1 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: Hello, and welcome to the Stuff to Blow Your Mind Podcast. 2 00:00:10,119 --> 00:00:14,040 Speaker 1: My name is Joe McCormick. Today we had originally planned 3 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: to have an all new interview for you, but due 4 00:00:16,440 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 1: to some holiday scheduling mayhem, that had to be delayed. 5 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,800 Speaker 1: So instead the door is creaking open and we're going 6 00:00:23,880 --> 00:00:26,880 Speaker 1: down down into the vault to bring you an episode 7 00:00:26,960 --> 00:00:33,239 Speaker 1: of Yesteryear. This episode originally aired January, and it is 8 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:37,400 Speaker 1: about allegations that ants, as in the insect, build structures 9 00:00:37,400 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: that could be called traps. Please enjoy Welcome to Stuff 10 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: to Blow Your Mind production of My Heart Radio. Hey 11 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 1: are you welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind? My 12 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,640 Speaker 1: name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and today 13 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 1: we're to be talking about traps. I think I've mentioned 14 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,120 Speaker 1: this in some Weird House Cinema episodes, but for some reason, 15 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: ever since I was a little kid, I have always 16 00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:15,200 Speaker 1: loved movie scenes where the protagonists build a trap to 17 00:01:15,319 --> 00:01:18,760 Speaker 1: use against the villain or the monster. I remember like 18 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:20,760 Speaker 1: Home Alone when I was a little kid, that that 19 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,120 Speaker 1: that whole sequence was great. It sort of expands to 20 00:01:24,200 --> 00:01:27,080 Speaker 1: fill my whole childhood impression of what the movie was. 21 00:01:27,240 --> 00:01:29,640 Speaker 1: And if you go back and watch it as an adult. 22 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 1: It's kind of weird that it's only like fifteen or 23 00:01:31,720 --> 00:01:35,880 Speaker 1: twenty minutes of the runtime in In Home Alone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 24 00:01:35,880 --> 00:01:38,320 Speaker 1: it does seem like that's the main thing. I remember 25 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:42,039 Speaker 1: the traps, the traps, and and certainly people feel certain 26 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:46,240 Speaker 1: nostalgia for them. My heart swells at the thought of 27 00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:50,600 Speaker 1: a nail going into Daniel Stearn's foot. Um. But but 28 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 1: also yeah, I remember other ones, like you know, Arnold 29 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 1: Schwarzenegger builds a bunch of traps in Predator um. And 30 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,200 Speaker 1: but like this wasn't just when I was a kid. 31 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 1: It's still works on me. I remember there was a 32 00:02:02,320 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 1: sequence I just loved in the more recent horror movie 33 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 1: It follows where the characters build a trap for the monster. Yeah, 34 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:11,960 Speaker 1: that's right. They that is very They have a very, 35 00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,040 Speaker 1: very much a kind of Home Alone's set up that 36 00:02:15,080 --> 00:02:17,720 Speaker 1: they do there, because it's not only the heroes that 37 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:19,760 Speaker 1: that have traps. I always love a good villain trap 38 00:02:19,800 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: as well, especially the trap door. Um. The trap door 39 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,400 Speaker 1: sequence is always a lot of fun. Um uh you know, 40 00:02:27,440 --> 00:02:29,960 Speaker 1: be it something like in in Lynn Labyrinth. I love 41 00:02:30,000 --> 00:02:33,639 Speaker 1: the trap when the trap door springs on our hero 42 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,600 Speaker 1: and that. But actually Tomorrow's Weird House Cinema also has 43 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,160 Speaker 1: a fun trap door sequence. Oh yeah, so look forward 44 00:02:42,160 --> 00:02:45,680 Speaker 1: to that. Well yeah, on the side of the protagonists 45 00:02:45,720 --> 00:02:48,680 Speaker 1: getting through trap set for them. Another one of my 46 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: favorite movie sequences as a child was the beginning of 47 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:54,520 Speaker 1: Raiders the Lost Art. Oh yeah, and when Indies going 48 00:02:54,520 --> 00:02:56,760 Speaker 1: through all the traps, something about it is just