1 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,040 Speaker 1: For years, the Trailhead nest had been protected by a 2 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 1: ten thousand member force of its adult members or soldiers. 3 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:22,240 Speaker 1: A soldier's exoskeleton, twice the size of that of an 4 00:00:22,360 --> 00:00:27,320 Speaker 1: ordinary worker, is literally heavy armor, thick, tough, and pitted 5 00:00:27,320 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: in places for resilience and strength. A pair of spines 6 00:00:31,360 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: project backward from the mid section of the body to 7 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:37,800 Speaker 1: protect the waist. Spikes protect the neck, and the rear 8 00:00:37,880 --> 00:00:40,839 Speaker 1: margin of the head is curved forward, forming a helmet. 9 00:00:41,280 --> 00:00:44,000 Speaker 1: When attacked, the soldier can pull in her legs and 10 00:00:44,080 --> 00:00:47,479 Speaker 1: antenna and tighten up the segments of her body, turning 11 00:00:47,479 --> 00:00:51,919 Speaker 1: her entire surface into a shield. The ordinary Trailhead workers, 12 00:00:51,960 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: while built for labor, were also available for combat. They 13 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: served as the light infantry, using the swiftness and the 14 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:01,000 Speaker 1: agility of their supple bodies to dart in and out 15 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,160 Speaker 1: of enemy lines, seizing any leg or antenna available and 16 00:01:05,280 --> 00:01:08,080 Speaker 1: holding onto it until their nest mates could close in 17 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,559 Speaker 1: and grab another body part. When the adversary was finally 18 00:01:11,600 --> 00:01:14,960 Speaker 1: pinned and spread eagled, others piled on to bite, sting, 19 00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: or spray her with poison. Welcome to stot to blow 20 00:01:30,360 --> 00:01:40,080 Speaker 1: your mind. Production of My Heart Radio Hey you welcome 21 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,200 Speaker 1: to stuff to blow your mind. My name is Robert 22 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,840 Speaker 1: Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick in today It's Aunts, folks. 23 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:50,440 Speaker 1: That's right, this is going to be Ant Wars Episode one. Uh, 24 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: the Ampire strikes Back. Perhaps I'm not sure. I haven't 25 00:01:53,480 --> 00:01:56,480 Speaker 1: worked out that the full title yet, but yeah, we're 26 00:01:56,520 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: gonna be taking a couple of episodes to look at 27 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: the wars of the Ants, and it seemed ideal that 28 00:02:03,360 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 1: we kick off with a cold reading from the novel 29 00:02:06,800 --> 00:02:09,799 Speaker 1: ant Hill, a novel by EO. Wilson which came out 30 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:12,800 Speaker 1: in so we were talking about this novel before we 31 00:02:12,840 --> 00:02:16,280 Speaker 1: got started. It actually got some surprisingly good reviews. I 32 00:02:16,320 --> 00:02:19,000 Speaker 1: was thinking about picking up a copy and reading it 33 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,799 Speaker 1: until I discovered that a significant portion of this novel 34 00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 1: is about human characters. And I was hoping with EO. Wilson, 35 00:02:26,880 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 1: you know, especially in the past, we've talked about that 36 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: video where he like plunges his hand into a nest 37 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,160 Speaker 1: of fire ants and beams with the most the most 38 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,080 Speaker 1: radiant joy as the ants all biden sting him. At 39 00:02:39,080 --> 00:02:42,040 Speaker 1: the same time, I was hoping it would be all 40 00:02:42,080 --> 00:02:45,360 Speaker 1: about ants, because if anybody could do ants as compelling 41 00:02:45,400 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 1: central characters. I would think it would be EO. Wilson. Yeah, 42 00:02:48,520 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: I think I was looking at one review of it 43 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:53,840 Speaker 1: that was glowing that said that they're about seventy pages 44 00:02:53,880 --> 00:02:56,440 Speaker 1: in the novel that only EO. Wilson could have written. 45 00:02:56,919 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: Um and uh, and I think this gives everyone a 46 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: little taste of that. And when we say, you know, surprisingly, 47 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: you know, great reviews, you know it's obviously EO. Wilson 48 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: is a is a tremendous author, but generally he was 49 00:03:09,000 --> 00:03:13,400 Speaker 1: he was associated with with nonfiction, uh, conveying oftentimes conveying 50 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: science very effectively, um to a general audience. But of 51 00:03:17,200 --> 00:03:19,720 Speaker 1: course fiction is a slightly different scenario. So you might 52 00:03:19,760 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: expect even a very talented nonfiction writer, uh, you know, 53 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:25,960 Speaker 1: to to to perhaps stumble a bit in trying to 54 00:03:26,080 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 1: create a work of fiction like this. Oh totally, that's 55 00:03:29,639 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: what I mean. I didn't mean like EO. Wilson's a dummy. 56 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: I just meant that usually when somebody who's not primarily 57 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: a fiction writer is like, yeah, I'll do a novel, 58 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 1: it's it's not always great. Well, you know, the main 59 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: the main example that always comes to my mind is 60 00:03:42,040 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 1: or would be the the tech Wars novels that were 61 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: attributed to William Shatner that although I understand it was 62 00:03:48,760 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: more of a ghost writing scenario, it was in place 63 00:03:51,440 --> 00:03:55,160 Speaker 1: and there was some some spiritual composition in there. But 64 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: but I have to say it was not the tech 65 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: Wars that inspired inspired me to to seek this topic 66 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 1: out this week, but rather the Clone Wars um and 67 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:08,320 Speaker 1: and also the miniature board gaming in general. So my 68 00:04:08,400 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: son and I recently ordered a copy of Fantasy Flights 69 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:16,080 Speaker 1: Star Wars Legion miniature game, which is a miniature um 70 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,000 Speaker 1: war game in the tradition of things like say Warhammer 71 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:23,279 Speaker 1: Warhammer forty thousand, and then the older um the the 72 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: older like Napoleonic um war games of old, the kind 73 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:29,800 Speaker 1: of thing that has been the past time of people 74 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,719 Speaker 1: such as H. G. Wells, who wrote a essentially a 75 00:04:32,800 --> 00:04:36,279 Speaker 1: rule book for such miniature gaming, and then was also 76 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: a favorite pastime of Peter Cushing. Right, you recently shared 77 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: this video with me where Cushing is painting his little figurines. 78 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:47,000 Speaker 1: I guess it's Napoleonic Wars or some similar temporal event 79 00:04:47,360 --> 00:04:50,279 Speaker 1: where all these little uniformed figures he's like posing them 80 00:04:50,320 --> 00:04:53,240 Speaker 1: around barns and stuff that he's gotten on his floor. 