939 00:54:13,760 --> 00:54:16,920 Speaker 1: that kind of behave as a single organism. Yeah, obviously, 940 00:54:16,960 --> 00:54:18,279 Speaker 1: I don't I don't know what all the you know, 941 00:54:18,320 --> 00:54:22,000 Speaker 1: the cost benefit analysis of of this evolutionary calculus would 942 00:54:22,040 --> 00:54:26,080 Speaker 1: be um. But but yeah, there must be some reason 943 00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:29,319 Speaker 1: why by having your aunt nest as a as a 944 00:54:29,320 --> 00:54:33,239 Speaker 1: pit trap in this environment. For this ant is is 945 00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:36,040 Speaker 1: not such a it's not such a danger that it 946 00:54:36,080 --> 00:54:38,759 Speaker 1: outweighs the benefit of getting some bugs to fall in 947 00:54:38,840 --> 00:54:42,439 Speaker 1: as free meals. But I also like this because it's 948 00:54:42,480 --> 00:54:45,920 Speaker 1: like by house analogy. It's like if your entire house 949 00:54:46,120 --> 00:54:49,400 Speaker 1: was just like below the ground and the entrance to 950 00:54:49,440 --> 00:54:52,000 Speaker 1: the house was a spike pit trap like a tiger trap, 951 00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,000 Speaker 1: just waited for things to fall in and be like, 952 00:54:56,040 --> 00:55:00,160 Speaker 1: oh bonus, here's dinner, and you alway, and the you 953 00:55:00,200 --> 00:55:01,800 Speaker 1: had the lures, you had the feathers all around. I 954 00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:03,480 Speaker 1: don't know what that would be in the human example, 955 00:55:03,800 --> 00:55:07,080 Speaker 1: you put just cotton candy around the around the trap 956 00:55:07,120 --> 00:55:09,640 Speaker 1: that you come in through. Well, this is certainly another 957 00:55:09,719 --> 00:55:13,520 Speaker 1: fascinating example. Um yeah, and I love how both present 958 00:55:13,600 --> 00:55:17,600 Speaker 1: the possibility of ants building traps. But since they are ants, like, 959 00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:20,800 Speaker 1: it's it's not that cut and dry like like, ants 960 00:55:20,880 --> 00:55:23,439 Speaker 1: have a complexity all their own, so you can't really 961 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:24,839 Speaker 1: look at them in the same way that you would 962 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:28,640 Speaker 1: look at a a single solitary spider or or certainly 963 00:55:28,680 --> 00:55:31,319 Speaker 1: even the you know, the human example, Like what we 964 00:55:31,360 --> 00:55:33,480 Speaker 1: do with traps and how we think about traps is 965 00:55:33,480 --> 00:55:36,160 Speaker 1: a rather different scenario compared to anything, you know, anything 966 00:55:36,239 --> 00:55:40,879 Speaker 1: that we're seeing in in several of these animal examples. Yeah, well, 967 00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:43,120 Speaker 1: I guess that does it for for ant traps on 968 00:55:43,120 --> 00:55:47,160 Speaker 1: my end. But well, who knows what the future will hold. 969 00:55:47,160 --> 00:55:50,920 Speaker 1: Perhaps there'll be more exciting studies coming out of the 970 00:55:51,440 --> 00:55:54,640 Speaker 1: world of ant research. I mean, it's it's it's highly possible. 971 00:55:54,640 --> 00:55:57,320 Speaker 1: I mean, we're still we're just still making a significant 972 00:55:57,320 --> 00:56:00,440 Speaker 1: discoveries about about ant species and what they're up to. 973 00:56:00,800 --> 00:56:03,960 Speaker 1: There are frontiers of ants you couldn't even dream of. 974 00:56:04,680 --> 00:56:07,919 Speaker 1: There are aunt traps that we don't even know about 975 00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:10,560 Speaker 1: yet because they haven't been sprung on us when you 976 00:56:10,600 --> 00:56:12,600 Speaker 1: fall into them. You go through the two thousand one 977 00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:17,440 Speaker 1: stargate and in the in the room with the the 978 00:56:17,480 --> 00:56:22,600 Speaker 1: French furniture. You know, we've never watched an ant movie 979 00:56:22,760 --> 00:56:24,799 Speaker 1: for a weird house cinema. I wonder if we should 980 00:56:24,840 --> 00:56:28,200 Speaker 1: at some point. Oh, I have for years been looking 981 00:56:28,239 --> 00:56:31,800 Speaker 1: at the cover of a Blu ray at video drome 982 00:56:31,880 --> 00:56:35,440 Speaker 1: called Phase