like, 49 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: deep in the brain, it's very satisfying. Wall to wall traps. Yeah, 50 00:03:02,919 --> 00:03:06,280 Speaker 1: that's that's a great sequence as well. Um, and all 51 00:03:06,320 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: of these are great sequences in spite of the fact 52 00:03:08,480 --> 00:03:11,519 Speaker 1: that when you when you can, when you really think 53 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,640 Speaker 1: long and hard about any of these scenarios, uh, you know, 54 00:03:14,680 --> 00:03:18,360 Speaker 1: the cracks definitely show would would all of these traps 55 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: still be working in this ancient ruin that Indiana Jones 56 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:24,440 Speaker 1: finds himself in. I don't know, It's it's a hard 57 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 1: argument to make there, right, How did the spring trap 58 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,520 Speaker 1: operate by you sticking your hand through a shaft of 59 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:34,600 Speaker 1: light when it was made like thousands of years ago? Yeah, 60 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:37,560 Speaker 1: Or you know, if it's Duke and predator, like, how 61 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,600 Speaker 1: does he, um, how does he make this super powerful 62 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: compound bow just in the space of a few hours 63 00:03:44,120 --> 00:03:47,360 Speaker 1: on an afternoon in the jungle. That's just standard survival training. 64 00:03:48,880 --> 00:03:51,840 Speaker 1: And all these other various ewok traps that he builds. 65 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:54,680 Speaker 1: Didn't didn't you go to that camp? Did I build 66 00:03:54,720 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 1: a bow like that at a cat camp? Now? I 67 00:03:57,320 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: think we sharpened sticks, you know, that would be that 68 00:04:00,000 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: would be more believable. Right, he makes a spear to battle. 69 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:05,880 Speaker 1: That's most of the way there. But you know, I 70 00:04:05,920 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: think it probably speaks volumes for humans to be, you know, 71 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 1: to be saying all of this about traps and especially 72 00:04:11,200 --> 00:04:13,920 Speaker 1: about you know, loving these cinematic treatments of traps, because 73 00:04:14,080 --> 00:04:17,919 Speaker 1: because what are traps? Ultimately, very broadly speaking, they're clever, 74 00:04:18,040 --> 00:04:22,000 Speaker 1: tactical and or technological innovations that level the playing field 75 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,080 Speaker 1: against predators, against prey, and even against fellow humans. Traps 76 00:04:26,080 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: are the sort of things that humans have been up 77 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,240 Speaker 1: to since prehistory. So of course we love traps, and 78 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,599 Speaker 1: of course we admire things like traps that we find 79 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: another species. Right, So today we're going to be focusing 80 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: on some allegations of insects with the ability to build traps, 81 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,279 Speaker 1: specifically ants that do things that may in fact be 82 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:53,120 Speaker 1: biological evolutions that allow them to trap prey. Now, there 83 00:04:53,160 --> 00:04:55,719 Speaker 1: are some other animals that I think we could say 84 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,320 Speaker 1: more more clearly and and famously create traps. I think 85 00:04:59,320 --> 00:05:03,600 Speaker 1: the obvious uh example here would be spiders. Yes, yes, 86 00:05:03,720 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 1: spiders are the trap builders par excellence. Uh. You know, 87 00:05:06,960 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: there are no finer trap builders in the animal kingdom. 88 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:13,520 Speaker 1: Maybe you could make a case for human beings, um, 89 00:05:13,560 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 1: but personally I'm not in favor of that. I think, 90 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: you know, well, web building spiders especially are just such 91 00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: highly evolved trap masters. Every detail of their anatomy and 92 00:05:23,480 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: behavior enhances their trapping ability, and the trap is very 93 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:30,240 Speaker 1: much an extension of their own bodies in so many ways. 94 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,160 Speaker 1: And we've covered this, and we've covered spiders in general 95 00:05:33,200 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: numerous times in the show before, and we'll likely keep 96 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,120 Speaker 1: coming back to them. But yeah, that the spider, the 97 00:05:38,160 --> 00:05:41,359 Speaker 1: spider is the trap maker. There's nothing else that the 98 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,320 Speaker 1: spider really does. Um In anything else it does, the 99 00:05:45,320 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: web building spider is going to do in close proximity 100 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 1: to the web that it has built. Yeah. Another example 101 00:05:52,360 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: that's come up before, I think in our Sarlac episodes 102 00:05:55,920 --> 00:06:00,440 Speaker 1: was the ant lion. Yes. Yeah, uh, this is a 103 00:06:00,480 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: case where we have predatory larvae that in some species 104 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:06,960 Speaker 1: of antline anyway, set up at the bottom of sand 105 00:06:06,960 --> 00:06:10,240 Speaker 1: pits that they dig, ready to lash out at anything 106 00:06:10,320 --> 00:06:13,479 Speaker 1: that disturbs their grains, and you know, ventured down into 107 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:17,200 Speaker 1: the trap. Um. Again, not all ant lion species dig 108 00:06:17,200 --> 00:06:19,960 Speaker 1: trap pits, but some of the most famous ones do. 109 00:06:20,520 --> 00:06:23,080 Speaker 1: I remember. One of the great things we learned about 110 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,600 Speaker 1: the ant lion was that, like you say, the it 111 00:06:26,760 --> 00:06:29,279 Speaker 1: is the ones that make traps. It is just the 112 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:33,520 Speaker 1: larval period of their lifespan, their life cycle that they 113 00:06:33,560 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 1: make the traps. Then they later metamorphosed into into another form. 114 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,200 Speaker 1: But while they're in that larval stage, I think at 115 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:45,920 Speaker 1: least some of them never poop. So yeah, catching ants 116 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,160 Speaker 1: and eating them and just like waiting and it's like 117 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:50,520 Speaker 1: if you had to wait until you turned eighteen to poop. 118 00:06:53,200 --> 00:06:55,240 Speaker 1: We'll go back and listen to that Sarlac episode if 119 00:06:55,240 --> 00:06:57,240 Speaker 1: you'd like to hear more about the ant lion. There's 120 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,480 Speaker 1: also um the species of creat known as the worm lion, 121 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:04,560 Speaker 1: and this is this is unrelated to the ant lion. 122 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 1: It's just a matter of convergent evolution that ends up 123 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:12,760 Speaker 1: utilizing largely the exact same method again when it's a larva. 124 00:07:13,240 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 1: Uh though, the pit itself in this case is generated 125 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: via site a slightly different method, so it digs its 126 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: pit in a slightly different method, but it it's still 127 00:07:22,640 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: consumes its prey in the same manner. But for me, 128 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:28,400 Speaker 1: at least, if you ask me to make a list 129 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:31,560 Speaker 1: of non human animals that make traps, I could obviously 130 00:07:31,560 --> 00:07:33,480 Speaker 1: go spiders. I would have thought of the ant lion, 131 00:07:34,040 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: maybe by association the worm lion. But there before I 132 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:40,560 Speaker 1: was reading up for this episode, I think I would 133 00:07:40,560 --> 00:07:42,800 Speaker 1: have drawn a blank. I wouldn't know what to go 134 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,280 Speaker 1: to next. Yeah, and part of it comes down to 135 00:07:46,360 --> 00:07:50,360 Speaker 1: just how are you going to going to define a trap? Uh? 136 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:55,160 Speaker 1: For example, here's here's an interesting potential example. Uh. We 137 00:07:55,200 --> 00:07:58,200 Speaker 1: can discuss that I read across read read about when 138 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:02,400 Speaker 1: I was reading Gilbert Walled Bowlers How Not to Be Eaten, 139 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,840 Speaker 1: which which is largely about insects. But there's a part 140 00:08:05,880 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: where the author is discussing the burrowing owl. So these 141 00:08:09,800 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: are small birds native to the Great Plains in southern Florida. Um, 142 00:08:14,840 --> 00:08:16,440 Speaker 1: I think they're about the size of for robin. I'm 143 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:18,480 Speaker 1: to understand that. You know, they're small, little little guys, 144 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:22,640 Speaker 1: but they make their home and burrows that they did themselves. 