81 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:55,520 Speaker 1: I think it was a video from the from the 82 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties that was done. Yeah, it was, it was 83 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:00,280 Speaker 1: nineteen fifties, And yeah, he's really getting into has a 84 00:05:00,320 --> 00:05:02,560 Speaker 1: whole whole hobby set up. And yeah, then he's laying 85 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,960 Speaker 1: them out on the floor, getting them into into position. Um. 86 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:10,240 Speaker 1: You know, a very very historical based for sure. But yeah, 87 00:05:10,520 --> 00:05:12,719 Speaker 1: just thinking about this sort of thing, thinking about miniature 88 00:05:12,760 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: gaming in general, and thinking about the clone wars where 89 00:05:16,080 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 1: you have on one side a bunch of um, you know, 90 00:05:19,640 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: genetically um identical warriors going up against you know, armored 91 00:05:25,760 --> 00:05:29,479 Speaker 1: robotic hords. I couldn't help but think of the ants, 92 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: the wars of the ants. You know, it's amazing how 93 00:05:32,480 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 1: much hymen opteran conflict we can miss because you're just 94 00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:39,520 Speaker 1: going about your business. Maybe you're doing something in your yard, 95 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:42,039 Speaker 1: you're hanging out out in the sun or in the 96 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: hammock or something, and you don't even realize that there 97 00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,479 Speaker 1: is literally a battle raging just a couple of feet 98 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: from you around the blades of grass. Oh. Absolutely, yeah. 99 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:55,679 Speaker 1: They the ants are are waging their wars, they're defending 100 00:05:55,680 --> 00:05:59,480 Speaker 1: their territories. Um, and and we're talking about against other 101 00:05:59,560 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: ants and not even talking about their their various struggles 102 00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,520 Speaker 1: against other species, and it's everywhere. We did not even 103 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,080 Speaker 1: think about our aunts unless they actually invade our homes, 104 00:06:11,160 --> 00:06:13,400 Speaker 1: and then then we get hot and bothered about it. 105 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: But I imagine the most crucial question we have to 106 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:20,280 Speaker 1: consider before we proceed is can we really consider the 107 00:06:20,320 --> 00:06:25,000 Speaker 1: conflict we see between ant species between different ant colonies 108 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 1: as warfare more or less in the human sense of 109 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:30,599 Speaker 1: the word. Well, I mean, in one sense you could 110 00:06:30,600 --> 00:06:36,120 Speaker 1: say maybe pedantically and obviously no, because it would necessarily 111 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 1: fail to capture like the full range of human value 112 00:06:39,440 --> 00:06:43,600 Speaker 1: and culture and passion that a company's conflict between humans. 113 00:06:43,640 --> 00:06:46,599 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, I think you could absolutely 114 00:06:46,600 --> 00:06:50,080 Speaker 1: probably like see some parallels in terms of like pure 115 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:53,320 Speaker 1: resource dynamics. Yeah, I was thinking about this a little bit. Uh. 116 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: Sometimes you see war defined as a declared armed hostile conflict, 117 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:02,640 Speaker 1: and of course the idea of ants actually declaring war 118 00:07:02,839 --> 00:07:05,800 Speaker 1: on another group of ants is ridiculous because you've been 119 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:09,080 Speaker 1: getting into declarations of war. That's a human political reality, 120 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: and as doctor Brundle would probably remind us, insects are 121 00:07:12,560 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: rather short on politics. I mean, I think that that 122 00:07:15,720 --> 00:07:18,280 Speaker 1: that fails to capture even a lot of actual war 123 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:20,880 Speaker 1: in the human context, where a lot of wars are 124 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: not cold wars by the people carrying them out right. 125 00:07:25,320 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: Another issue, too, is if we're talking about an armed 126 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: hostile conflict, well, ants don't actually take up arms in 127 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: the human sense, and of course they don't have to, 128 00:07:33,800 --> 00:07:37,080 Speaker 1: because aunts have a number of biological weapons and chemical 129 00:07:37,080 --> 00:07:41,679 Speaker 1: weapons at their disposal that make make such tool use unnecessary. 130 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:44,240 Speaker 1: And of course we'll be running through some examples of 131 00:07:44,240 --> 00:07:49,200 Speaker 1: of these bio weapons as we proceed through these episodes. However, 132 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:53,520 Speaker 1: we do tend to discuss these conflicts between ant colonies 133 00:07:53,560 --> 00:07:57,760 Speaker 1: between aunt species as being a form of war, something 134 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:00,600 Speaker 1: that we can think of as war. As bologist and 135 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:05,120 Speaker 1: entomologist Sean O'Donnell pointed out on Serious Science, ants engage 136 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:09,360 Speaker 1: in quote direct aggressive interaction between ants of different colonies. 137 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: They also engage in such conflict over resources, and as 138 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:17,960 Speaker 1: a noted ant expert author of the Human Swarm tropical 139 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:21,560 Speaker 1: biologists Mark W. Moffatt has put it, war is quote 140 00:08:21,840 --> 00:08:26,280 Speaker 1: the concentrated engagement of group against group in which both 141 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:30,040 Speaker 1: sides risk wholesale destruction. So it's easy to look at 142 00:08:30,080 --> 00:08:33,040 Speaker 1: other animals perhaps and say, well, cats don't wage war, 143 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: dogs don't wage war. It would be, for instance, kind 144 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: of ridiculous to say that um lions are waging war 145 00:08:41,200 --> 00:08:45,400 Speaker 1: against say an antelope. Right, Yeah, I think that the 146 00:08:45,400 --> 00:08:49,120 Speaker 1: the analogy would really fall short there. But for the ant, however, 147 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: it gets a little, a little little different. So Moffatt 148 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:56,200 Speaker 1: contends that the case for ant warfare is fairly convincing. 149 00:08:56,240 --> 00:08:58,360 Speaker 1: It's not simply a matter of applying the lens of 150 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: human civilization to the behavior of animals. What what they 151 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,440 Speaker 1: are doing and we humans have done for thousands of 152 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,839 Speaker 1: years are both endeavors that entail quote, an astonishing array 153 00:09:08,920 --> 00:09:13,080 Speaker 1: of tactical choices about methods of attack and strategic decisions 154 00:09:13,280 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: about when and where to wage war. Now, the parallel 155 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:19,920 Speaker 1: there gets especially interesting because while humans would have to 156 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:24,559 Speaker 1: make tactical and strategic choices in in organized conflict consciously, 157 00:09:24,640 --> 00:09:27,160 Speaker 1: you know, they have to like use their brains, look 158 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:30,480 Speaker 1: at what's going on and try to judge. I think, uh, 159 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: I think we would have to say that the ant 160 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:36,719 Speaker 1: carries out its campaigns almost entirely on instinct. Like it 161 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:41,520 Speaker 1: the ant doesn't have strategic theories except what it naturally 162 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: does by instinctive behavior. That's right. Yeah, they they more 163 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: or less simply do. And we'll get into some of 164 00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:50,120 Speaker 1: the details of that here in a second. I want 165 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,600 Speaker 1: to throw in that Douglas j Emlin, who wrote an 166 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,520 Speaker 1: excellent book several years ago titled Animal Weapons uh he 167 00:09:56,520 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: he uh, weighs in on this and says that, Okay, 168 00:10:00,080 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 1: the most part, animals do not fight battles or wars, um, 169 00:10:03,600 --> 00:10:06,240 Speaker 1: And you know it, basically, he says, most of the 170 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:09,560 Speaker 1: animal conflict that we see in the wild, it's ultimately 171 00:10:09,559 --> 00:10:11,880 Speaker 1: more of a duel, you know, especially as far as 172 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,200 Speaker 1: interest species contests go, you know, like male fighting a 173 00:10:15,280 --> 00:10:18,520 Speaker 1: male over a potential mate. But ants and termites are 174 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,040 Speaker 1: are certainly examples of something that could be a standout, 175 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,480 Speaker 1: you know, in which we do see this kind of 176 00:10:24,640 --> 00:10:29,320 Speaker 1: large scale war with high stakes for both sides. Um. 177 00:10:29,360 --> 00:10:30,920 Speaker 1: You know. I was thinking a bit about this too, 178 00:10:30,960 --> 00:10:33,880 Speaker 1: that you know, even these other scenarios lions versus antelopes 179 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: and all like, at best, we could maybe think of 180 00:10:36,480 --> 00:10:39,200 Speaker 1: that as a skirmish, right, but certainly not a war. 181 00:10:39,320 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: Not certainly not a war of of eradication. Yeah, I 182 00:10:43,600 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: would say that the conflicts between most animals you see 183 00:10:46,720 --> 00:10:49,880 Speaker 1: in nature are much more individual, they're