four. It's a picture of a hand with 983 00:56:35,520 --> 00:56:37,920 Speaker 1: some ants. I know it involves ants. I don't know 984 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:40,759 Speaker 1: anything else. I guess that the question I would have, 985 00:56:40,960 --> 00:56:45,680 Speaker 1: especially after talking about ants like this again, is are 986 00:56:45,680 --> 00:56:47,920 Speaker 1: we looking at thinking about movies that that just that 987 00:56:48,000 --> 00:56:50,640 Speaker 1: have a giant ant in them and have encounters with 988 00:56:50,760 --> 00:56:53,800 Speaker 1: various giant ants, or is it truly about the ants 989 00:56:53,800 --> 00:56:59,319 Speaker 1: as this kind of superorganism um and I like the ladder. Yeah, though, 990 00:56:59,360 --> 00:57:02,399 Speaker 1: maybe having a giant sized ant is kind of a 991 00:57:02,440 --> 00:57:07,319 Speaker 1: way through our fantastic fiction that we think about super organisms. 992 00:57:07,800 --> 00:57:09,600 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like, yes, the ants are small, 993 00:57:09,680 --> 00:57:11,680 Speaker 1: but they they work together and they're able to do 994 00:57:11,719 --> 00:57:14,120 Speaker 1: great things. So we just think of like a giant ant. 995 00:57:14,440 --> 00:57:17,600 Speaker 1: That's like just one way of contemplating what they're capable of. 996 00:57:19,400 --> 00:57:21,640 Speaker 1: So the next time Aunt movies come back, if you're 997 00:57:21,640 --> 00:57:25,160 Speaker 1: out there thinking about resurrecting the giant Aunt movie, consider 998 00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:29,360 Speaker 1: having them like care people apart things like that, Um, 999 00:57:29,400 --> 00:57:32,360 Speaker 1: you know, crawling out of windows, pulling people Taunt against 1000 00:57:32,400 --> 00:57:35,560 Speaker 1: the sides of a building and then transferring them up 1001 00:57:35,600 --> 00:57:40,040 Speaker 1: to the rooftop and tearing them to pieces final processing. Yes, 1002 00:57:41,560 --> 00:57:43,240 Speaker 1: all right, well we're gonna go and close out this 1003 00:57:43,280 --> 00:57:45,400 Speaker 1: episode here, but we'd love to hear from everybody out 1004 00:57:45,440 --> 00:57:49,440 Speaker 1: there about traps, traps and movies, Traps in the human world, 1005 00:57:49,440 --> 00:57:52,720 Speaker 1: traps in the animal world. Um is there is there 1006 00:57:52,840 --> 00:57:54,680 Speaker 1: some corner of this topic you'd like for us to 1007 00:57:54,760 --> 00:57:57,640 Speaker 1: explore more in the future. Let us know we would 1008 00:57:57,640 --> 00:57:59,280 Speaker 1: love to hear from you. If you would like to 1009 00:57:59,280 --> 00:58:01,360 Speaker 1: listen to other episod those of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 1010 00:58:01,680 --> 00:58:03,640 Speaker 1: you will find them in the Stuff to Blow Your 1011 00:58:03,640 --> 00:58:06,720 Speaker 1: Mind podcasts. Feed core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursday's listener 1012 00:58:06,720 --> 00:58:10,880 Speaker 1: mail on Monday's short form artifact on Wednesdays. On Friday, 1013 00:58:10,880 --> 00:58:12,480 Speaker 1: we do weird how cinema. That's our time to set 1014 00:58:12,520 --> 00:58:16,520 Speaker 1: aside most serious concerns and just look at a strange film. 1015 00:58:16,880 --> 00:58:18,680 Speaker 1: As always, you can also get to us rather quickly 1016 00:58:18,680 --> 00:58:21,400 Speaker 1: by going to Stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 1017 00:58:21,840 --> 00:58:25,000 Speaker 1: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 1018 00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:27,560 Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 1019 00:58:27,600 --> 00:58:29,840 Speaker 1: with us with feedback on this episode or any other 1020 00:58:29,960 --> 00:58:32,479 Speaker 1: to suggest topic for the future, just to say hello, 1021 00:58:32,600 --> 00:58:35,400 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact and Stuff to Blow 1022 00:58:35,440 --> 00:58:45,800 Speaker 1: your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your Mind's production 1023 00:58:45,840 --> 00:58:48,240 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for my Heart 1024 00:58:48,320 --> 00:58:51,480 Speaker 1: Radio usit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever 1025 00:58:51,520 --> 00:59:06,320 Speaker 1: you're listening to your favorite shows by pressing stop