145 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,080 Speaker 1: And one of the interesting things that they do in 146 00:08:26,120 --> 00:08:30,240 Speaker 1: addition to this, if this wasn't you know interesting enough already, 147 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:33,920 Speaker 1: is the burrowing owl will scatter horse or cow dung 148 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,320 Speaker 1: around the entrance to their burrows. And in you know, 149 00:08:37,400 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: times before European contact, this would have probably been bison dung. 150 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:45,120 Speaker 1: And the dung does seem to be important because if 151 00:08:45,320 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: if researchers remove the dung from the vicinity, the birds 152 00:08:48,840 --> 00:08:50,880 Speaker 1: will just the bird will just go out and obtain 153 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 1: more dung and place it in the vicinity. Uh So 154 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:57,160 Speaker 1: it's it seems to be doing this intentionally. The theory 155 00:08:57,440 --> 00:09:00,840 Speaker 1: is that they place the dung to bait dung beetles, 156 00:09:01,559 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: So they put the dung out, dung beetles come, and 157 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,800 Speaker 1: indeed researchers have been able to tell that the owls 158 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: eat ten times more dung beetles than usual when the 159 00:09:11,200 --> 00:09:14,199 Speaker 1: dung is out. Well, this will in fact mirror one 160 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: of the two examples of potential ant trap making that 161 00:09:18,240 --> 00:09:20,560 Speaker 1: I want to talk about later. Yeah, I mean, it's 162 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: but but this is a great example. It's certainly clever. 163 00:09:23,040 --> 00:09:26,280 Speaker 1: I like it, but it kind of forces us to 164 00:09:26,400 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: ask the question of a trap, like what is a trap? 165 00:09:29,360 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: Is just merely baiting a trap? Um? That is a 166 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:37,040 Speaker 1: good question, yeah, because and um, how much does the 167 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:40,400 Speaker 1: trap structure have to be separate from your body in 168 00:09:40,480 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 1: order wount as a as a constructed trap? And how 169 00:09:43,040 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 1: much does it have to how much work does it 170 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:47,840 Speaker 1: have to do for you? Yeah? And at what point 171 00:09:48,080 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: does an animal's behavior stop being a trap and just 172 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:57,520 Speaker 1: become sneaky behavior, sneaky tactics, or or simply ambush predation, 173 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: Because obviously there are plenty of example as of ambush 174 00:10:00,640 --> 00:10:03,680 Speaker 1: predators on land and in the sea, and these include 175 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: everything from well, the trap door spider for one, which 176 00:10:06,600 --> 00:10:09,360 Speaker 1: I think is is definitely a case of of trap 177 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,959 Speaker 1: building because it's it's an ambush predator, but it builds 178 00:10:12,960 --> 00:10:16,800 Speaker 1: a silk hinge trap door to aid in those ambushes, right, 179 00:10:16,840 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 1: so the trapdoor hides it. I think you could count 180 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:23,520 Speaker 1: that as like infrastructure necessary to constitute a trap. Yeah, yeah, 181 00:10:23,559 --> 00:10:26,640 Speaker 1: I think that, Yeah, definitely with the trapdoor spider. But 182 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: then you also have just various camouflage predators, including things 183 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: like frog fish, praying mantis is, chameleons, and more, which 184 00:10:35,040 --> 00:10:38,800 Speaker 1: are not building anything. They're not altering their environment. But 185 00:10:38,920 --> 00:10:42,240 Speaker 1: they've evolved to look like a part of their environment. Uh, 186 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:45,600 Speaker 1: and they have, you know, often tremendous abilities of camouflage 187 00:10:45,800 --> 00:10:49,080 Speaker 1: then enable them to quickly ambush something that they want 188 00:10:49,120 --> 00:10:52,560 Speaker 1: to eat. Okay, that probably doesn't That doesn't really seem 189 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,280 Speaker 1: like a trap to me, because they're just evolved to 190 00:10:55,360 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 1: look that way and they do the actual hunting themselves, right. 