less group oriented, 184 00:10:49,880 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: that they're less organized. Though at the same time that 185 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:57,400 Speaker 1: brings up an interesting question about what what really counts 186 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 1: as an individual when you're talking about some thing like 187 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:04,920 Speaker 1: a colony of ants, because unlike say mammals or birds 188 00:11:05,080 --> 00:11:08,400 Speaker 1: or something, answer a situation where within the colony, it 189 00:11:08,440 --> 00:11:12,079 Speaker 1: gets harder to make the case that the individual ant's 190 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 1: body is a is a like independent, autonomous agent, and 191 00:11:16,440 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: it might be better thought of as like one organ 192 00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: of the the actual individual, which is the overall colony. Yeah. 193 00:11:24,720 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 1: I think a lot of it comes down to the 194 00:11:26,080 --> 00:11:28,680 Speaker 1: fact that they are so I mean, they're used social insects, 195 00:11:28,720 --> 00:11:31,920 Speaker 1: and they're so connected that there there is this sense 196 00:11:31,960 --> 00:11:34,880 Speaker 1: of civilization to them. You know, they are you know, 197 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:37,719 Speaker 1: they're managing resources in some cases, such with the leaf 198 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:42,199 Speaker 1: counter ant, they're engaging in agriculture. You know, they there's 199 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: this this whole system that is there that that makes 200 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:49,680 Speaker 1: the argument for ant warfare a lot more convincing than saying, well, 201 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:54,280 Speaker 1: this invasive species is waging a war on the native species. Yeah, 202 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: I mean it is out competing it for some resource, 203 00:11:56,840 --> 00:12:00,040 Speaker 1: but it is not like this tight knit unit. It 204 00:12:00,080 --> 00:12:03,440 Speaker 1: is not like a full blown colony. Now, obviously nothing 205 00:12:03,520 --> 00:12:06,680 Speaker 1: humans do is going to be comparable to something in 206 00:12:06,679 --> 00:12:10,920 Speaker 1: the ant world, but the similarities are pretty startling. I 207 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 1: want to read a quote from a wonderful two thousand 208 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:17,920 Speaker 1: and eleven Scientific American article titled Ants and the Art 209 00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: of War, and this is also by Mark W. Moffatt. Quote. 210 00:12:21,679 --> 00:12:24,320 Speaker 1: Scientists have long known that certain kinds of ants and 211 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: termites form tight knit societies with members numbering in the millions, 212 00:12:28,960 --> 00:12:32,720 Speaker 1: and that these insects engage in complex behaviors. Such practices 213 00:12:32,760 --> 00:12:37,120 Speaker 1: include traffic control, public health efforts, crop domestication, and, perhaps 214 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,440 Speaker 1: most intriguingly, warfare, the concentrated engagement of group against group 215 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:44,720 Speaker 1: in which both sides risk wholesale destruction. Indeed, in these 216 00:12:44,760 --> 00:12:48,000 Speaker 1: respects and others, we modern humans more closely resemble ants 217 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: than our closest living relatives, the apes, which live in 218 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:55,320 Speaker 1: far smaller societies. So the main similarity between us and 219 00:12:55,360 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: the ants is that we organize ourselves more so than 220 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:05,079 Speaker 1: almost any other non insect animal. Right now, Biologically, of course, 221 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:08,360 Speaker 1: we're much larger vertebrates. We have impressive brains that have 222 00:13:08,440 --> 00:13:13,280 Speaker 1: enabled us to achieve unequal technological accomplishments, including but not 223 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: limited to, the production of nineteen fifty four Is Them 224 00:13:17,240 --> 00:13:20,880 Speaker 1: and Birdeye Gordon's nineteen seventy seven film Empire of the Ants. 225 00:13:21,320 --> 00:13:24,120 Speaker 1: You don't see the ants themselves making films this good. 226 00:13:24,440 --> 00:13:28,800 Speaker 1: That's true, Aunt cinema is rather lacking, though, I don't 227 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: know if I've seen this bird Eye Gordon movie or not. 228 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,880 Speaker 1: Of course, birt Eye Gordon has come up on the 229 00:13:32,880 --> 00:13:35,839 Speaker 1: show several times. He's sort of Mr. A k A, 230 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:38,600 Speaker 1: Mr Big. He's the king of the force perspective effect, 231 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,719 Speaker 1: where you know, you take like a lizard and then 232 00:13:40,760 --> 00:13:43,280 Speaker 1: you shoot it up close against the background and make 233 00:13:43,320 --> 00:13:45,840 Speaker 1: it say that it's a dinosaur. Yeah. I have to 234 00:13:45,840 --> 00:13:48,840 Speaker 1: say I haven't seen Empire of the Ants either. I 235 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: mainly know it because it's referenced in a Warren Zevon song. 236 00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:54,440 Speaker 1: But it's a nineteen seventy seven release. That's that's pretty 237 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:59,560 Speaker 1: late into in the Birdeye Gordon Giant Animal Rampaging world. 238 00:13:59,559 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: I would think last time I checked, Bert Eye Gordon 239 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:05,720 Speaker 1: was still alive. I think he is, oh well, still 240 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:08,560 Speaker 1: going at Yes, he's ninety seven years old, all right, 241 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,679 Speaker 1: so obviously ants can't actually top that. You know, they 242 00:14:11,679 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: don't have language, they don't have civilization in the sense 243 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,839 Speaker 1: that we do. Ants. However, they have a different way 244 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:20,480 Speaker 1: of going about things. So for instance, they produce While 245 00:14:20,520 --> 00:14:24,400 Speaker 1: we're like a fifty fifty male female species, ants only 246 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 1: produce males to serve as short lived reproductive drones to 247 00:14:28,400 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 1: fertile queens. That's right, I mean ants are females basically. Yeah, 248 00:14:33,200 --> 00:14:37,000 Speaker 1: the vast majority of the colony consists of sterile females. 249 00:14:37,400 --> 00:14:40,240 Speaker 1: And while the queen terminology, you know, if we talk 250 00:14:40,280 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: about the queen ant and it brings with it the 251 00:14:43,280 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 1: legacy of human centralized power structures, Ultimately, ants function without 252 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:53,800 Speaker 1: a power hierarchy or a permanent leader. They are entirely decentralized. So, 253 00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,920 Speaker 1: like you said earlier, combat decisions, they're not made by commanders. 254 00:14:57,400 --> 00:14:59,320 Speaker 1: You know, if if this was a miniature war game, 255 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,400 Speaker 1: you wouldn't have the command or piece that's essential for 256 00:15:02,440 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 1: all of this to take place. No, it's rather a 257 00:15:04,600 --> 00:15:08,040 Speaker 1: case of swarm intelligence. That is one of the hardest 258 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:10,520 Speaker 1: things to keep in mind because there there's this natural 259 00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:14,960 Speaker 1: tendency we have to assume that something called the queen 260 00:15:15,200 --> 00:15:17,480 Speaker 1: is in charge. But Yeah, when you're thinking about aunts, 261 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: you have to remember that basically ants are always at 262 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:22,760 Speaker 1: war and the queen is never in command. The queen 263 00:15:22,840 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: doesn't tell the ants what to do. They are highly 264 00:15:25,560 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: motivated to protect the queen. But that's kind of in 265 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,720 Speaker 1: the same way that like you are highly motivated to 266 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: protect the most vulnerable parts of your body from injury, right, 267 00:15:35,960 --> 00:15:39,240 Speaker 1: like you'd protect your face and stuff. Like, the queen 268 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:43,920 Speaker 1: is their reproductive chances, and that's why she is protected, right, 269 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,040 Speaker 1: and she's she is very important. There's some passages in EO. 270 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: Wilson's novel where where the the tragedy of the fall 271 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,040 Speaker 1: of their their queen is discussed and how this is 272 00:15:54,080 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: a you know, part of the peril that this key 273 00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:00,200 Speaker 1: group of ants finds themselves in. But ultimately, the wars 274 00:16:00,240 --> 00:16:02,560 Speaker 1: of ants in the wars of humans, they're often fought 275 00:16:02,600 --> 00:16:07,080 Speaker 1: for the same reasons territory, food, ideal dwelling spaces, and 276 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: even labor. So some ant species do in fact employ 277 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: something that we might think of as slave labor, and 278 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:15,560 Speaker 1: we'll come back to that as we go, But also 279 00:16:15,600 --> 00:16:20,960 Speaker 1: ants deploy various tactics depending on what is at stake, So, like, 280 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: you know, not every war is equal to the ant colony. 