191 00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:02,520 Speaker 1: And then of course we have various birds and cats 192 00:11:02,520 --> 00:11:05,560 Speaker 1: and big cats even, uh, that are just very stealthy, 193 00:11:06,080 --> 00:11:09,280 Speaker 1: that are just very good at not being observed by 194 00:11:09,280 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 1: the things they want to kill. So I was reading 195 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: a little bit about this in Douglas j Imland's excellent 196 00:11:15,640 --> 00:11:17,960 Speaker 1: book Animal Weapons that have referenced on the show before, 197 00:11:18,679 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 1: and he points out that creatures such as this generally 198 00:11:21,480 --> 00:11:24,960 Speaker 1: depend on quote, a quick strike weapon that immediately incapacitates 199 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: its victim. And of course these bioweapons might be enhanced 200 00:11:29,080 --> 00:11:32,360 Speaker 1: by special features, such as in various deep sea ambush 201 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: predators a bioluminescent lure, which again is not something they 202 00:11:36,000 --> 00:11:38,720 Speaker 1: have created or engineered out of their environment, but it 203 00:11:38,760 --> 00:11:40,720 Speaker 1: is a part of their body. So when we come 204 00:11:40,720 --> 00:11:42,280 Speaker 1: back to this idea that what needs to be something 205 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 1: that's built. It needs to be something that's engineered, or 206 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:47,960 Speaker 1: just a whole dug in the in the ground. Even Um, 207 00:11:48,280 --> 00:11:50,520 Speaker 1: we come back to that same question, why don't we 208 00:11:50,880 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: find more of this? And I actually found an interesting 209 00:11:53,679 --> 00:11:56,960 Speaker 1: paper title out there, why are pitfall Traps so Rare 210 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:00,679 Speaker 1: in the natural World? By G. D Ruxton and M. H. 211 00:12:00,800 --> 00:12:04,280 Speaker 1: Hansel And it appeared in Evolutionary Ecology in two thousand 212 00:12:04,360 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: and nine. Interesting question. Yeah, So the authors here point 213 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: out that in order to lay a trap, you generally 214 00:12:10,840 --> 00:12:15,520 Speaker 1: need either advanced cognitive powers as with humans obviously, or 215 00:12:15,640 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: you need specialists self secreted materials as with spiders and 216 00:12:21,080 --> 00:12:25,800 Speaker 1: catis fly larvae um thing which the Catasta catass fly 217 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: larvae use that their their secretions to create a net 218 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: like even meshed trap like a silk um trap in 219 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 1: order to filter catch their prey. That makes sense. So 220 00:12:37,960 --> 00:12:40,800 Speaker 1: humans can create all kinds of traps because we have, 221 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: you know, cognitive powers that allow us to imagine what 222 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:46,880 Speaker 1: could be done. How you know, other materials in the 223 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:51,400 Speaker 1: environment could be repurposed to uh to passively ensnare or 224 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:54,880 Speaker 1: kill prey animals and spiders and stuff. That that's just 225 00:12:54,960 --> 00:12:56,880 Speaker 1: the trap you could almost say, is a part of 226 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,080 Speaker 1: their body, even though the web is a built thing 227 00:12:59,559 --> 00:13:02,280 Speaker 1: there of of to secrete the silk for the web 228 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,720 Speaker 1: out of their bodies. And they have very instinctually driven 229 00:13:05,760 --> 00:13:09,280 Speaker 1: behaviors for how they extrude that silk where and in 230 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 1: what patterns? Right, So Ruxton enhansl here ultimately point out that, okay, 231 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:18,640 Speaker 1: we have the ant lion though, and of course the 232 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: worm lion. Uh, these are exceptions to the rule. Um 233 00:13:23,040 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: they make use of a pitfall trap. And so the 234 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:29,199 Speaker 1: authors asked, why is this basic tactic not more common 235 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: in the animal world? How hard is it, after all 236 00:13:32,240 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 1: to dig a hole? They're easy, they're cheap um, And 237 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:39,720 Speaker 1: yet you don't see this technique used by virtually anything 238 00:13:39,720 --> 00:13:44,679 Speaker 1: outside of of some ant lions