281 00:16:24,920 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: There is um, there's a fluctuation in you know, the 282 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,640 Speaker 1: amount of effort that is put into it, how much 283 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: ant power is h is put on the line, etcetera. However, 284 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: in his book The Human Swarm, Moffatt speaks a little 285 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: bit more about this, about the basic comparison between human 286 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 1: and ant warfare, and he does he does write that quote, 287 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:48,200 Speaker 1: if nothing else, remember this, Comparing identical things is deadly boring. 288 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,320 Speaker 1: Making comparisons is most fruitful when parallels are noticed between 289 00:16:52,360 --> 00:16:56,960 Speaker 1: ideas or things or actions ordinarily treated as distinct. Uh. 290 00:16:56,960 --> 00:16:58,880 Speaker 1: And he discusses this at length in that book, if, 291 00:16:58,920 --> 00:17:01,040 Speaker 1: if if any wants to to pick that up and 292 00:17:01,080 --> 00:17:03,440 Speaker 1: explore more. But I think this is also something that's 293 00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:05,399 Speaker 1: important to keep in mind. Yeah, it's it's not a 294 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: one to one, but if it were a one to one, 295 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: we probably wouldn't be doing a podcast about it. Right, 296 00:17:11,080 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: all right, we need to take a quick break, but 297 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,159 Speaker 1: when we come back, we will talk about aunt warriors 298 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:22,640 Speaker 1: in classic literature. Thank alright, we're back. So we spent 299 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:25,600 Speaker 1: the whole first portion of this episode talking about the 300 00:17:25,680 --> 00:17:29,880 Speaker 1: idea of comparing ant warfare to human warfare and uh 301 00:17:29,960 --> 00:17:32,320 Speaker 1: and to what, to what extent it's fair, what extent 302 00:17:32,440 --> 00:17:36,440 Speaker 1: it makes sense? And ultimately it's irrelevant because we still 303 00:17:36,480 --> 00:17:38,600 Speaker 1: do it, and we've been doing it for a very 304 00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,400 Speaker 1: long time. We've been making that connection between human warfare 305 00:17:42,640 --> 00:17:45,439 Speaker 1: and ant warfare, perhaps for as long as warriors have 306 00:17:45,520 --> 00:17:47,720 Speaker 1: had a chance, uh, you know, to pause on the 307 00:17:47,720 --> 00:17:51,280 Speaker 1: battlefield and look down between their human feet and see 308 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:55,359 Speaker 1: a smaller version of their campaigns playing out in the 309 00:17:55,400 --> 00:17:58,439 Speaker 1: dirt beneath them. For instance, if we look back to 310 00:17:58,560 --> 00:18:03,000 Speaker 1: the Iliad, uh, specialized warriors who serve the mighty Akellyes 311 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,159 Speaker 1: are known as the Myrmidons. The aunt people is the 312 00:18:06,840 --> 00:18:10,159 Speaker 1: the literal translation of that. Now, I know, according to 313 00:18:10,280 --> 00:18:14,800 Speaker 1: some mythological sources, the Mermanons who fight with Achilles actually 314 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,440 Speaker 1: were ants at some point. Isn't that right? They were 315 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:22,080 Speaker 1: like transformed into human warriors from their aunt origins. Yeah. 316 00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:25,520 Speaker 1: The tradition that we see in Ovid's metamorphosis, for example, 317 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: is that is that the gods transformed the ants into humans. Uh. 318 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,719 Speaker 1: And that's why they have these these ant like uh 319 00:18:35,320 --> 00:18:39,600 Speaker 1: uh tendencies. They have this ant like tenacity because they 320 00:18:39,600 --> 00:18:43,040 Speaker 1: are essentially ants that were made human, but of course 321 00:18:43,119 --> 00:18:46,400 Speaker 1: that was not the actual reality. These were These were 322 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:47,919 Speaker 1: human troops, and we have to make some sort of 323 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:51,480 Speaker 1: sense of it. Uh I was reading a two thousand 324 00:18:51,520 --> 00:18:54,879 Speaker 1: tin paper published in the Classical World by Matthew Sears 325 00:18:54,920 --> 00:18:58,480 Speaker 1: titled Warrior Ants Elite Troops in the Iliad, and he 326 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:01,679 Speaker 1: points out that masked fighting was probably the norm in 327 00:19:01,720 --> 00:19:04,480 Speaker 1: the days of Homer, but that in this we get 328 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,159 Speaker 1: into scholarly conflict over the idea of the hop Light 329 00:19:08,280 --> 00:19:12,320 Speaker 1: revolution and the prin pre hop light and Hoplight warfare. 330 00:19:12,480 --> 00:19:14,480 Speaker 1: Now this refers to the Greek use of spears and 331 00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,840 Speaker 1: shields and the phalanx formation, so this is kind of 332 00:19:17,880 --> 00:19:21,960 Speaker 1: like an ant level um of of of cooperation that 333 00:19:22,080 --> 00:19:26,080 Speaker 1: stands in contrast to mass fighting and the dramatic single 334 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:29,520 Speaker 1: combat episodes of the Iliad. So the basic idea here 335 00:19:29,720 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: is that the Myrmidons as well as you know opposing 336 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: soldiers under Ajax, might be understood as specialized warriors, professional 337 00:19:38,000 --> 00:19:42,439 Speaker 1: soldiers who use UH this type of tight formation with 338 00:19:42,520 --> 00:19:45,879 Speaker 1: the shields providing you know, absolute support for the unit 339 00:19:46,200 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: and UH and the offensive spears used in a very 340 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:51,640 Speaker 1: deliberate manner, as opposed to just a bunch of warriors 341 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: running out and going at it. So definitely keep the 342 00:19:55,119 --> 00:19:57,000 Speaker 1: phalanx in mind, because we'll come back to it and 343 00:19:57,000 --> 00:19:59,960 Speaker 1: discuss it more when we get into anti tactics a bit. 344 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,240 Speaker 1: But basically, on both sides of the conflict described in 345 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:05,439 Speaker 1: the Iliad, the ideas that you would have had a 346 00:20:05,520 --> 00:20:10,359 Speaker 1: mix of such professional, highly trained fighters alongside more generalized, 347 00:20:10,400 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: generalized troops, and of course this would remain a reality 348 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: in warfare for a long time, the professional soldiers fighting 349 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:21,800 Speaker 1: alongside the uh you know, basically common commoners, common men 350 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: who have just been given arms or have taken up 351 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:27,520 Speaker 1: arms in the conquest. Now in this series goes and 352 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:29,639 Speaker 1: of course into a great deal more detail because it 353 00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:32,800 Speaker 1: is primarily concerned with the ancient world, but he actually 354 00:20:32,880 --> 00:20:36,360 Speaker 1: poses the question of whether ancient people's without special lenses 355 00:20:36,800 --> 00:20:39,480 Speaker 1: would have been able to mark the similarities between human 356 00:20:39,560 --> 00:20:43,240 Speaker 1: and ant organized conflict, and based on the work of others, 357 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 1: he says, yeah, you know, we look at the traditions 358 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:50,520 Speaker 1: in Africa, Australia and New Guinea, uh, in cases where 359 00:20:50,520 --> 00:20:52,360 Speaker 1: you have people who are know, who have not used 360 00:20:52,359 --> 00:20:56,120 Speaker 1: specialized gear to analyze ants, and they have long made 361 00:20:56,200 --> 00:21:00,600 Speaker 1: these comparisons. Quote the warlike characteristics of ants would have 362 00:21:00,640 --> 00:21:02,679 Speaker 1: been just as apparent to the eyes of the ancient 363 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,680 Speaker 1: Greeks as they were to throw and McCook. In short, 364 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: the description of achilles men as aunt people maybe due 365 00:21:09,359 --> 00:21:13,400 Speaker 1: to their resemblance in terms of ferocity, uh, tactical ingenuity, 366 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,560 Speaker 1: unit cohesion, and general belicocity to these insects as as 367 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,000 Speaker 1: as observed by the ancients. Okay, so what makes them 368 00:21:21,119 --> 00:21:24,880 Speaker 1: like ants? It's that they are fierce, that they execute 369 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:28,239 Speaker 1: tactics effectively, that they stick together and don't break up 370 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:32,239 Speaker 1: into individuals, and that they're very aggressive. Yeah they're not. 371 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,680 Speaker 1: Just yeah, I think the sticking together and like working 372 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,320 Speaker 1: as a as a unit is keyty Here, it's not 373 00:21:38,400 --> 00:21:41,600 Speaker 1: the warfare of sort of you know, random battle. It's 374 00:21:41,640 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 1: not the warfare of like the one hero fighting the 375 00:21:45,080 --> 00:21:48,200 Speaker 1: other hero at the at the at the walls of Troy. No, 376 00:21:48,400 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: it is about tactics and in uniform performance exactly, and 377 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:55,919 Speaker 1: that is the advantage of the phalanx. Alright, So the 378 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,080 Speaker 1: next question folks might wonder is how long have aunt's 379 00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 1: waged these wars or maybe you haven't, maybe you're not 380 00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: asking that question, but let me go and tell you 381 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:07,280 Speaker 1: it's an interesting question with an interesting answer. Tell us 382 00:22:07,320 --> 00:22:09,239 Speaker 1: the answer, Robert, All right, well, well, first of all, 383 00:22:09,320 --> 00:22:11,520 Speaker 1: let's let's consider the big picture. First, we have to 384 00:22:11,560 --> 00:22:15,200 Speaker 1: really stop and realize that we live in the world 385 00:22:15,320 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 1: of the ant. Because today the world is home to 386 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:22,639 Speaker 1: an estimated twenty two thousand species of a ant. And 387 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 1: of those, only I've seen two different numbers for this, uh, 388 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:30,520 Speaker 1: twelve thousand, five hundred or perhaps thirteen thousand have been 389 00:22:30,560 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 1: classified or described. So we're still talking thousands of ant 390 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 1: species out there that we just you know, don't have 391 00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:38,920 Speaker 1: a good handle on, maybe don't even have names for 392 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 1: um now. According to ted Our Shooltz in a n 393 00:22:43,880 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 1: paper on ant ancestors, ants probably account for fifteen to 394 00:22:49,800 --> 00:22:53,720 Speaker 1: of the terrestrial animal biomass today. So that means if 395 00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,480 Speaker 1: you take all of the animals that live on land, 396 00:22:56,600 --> 00:22:58,919 Speaker 1: and of course this doesn't include plants and stuff like that, 397 00:22:58,960 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 1: but all the animals that live on land, you weigh 398 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: them all together, this estimate would say fifteen of that 399 00:23:05,359 --> 00:23:08,440 Speaker 1: is just ants. Yeah, and apparently in areas where they're 400 00:23:08,520 --> 00:23:12,760 Speaker 1: especially prominent, you could maybe be looking at they because 401 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,040 Speaker 1: they and they thrive everywhere, Like certainly they're they're you know, 402 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:18,879 Speaker 1: around the you know, the the equatorial belt, they're going 403 00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,680 Speaker 1: to be especially active. But they thrive everywhere except Antarctica 404 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:25,919 Speaker 1: and UH, as well as the occasional far flung and 405 00:23:26,000 --> 00:23:30,720 Speaker 1: inhospitable island. Otherwise, the ants just have it all locked down. Now, 406 00:23:30,760 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: that's an amazing estimate, and I do want to be fair. 407 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 1: I've been reading around and I think there are some 408 00:23:35,320 --> 00:23:38,879 Speaker 1: disputes about exactly how much biomass ants account for. The 409 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 1: Different people have different estimates UM. But one other estimate 410 00:23:43,080 --> 00:23:45,200 Speaker 1: I came across that was very interesting. It was quoted 411 00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:47,640 Speaker 1: in a in a BBC article I was reading about 412 00:23:47,640 --> 00:23:52,320 Speaker 1: aunt biomass. It quotes Francis Ratniqus, who is a professor 413 00:23:52,359 --> 00:23:56,720 Speaker 1: of apriculture at the University of Sussex, and Ratnius was 414 00:23:56,720 --> 00:23:59,880 Speaker 1: trying to address the question of what ways more all 415 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,520 Speaker 1: the ants or all the humans UH. And there have 416 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:07,240 Speaker 1: been different answers to this question. Ratnix thinks that well, now, 417 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:09,960 Speaker 1: probably if you weigh up all the humans, the humans 418 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,680 Speaker 1: way more than the ants UM. But that hasn't always 419 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:17,040 Speaker 1: been the case. Definitely, Ratnie says, if you went back 420 00:24:17,080 --> 00:24:20,520 Speaker 1: a few thousand years, ants would have far outweighed the humans. 421 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: But as human populations have grown exponentially, especially in recent centuries, 422 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:29,200 Speaker 1: that changed. Ratnius thinks it was probably right around the 423 00:24:29,320 --> 00:24:33,159 Speaker 1: late seventeen hundreds or maybe a little bit before that, 424 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 1: that the total weight of humans on Earth suddenly became 425 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,119 Speaker 1: larger than the total weight of ants. So around the 426 00:24:39,160 --> 00:24:43,240 Speaker 1: time of American independence, the humans overtook the ants. Wow, 427 00:24:44,359 --> 00:24:47,359 Speaker 1: here's another figure. And again these are all estimates, so 428 00:24:47,480 --> 00:24:51,480 Speaker 1: you know, don't you know, have any particular um factor 429 00:24:51,600 --> 00:24:55,280 Speaker 1: like tattoo in your body regarding this. But the Field 430 00:24:55,359 --> 00:24:58,760 Speaker 1: Museum has a wonderful ant page uh ants section of 431 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,639 Speaker 1: their website, and they they point they make the claim 432 00:25:02,720 --> 00:25:07,000 Speaker 1: that in the tropics, ant biomass outweighs all vertebrate life 433 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,800 Speaker 1: two to one. Yeah, and that that emphasizes that, like 434 00:25:10,000 --> 00:25:13,000 Speaker 1: the percentage of ants as biomass is going to be 435 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: heavily dependent on environment. Right, so around the equatorial regions, 436 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: where they're even more abundant, they might they might massively 437 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:24,119 Speaker 1: outweigh humans. I mean, the take home is that that basically, 438 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:27,879 Speaker 1: no matter how often we fail to notice ants in 439 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: our environment, they are an extremely successful species by you know, 440 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:35,359 Speaker 1: by some accounts, they are the most successful insect on 441 00:25:35,400 --> 00:25:38,760 Speaker 1: the planet, which really puts them, uh, you know, in 442 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: consideration for the most successful animal on the planet. Oh yeah, 443 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 1: I mean, insects dominate the animal world and especially especially 444 00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:51,200 Speaker 1: the terrestrial animal world, and if ants dominate the insects, 445 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:53,320 Speaker 1: I mean, I think you could absolutely make a good 446 00:25:53,320 --> 00:25:56,480 Speaker 1: case there. But the funny thing is you have to imagine, 447 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,000 Speaker 1: like all other organisms or families of organisms on Earth, 448 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: there was a time when ants were newcomers on the 449 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,520 Speaker 1: evolutionary scene. And they can't always have had this this 450 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,439 Speaker 1: uh you know, occupied this elevated station. That's right. They 451 00:26:11,440 --> 00:26:15,400 Speaker 1: were not an overnight success. Uh. Ants evolved and estimated 452 00:26:15,480 --> 00:26:18,880 Speaker 1: one forty two one hundred and sixty eight million years ago, 453 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:23,800 Speaker 1: so they are ultimately a product of the Jurassic But 454 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,760 Speaker 1: but yeah, they were not an instant hit. Uh. I 455 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:29,400 Speaker 1: was reading that. You know, scientists consider that they're probably 456 