and wormlons. Apparently, the 239 00:13:44,760 --> 00:13:47,320 Speaker 1: lack of more pitfall traps in nature was something of 240 00:13:47,360 --> 00:13:50,199 Speaker 1: a mystery or and remains something of a mystery. Yeah, 241 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: that that is interesting. Okay, so I it took me 242 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:54,680 Speaker 1: a second to get the distinction they're making. But they're 243 00:13:54,679 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: saying that the ant lion and the wormline would be 244 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: kind of an outlier because they don't have complex intelligence 245 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 1: and imagination like humans. So they're not inventing traps with 246 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: cognitive powers, But they also don't secrete a material that 247 00:14:08,960 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 1: constitutes the basis of the trap like a spider. They're 248 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:14,960 Speaker 1: literally just building a trap out of the dead environment 249 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:17,960 Speaker 1: around of them by digging a conically shaped hole in 250 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:20,400 Speaker 1: such a pattern that that ants get stuck in it 251 00:14:20,440 --> 00:14:23,640 Speaker 1: when they fall down the side. But and why is 252 00:14:23,720 --> 00:14:25,680 Speaker 1: that so rare? Because it would seem like that that 253 00:14:25,760 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: should be a strategy that lots of animals could easily employ. Right, yeah, again, 254 00:14:31,320 --> 00:14:36,280 Speaker 1: holes are ultimately easy to make, low energy. Why not? Why? Why? 255 00:14:36,360 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: Why is why is this cat not making a hole 256 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,320 Speaker 1: and using that as part of its hunting tactics? So what? What? 257 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:43,800 Speaker 1: What are their thoughts on this? Like, why would why 258 00:14:43,800 --> 00:14:47,040 Speaker 1: wouldn't we see this more often? Well, they proposed to 259 00:14:47,320 --> 00:14:50,200 Speaker 1: speculative reasons for the lack of pitfall traps in nature. 260 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:54,000 Speaker 1: The first one is pitfall traps may require a specialist 261 00:14:54,040 --> 00:14:57,240 Speaker 1: micro habitat. In other words, you can't do this just anywhere. 262 00:14:57,520 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: Conditions have to be just right, uh, such as you know, 263 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: we can look at the ant lions, they have to 264 00:15:02,040 --> 00:15:03,760 Speaker 1: be kind of sandy conditions, you know, you have to 265 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 1: have that kind of granular environment um. So it's the 266 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,720 Speaker 1: kind of tactic that a potential trap builder would not 267 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: necessarily be able to employ all over the place. You 268 00:15:14,080 --> 00:15:16,760 Speaker 1: would have to depend on us again, on a specialist 269 00:15:16,800 --> 00:15:19,880 Speaker 1: micro habitat. I think I recall from our Starlac episode 270 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: where we had a segment about the ant lion that 271 00:15:22,680 --> 00:15:24,840 Speaker 1: they needed the grains of soil to be of a 272 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:29,760 Speaker 1: particular size, like the sandy grains above or below a 273 00:15:29,760 --> 00:15:33,320 Speaker 1: certain diameter threshold would not work very well for making 274 00:15:33,360 --> 00:15:37,440 Speaker 1: the traps. Yeah, yeah, Now the second point is that 275 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:41,239 Speaker 1: with the ant lion in particular, the trap targets small prey, 276 00:15:41,320 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: and since they may be more functionally tied to their 277 00:15:43,680 --> 00:15:46,600 Speaker 1: trapped than spiders are, traps of this nature could serve 278 00:15:46,640 --> 00:15:49,960 Speaker 1: as like basically a major bull's eye for potential predators. 279 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: And indeed the main predators of ant lions and worm 280 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:56,240 Speaker 1: lions are birds who know what to look for. That's 281 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: a really good point. So by building a trap and 282 00:15:58,440 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 1: then sitting in it and waiting for your prey to 283 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: fall in, you were also usually going to be making 284 00:16:03,480 --> 00:16:06,600 Speaker 1: a structure that makes it easy for things that want 285 00:16:06,600 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 1: to eat you. Two, I defind where you are. You 286 00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 1: know they don't have to look too hard because you've 287 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:13,160 