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:33,119 Speaker 1: like a modest success. At first, you know, um ants 457 00:26:33,119 --> 00:26:35,280 Speaker 1: were doing their thing, but they weren't just blowing up. 458 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:39,800 Speaker 1: But then something changed, flowering and fruiting plants evolved and 459 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:43,240 Speaker 1: estimated one hundred million years ago. And what this did 460 00:26:43,320 --> 00:26:47,480 Speaker 1: is it transformed the energy economy. Insects suddenly had in 461 00:26:47,560 --> 00:26:51,399 Speaker 1: it were not suddenly, but insects progressively had an entirely 462 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,840 Speaker 1: new food source to adapt to a whole slew of 463 00:26:54,880 --> 00:26:58,240 Speaker 1: new food sources, and so they did. And ants, which 464 00:26:58,240 --> 00:27:02,040 Speaker 1: were again probably just a modestly successful life form at 465 00:27:02,080 --> 00:27:07,640 Speaker 1: best earlier, suddenly exploded filling out these these various niches 466 00:27:07,720 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: in the in the ecosystem. They adapted to a host 467 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:15,640 Speaker 1: of evolutionary niches and then spread across the two supercontinents 468 00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:19,639 Speaker 1: of Eurasia and Gondwana. I'm trying to imagine the scene 469 00:27:19,640 --> 00:27:22,480 Speaker 1: of the first time some ants discovered a fallen fruit. 470 00:27:23,040 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: What a small moment that would have been. Almost it's 471 00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,560 Speaker 1: almost like an ant garden of Eden's story. Yeah, and 472 00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: and it's like it's just basically like all levels of 473 00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 1: this new fruit flower economy, Like the ants are there 474 00:27:34,800 --> 00:27:37,240 Speaker 1: to figure out how to make it work, and you know, 475 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,440 Speaker 1: and and of course steadily evolve into these various species 476 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: that um that take advantage of it in various ways. Now, 477 00:27:45,800 --> 00:27:48,080 Speaker 1: as Schiltz points out, we don't have much evidence of 478 00:27:48,119 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 1: ants from the first half of their existence. Not until 479 00:27:51,080 --> 00:27:54,159 Speaker 1: the mid Cretaceous do we see their fossil remains. But 480 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,320 Speaker 1: the evidence we have is pretty incredible. In nineteen six 481 00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,439 Speaker 1: e O. Wilson and others identified the fossil remains of 482 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:03,719 Speaker 1: a cretaceous ant species that was trapped in amber from 483 00:28:03,800 --> 00:28:06,840 Speaker 1: ninety two million years ago. But then there there there 484 00:28:06,840 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 1: have been some more recent exciting findings. Ancient Burmese amber 485 00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:14,879 Speaker 1: from Myanmar gives us even older evidence. I was reading 486 00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: about a two thousand sixteen study from Rutgers that was 487 00:28:18,240 --> 00:28:21,359 Speaker 1: at the time of that study dated to nine million 488 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:24,680 Speaker 1: years ago. And according to Philip Bardon of the Insect 489 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:27,640 Speaker 1: and Evolution Lab and Jessica l Where of the Department 490 00:28:27,680 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: of Biological Sciences at Rutgers University, Newark, what what the 491 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: contents of this chunk of amber show us? Is a 492 00:28:35,200 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: frozen act of ant warfare. Oh, I see it. They're 493 00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:42,440 Speaker 1: in a tangle. Yeah, it's it's two ants battling it out, 494 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:46,040 Speaker 1: duking it out, trapped forever in this, uh, this droplet 495 00:28:46,040 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: of amber. Well, I'm imagining a scene where the scientists 496 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 1: from Jurassic Park drill into this amber and they use 497 00:28:51,320 --> 00:28:56,400 Speaker 1: it to clone dangerous Jurassic fruit, right, they get the 498 00:28:56,400 --> 00:28:59,360 Speaker 1: stomach content. I don't know if that joke connected. Okay, whatever, 499 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:02,680 Speaker 1: Um no, no, I give it to your your cooking. There. 500 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:06,360 Speaker 1: So the researchers, though that they do not go in 501 00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: that direction. What the What they say is that the 502 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,400 Speaker 1: ants trapped here belonged to early Aunt lineages that are 503 00:29:12,480 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 1: ultimately distinct from modern ants, so they're not really direct 504 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,360 Speaker 1: ancestors of modern ants. But in their study they present 505 00:29:18,480 --> 00:29:21,960 Speaker 1: evidence that that these ancient ants were social and and 506 00:29:22,040 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: they were you know, engaging in this kind of uh 507 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:28,320 Speaker 1: you know, collective conflict. Another bit of amber they point out, 508 00:29:28,360 --> 00:29:32,240 Speaker 1: contains some twenty one worker ants, and this is from 509 00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:34,480 Speaker 1: a time period in which again Aunt fossil evidence is 510 00:29:34,520 --> 00:29:36,840 Speaker 1: super rare, so they say, to get twenty one in 511 00:29:36,880 --> 00:29:40,400 Speaker 1: one blow suggested they were already you know, very social, 512 00:29:40,520 --> 00:29:44,360 Speaker 1: working together. So we're looking at a good one million 513 00:29:44,440 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: years of ant warfare based on this, you know, at 514 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 1: least memo or less, lining up with the advent of 515 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: flowering and fruiting plants, with true dominance of the ants 516 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: being reached some sixty million years ago. Now, other things, 517 00:29:57,840 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: of course evolved as well, uh, including some of their 518 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:05,000 Speaker 1: various features. Uh uh. Interestingly enough, some of the ancient 519 00:30:05,040 --> 00:30:08,080 Speaker 1: ants were rather brutal, looking even more brutal looking than 520 00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 1: they look today. For instance, there were the hell ants 521 00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:15,560 Speaker 1: uh so named because they feature many characteristics that some 522 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 1: might you know, consider unusual or hellish. Um. Yeah, I 523 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:22,160 Speaker 1: found out because because you linked it to this one 524 00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: called lingua Irmax Vladdie, And I was looking at that 525 00:30:25,400 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: name for a second thinking, wait, Vladdie, that that can't 526 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,200 Speaker 1: be Is it? Is it vlad? Is it vladium Paler? 527 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: It is named for vladium paler because it has this 528 00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:41,440 Speaker 1: um unique head structure where it has um um Uh. 529 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:44,240 Speaker 1: It's kind of difficult to describe because it's it has 530 00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,720 Speaker 1: like this paddle like projection on it and uh and 531 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: X ray uh. Imaging reveals that it was most probably 532 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,240 Speaker 1: filled with sequestered metals to make it like you know, 533 00:30:54,800 --> 00:30:57,800 Speaker 1: fortified uh, and that it would have worked in tandem 534 00:30:57,840 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: with scithelike mandibles to in and potentially puncture soft bodied prey. 535 00:31:03,480 --> 00:31:05,840 Speaker 1: So it was you know, there's this real you know, 536 00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: bear trap of a head on this thing. I'm looking 537 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: at images of it now. It is a brutal spike 538 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:15,120 Speaker 1: coming out of the head. Yeah. Now this isn't to 539 00:31:15,160 --> 00:31:18,360 Speaker 1: say there aren't some really gnarly ant heads around today. 540 00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:20,760 Speaker 1: We'll get back to some of those later on. But 541 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,520 Speaker 1: one of the important tacoms from all of this, and 542 00:31:23,560 --> 00:31:27,360 Speaker 1: this is something that Sean O'Donnell points out in that 543 00:31:27,360 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: that serious science article on ant wars. He points out 544 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: that there's an important shift in the weaponry of ants 545 00:31:33,920 --> 00:31:38,959 Speaker 1: across time. So long ago, vertebrates were probably the biggest 546 00:31:39,000 --> 00:31:41,680 Speaker 1: threat to ants, so they were more equipped to deal 547 00:31:41,760 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: with them via things like a powerful sting. But as 548 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:47,840 Speaker 1: time passed and they spread her across the world, they 549 00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:51,880 Speaker 1: become more and more successful. Pressure on each other becomes 550 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:55,440 Speaker 1: more prevalent. In other words, the endless ant wars become 551 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,960 Speaker 1: more important for shaping their evolution than the dinosaurs, the birds, 552 00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,920 Speaker 1: in the various mammals that preyed on them. So they 553 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:04,800 Speaker 1: used to be they used to have to be more 554 00:32:04,840 --> 00:32:07,480 Speaker 1: worried about and eaters and armadillos getting in there and 555 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,400 Speaker 1: and vacuum them up with the snout. But over time 556 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,800 Speaker 1: their real adversaries become the rival i'm an opter in 557 00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:19,000 Speaker 1: colonies exactly. So ultimately some aunt lineages end up keeping 558 00:32:19,000 --> 00:32:22,320 Speaker 1: their sting. For example, the bullet ant whose bite ranks 559 00:32:22,360 --> 00:32:26,240 Speaker 1: as a four that's the maximum score on Schmidt's sting 560 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:31,160 Speaker 1: pain index UM there I was reading a description is 561 00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:33,959 Speaker 1: by Justin Oschmidt, the entomologist who came up with this 562 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,200 Speaker 1: system of measuring uh the stings. He described it as 563 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:42,400 Speaker 1: quote pure intense, brilliant pain, like walking over flaming charcoil 564 00:32:42,680 --> 00:32:46,240 Speaker 1: with a three inch nail embedded in your heel. Yeah. 565 00:32:46,360 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: I've read descriptions of this one as well. The only 566 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: other thing that I recall being compared to this level 567 00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,400 Speaker 1: of pain with the sting was the tarantula hawk, which 568 00:32:55,440 --> 00:32:58,760 Speaker 1: is a type of stinging wasp. But apparently it is 569 00:32:58,840 --> 00:33:02,719 Speaker 1: just like unimaginable in terms of an insect thing. So 570 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,800 Speaker 1: that's an example of of ants that have kept their 571 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:10,000 Speaker 1: impressive bioweapon um, but others lost it entirely, and in 572 00:33:10,040 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: some cases, UH these systems adapted into chemical weapons systems 573 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,360 Speaker 1: to be used against other ants, and we'll discuss those 574 00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:20,640 Speaker 1: later on in this UH. This look at ant warfare 575 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,520 Speaker 1: because the end of it is up taking a different 576 00:33:22,520 --> 00:33:26,440 Speaker 1: form because ultimately you're trying to solve different problems at 577 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:30,000 Speaker 1: different scales with different enemies. Okay, it looks like it's 578 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: time for us to take a break, but we'll be 579 00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:38,440 Speaker 1: right back with more than all right, we're back so 580 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:41,719 Speaker 1: we've now come to the portion of our our episodes 581 00:33:41,760 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: here where we're going to really get into the endless 582 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:47,640 Speaker 1: wars of ant kind and the sorts of tactics they 583 00:33:47,680 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: employ on the battlefield. And we're probably not going to 584 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,040 Speaker 1: be able to to to make it all the way 585 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: through the this next section without having to stop the 586 00:33:56,040 --> 00:33:59,280 Speaker 1: episode and come back in part two. But if everything 587 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:01,000 Speaker 1: goes according to and you're only gonna have to wait 588 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,840 Speaker 1: like a day for the ant wars to continue. Now, 589 00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,600 Speaker 1: the most important fact to drive home first is that 590 00:34:06,720 --> 00:34:09,920 Speaker 1: naturally there are so many species of ants to consider, 591 00:34:10,360 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: and that will you know, a specific species. Tactics are 592 00:34:13,320 --> 00:34:16,520 Speaker 1: then also going to change depending on circumstances, and this 593 00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,240 Speaker 1: is just going to be the nature of war. Moffett 594 00:34:19,320 --> 00:34:22,640 Speaker 1: rights that some ants succeed in battle by being on 595 00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,439 Speaker 1: constant offensive, and he draws an interest in comparison here 596 00:34:26,719 --> 00:34:30,600 Speaker 1: to a sixth century BC Chinese military general Son Zoo, 597 00:34:30,680 --> 00:34:34,920 Speaker 1: who also noted that quote rapidity is the essence of war. Right, 598 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: I mean, so much depends on your ability to not 599 00:34:38,239 --> 00:34:42,279 Speaker 1: give your opponent time to react effectively. Right, And so 600 00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 1: like the key a variety of ant to draw a 601 00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:46,839 Speaker 1: comparison here to uh, he says, would be the army 602 00:34:46,880 --> 00:34:50,319 Speaker 1: ants that inhabit a warm regions around the world, as 603 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,920 Speaker 1: well as AGAs marauder ants as prime examples here. Uh. 604 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 1: For these ant legions, hundreds or even millions of these 605 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: warriors will advance in a tight phalanx against their aunt adversaries. Now, 606 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: I guess we should try to examine what that would 607 00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:09,719 Speaker 1: mean for ants as opposed to human warriors. So, if 608 00:35:09,760 --> 00:35:12,879 Speaker 1: you're like an ancient Greek phalanx, this would involve, say, 609 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 1: staying together in a tight formation with a wall of 610 00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 1: shields out in front that's sort of like prevents the 611 00:35:19,280 --> 00:35:22,360 Speaker 1: enemy from reaching you, and that you would have trained 612 00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:25,560 Speaker 1: to be able to move forward and thrust with spears 613 00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:30,319 Speaker 1: in an organized fashion, all altogether minimizing the chances for 614 00:35:30,360 --> 00:35:33,040 Speaker 1: the enemy to to break into you while you're pushing 615 00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:36,239 Speaker 1: into them. Yeah. Like basically the difference between like just 616 00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:40,480 Speaker 1: two hordes like just slamming into each other and having 617 00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:42,960 Speaker 1: something more and more in keeping with really what we've 618 00:35:42,960 --> 00:35:46,719 Speaker 1: seen in their tradition of tabletop war gaming. Uh. For 619 00:35:46,719 --> 00:35:49,240 Speaker 1: anyone out here there is actually played any of these games, 620 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:51,879 Speaker 1: you can certainly relate. But even if you've looked at one. 621 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:54,480 Speaker 1: You get the sense of order, and I think that's 622 00:35:54,480 --> 00:35:57,880 Speaker 1: what draws players into it. Right. You have all these 623 00:35:57,920 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: these unit these little individual soul jeers that are part 624 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 1: of different units, and these units are working together. You're 625 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,960 Speaker 1: having to employ a strategy to deploy them and then 626 00:36:08,040 --> 00:36:11,640 Speaker 1: move them around and counter the movements of your adversary. 627 00:36:11,719 --> 00:36:14,080 Speaker 1: And again, for a human this is done by you know, 628 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,360 Speaker 1: either the godlike figure that looms over the gaming table 629 00:36:17,920 --> 00:36:21,520 Speaker 1: or it's it is the domain of a commander. But 630 00:36:21,680 --> 00:36:23,720 Speaker 1: for the ants it is it is just that pure 631 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:28,040 Speaker 1: swarm intelligence that allows it to take place. Now, Moffett 632 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:31,279 Speaker 1: points out for that for for human forces just advancing 633 00:36:31,400 --> 00:36:34,040 Speaker 1: in a phalanx, part of the issue here is you 634 00:36:34,080 --> 00:36:37,280 Speaker 1: need to know where you're going, right, which is obvious. 635 00:36:37,520 --> 00:36:40,279 Speaker 1: Your your your your your PHALONX needs to have a 636 00:36:40,360 --> 00:36:43,480 Speaker 1: target or goal or purpose, like cutting its way through 637 00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: the defenses in order to get to the gates of Troy, 638 00:36:45,960 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: that sort of thing. But some hands ants, however, just 639 00:36:49,320 --> 00:36:52,520 Speaker 1: kind of stick to this roving PHALONX tactic, just a 640 00:36:52,680 --> 00:36:58,040 Speaker 1: roving decimating horde that this brings to mind. Oh, I'd say, 641 00:36:58,160 --> 00:37:00,800 Speaker 1: like the Tira the Tyrant are I mean from forty 642 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: Warhammer forty thou Ide an example of this, you know, 643 00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:08,320 Speaker 1: or various sort of alien bio adversaries in science fiction 644 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,280 Speaker 1: where it's just it's just this massive hord that's working 645 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:15,520 Speaker 1: in unity and uh, it's difficult to stop. Right. However, 646 00:37:15,800 --> 00:37:18,680 Speaker 1: human forces you know, tend not to go this route. 647 00:37:18,719 --> 00:37:21,560 Speaker 1: They tend to depend on scouts as well to determine 648 00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,600 Speaker 1: where to apply that offensive pressure, where to send your phalanx. 649 00:37:26,040 --> 00:37:28,640 Speaker 1: And some ants do this as well. Some species will 650 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,960 Speaker 1: send out a small team of workers to serve as scouts. 651 00:37:32,960 --> 00:37:35,360 Speaker 1: But this too is risky. Is this risky strategy for 652 00:37:35,400 --> 00:37:38,120 Speaker 1: ants because a team of scouts they have to report 653 00:37:38,120 --> 00:37:40,759 Speaker 1: back to the colony in order for a larger force too, 654 00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:44,640 Speaker 1: then return to obtain that food source that they just scouted. 655 00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:46,960 Speaker 1: And this is true of human scouts as well. In 656 00:37:47,000 --> 00:37:50,200 Speaker 1: a military scenario, we might well consider the case of 657 00:37:50,239 --> 00:37:53,919 Speaker 1: imperial probe droids for example, right, and empire strikes back. 658 00:37:54,600 --> 00:37:56,800 Speaker 1: You send out these droids, and yet one may discover 659 00:37:56,880 --> 00:37:59,480 Speaker 1: a revel based on hoth, but it actually needs to 660 00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,920 Speaker 1: survive have and then it's and then get word back 661 00:38:02,960 --> 00:38:05,560 Speaker 1: to the empire so they can deploy their their a 662 00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: t eighties, you know, their their massive army. Likewise, the 663 00:38:09,600 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 1: Empire would find this to be a better method send 664 00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:14,520 Speaker 1: out the probe droids, because we can't send the A. T. 665 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 1: Eighties to every world just in case there's a rebel 666 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:21,319 Speaker 1: base there. So basically for the for the Empire, for 667 00:38:21,360 --> 00:38:24,320 Speaker 1: the ants as well, it basically means that you can 668 00:38:24,560 --> 00:38:27,959 Speaker 1: depend on you can send out fewer ants and cover 669 00:38:28,080 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 1: a larger area in order to scout out potential targets. 670 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,000 Speaker 1: In the case of the ants, potential food. Now I 671 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:37,520 Speaker 1: can imagine though, there are a lot of considerations that 672 00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:41,560 Speaker 1: must be built into ant behavior based on not wasting 673 00:38:41,680 --> 00:38:45,520 Speaker 1: resources on like you know, on you know, going somewhere 674 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: where there's no longer anything useful to be done, right, Yeah, 675 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,279 Speaker 1: because there's always the risk that the enemy will move 676 00:38:51,360 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 1: before a larger force can arrive, or that that food 677 00:38:53,680 --> 00:38:55,560 Speaker 1: source that was scouted out it's just not going to 678 00:38:55,680 --> 00:38:59,520 Speaker 1: be there when your your aunt troops roll in and uh. 679 00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,000 Speaker 1: In all of this for the for the ants, pheromones 680 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,600 Speaker 1: are key for their communication. Here. The scouts use this 681 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:09,040 Speaker 1: to tag the food source for the larger force to find. 682 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,279 Speaker 1: So so the pheromones of the ants here would be 683 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:16,640 Speaker 1: the Imperial probe droids a day about kind of message 684 00:39:16,680 --> 00:39:20,040 Speaker 1: that it sends out. Yeah, basically like the pheromones end 685 00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,800 Speaker 1: up serving as communication lines mofit rights that uh quote, 686 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,200 Speaker 1: the workers of the army ants or marauder ants can 687 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,239 Speaker 1: immediately summon any help they require because a slew of 688 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:33,280 Speaker 1: assistance are marching directly behind them. The result is maximal 689 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:36,759 Speaker 1: shock and awe. So much like in more large scale conflicts, 690 00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,080 Speaker 1: you would have to you'd have to in some way 691 00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:42,399 Speaker 1: ensure that communication lines are able to remain open for 692 00:39:42,400 --> 00:39:45,520 Speaker 1: forces to be effective exactly. And again here you know, 693 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:47,960 Speaker 1: the for the ants that is is largely this realm 694 00:39:48,000 --> 00:39:51,399 Speaker 1: of of touch and smell. It's the pheromonal information that's 695 00:39:51,440 --> 00:39:55,160 Speaker 1: so key. So really I feel like this at this 696 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 1: point in the podcast, I think we do have a 697 00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:02,160 Speaker 1: pretty broad view of like what's going on with on 698 00:40:02,400 --> 00:40:06,080 Speaker 1: with the ant war effort, about how how troops are distributed, 699 00:40:06,480 --> 00:40:11,280 Speaker 1: how communication is taking place, and then how offensive pressure 700 00:40:11,320 --> 00:40:15,319 Speaker 1: can be applied to different areas depending on the need. Oh, 701 00:40:15,320 --> 00:40:18,560 Speaker 1: but there is so much more ant battle to talk about. Yes, 702 00:40:18,920 --> 00:40:21,239 Speaker 1: indeed there is. Uh yeah, we we were only able 703 00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,800 Speaker 1: to get through like the first half of our material 704 00:40:23,880 --> 00:40:27,000 Speaker 1: here because there's a lot more about well just about 705 00:40:27,000 --> 00:40:28,839 Speaker 1: like the at the individual level, there's a lot more 706 00:40:28,880 --> 00:40:31,400 Speaker 1: about like the how like aunt jaws work, the power 707 00:40:31,440 --> 00:40:35,040 Speaker 1: of ant bioweapons, it's etcetera. But then also when you 708 00:40:35,080 --> 00:40:38,439 Speaker 1: get into the Marauder ants specifically, there's been a lot 709 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:44,319 Speaker 1: of wonderful work regarding just how they carry out their 710 00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:47,959 Speaker 1: campaigns and to what extent we can compare uh these 711 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:51,480 Speaker 1: these acts of ant conquests to actual human battles. Well, 712 00:40:51,480 --> 00:40:53,359 Speaker 1: I can't wait to come back next time and fight 713 00:40:53,400 --> 00:40:57,680 Speaker 1: on with the Myrmidons. Yeah, more ants, more allusions to 714 00:40:58,080 --> 00:41:03,600 Speaker 1: UH star Wars and various tabletop gaming scenarios. It's gonna 715 00:41:03,600 --> 00:41:05,840 Speaker 1: be gonna be a lot of fun. In the meantime, 716 00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:07,480 Speaker 1: If you would like to check out other episodes of 717 00:41:07,480 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow your mind, you know where to find us, 718 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:12,680 Speaker 1: and that is wherever you get your podcast, wherever that 719 00:41:12,719 --> 00:41:15,640 Speaker 1: happens to be, what strange service you depend on for 720 00:41:15,719 --> 00:41:19,080 Speaker 1: your podcast delivery. Just make sure you rate, review, and 721 00:41:19,120 --> 00:41:21,759 Speaker 1: subscribe because that really helps us out in the long run. 722 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,040 Speaker 1: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 723 00:41:25,120 --> 00:41:27,680 Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. If you would like to get in touch 724 00:41:27,680 --> 00:41:29,879 Speaker 1: with us with feedback on this episode or any other, 725 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,120 Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, or just to 726 00:41:32,200 --> 00:41:35,240 Speaker 1: say hello. You can email us at contact at stuff 727 00:41:35,280 --> 00:41:45,319 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind dot com Stuff to Blow Your 728 00:41:45,320 --> 00:41:48,320 Speaker 1: Mind's production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts for 729 00:41:48,360 --> 00:41:51,400 Speaker 1: my heart Radio, use at the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 730 00:41:51,480 --> 00:42:02,040 Speaker 1: or wherever you listening to your favorite shows. The presid 731 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:05,680 Speaker 1: four part FO