Speaker 1: made a big hole in the ground, right and UH 288 00:16:13,160 --> 00:16:15,600 Speaker 1: and spiders just have a little more leeway with the situation. Now, 289 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,480 Speaker 1: I should point out Hansel also wrote an entire book 290 00:16:18,600 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 1: which I'm going to reference here in a minute. He 291 00:16:20,400 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: spends a lot of time in that book talking about 292 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:26,600 Speaker 1: spiders and how, you know, some sometimes spider webs are 293 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:30,720 Speaker 1: very visible, in other times they are not, and how 294 00:16:30,760 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: that plays into the you know, ultimately kind of complex 295 00:16:33,480 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 1: relationship between spiders and UH and the creatures that would 296 00:16:37,000 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: eat spiders. Um. But but just thinking about this as 297 00:16:41,720 --> 00:16:45,840 Speaker 1: the trap being this conspicuous thing. This we actually see 298 00:16:45,880 --> 00:16:48,440 Speaker 1: this in a lot of our fantastic trap fiction. You know, 299 00:16:48,520 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 1: that moment when the target of the clever cinematic trap, 300 00:16:52,000 --> 00:16:55,560 Speaker 1: especially if it's laid by the protagonists, uh, the the 301 00:16:55,680 --> 00:16:59,680 Speaker 1: enemy almost sets it off, right, like the predator almost 302 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 1: triggers the trip line you've prepared. But then something happens 303 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,520 Speaker 1: right the uh, the monster deduces that the trap is there, 304 00:17:07,600 --> 00:17:10,280 Speaker 1: or it suspects that something is a little off. Oh, 305 00:17:10,359 --> 00:17:13,879 Speaker 1: and maybe even the presence of a trap is how 306 00:17:14,119 --> 00:17:16,680 Speaker 1: the hero knows that they have stumbled across the bad 307 00:17:16,680 --> 00:17:21,320 Speaker 1: guys hideout. Yeah. Yeah, um. It even reminds me a 308 00:17:21,320 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 1: bit of our recent weird house selection The Lift. This 309 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:27,240 Speaker 1: was the Killer Elevator movie. Uh, the Killer Elevator in 310 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,560 Speaker 1: this or I guess you were more specifically the weird 311 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:33,440 Speaker 1: bio brain that's been installed in the elevator shaft to 312 00:17:33,520 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: power on these elevators. It's kind of an obligate trap predator. Um, 313 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: but it's so tied to that environment that it's a 314 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:44,200 Speaker 1: little tricky. Like it, it's not able to pull off 315 00:17:44,240 --> 00:17:47,639 Speaker 1: every kill and it's eventually destroyed by prey that is 316 00:17:47,680 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: too clever for it. Brilliant analogy. This, this is true. 317 00:17:52,280 --> 00:17:56,800 Speaker 1: The Killer Elevator is an obligate trap predator. I also 318 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,639 Speaker 1: have to point out, speaking of the Star Lack, is 319 00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,440 Speaker 1: that recent mandalor In episodes have also, you know, sort 320 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:04,600 Speaker 1: of played with this idea. Yeah. Yeah, the Mighty Star, 321 00:18:04,760 --> 00:18:06,800 Speaker 1: like the Sun. It's pretty impressive, but they make it 322 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: clear that even these great trap predators can be a 323 00:18:09,119 --> 00:18:12,439 Speaker 1: consumed by the mighty crate dragon that lives in the 324 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:17,199 Speaker 1: deserts of Tattooin. Uh. So, knowing you're there being you know, 325 00:18:17,240 --> 00:18:20,119 Speaker 1: this identifiable organism in the sand that can have a 326 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:22,440 Speaker 1: huge downside to it. Now, I was trying to think 327 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,000 Speaker 1: of counterpoints to the idea that Okay, so uh, sitting 328 00:18:26,000 --> 00:18:28,439 Speaker 1: at the bottom of a pitfall trap and waiting for 329 00:18:28,480 --> 00:18:30,679 Speaker 1: prey to fall into you and then eating that that 330 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:35,720 Speaker 1: makes you vulnerable to two predators that want to find you. Well, well, 331 00:18:35,720 --> 00:18:37,960 Speaker 1: what if you just make pitfall traps and then you 332 00:18:38,000 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: go away and then you you know, leave them there 333 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:42,240 Speaker 1: and then come back like a human hunter might do, 334 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: you know, leave a trap out in the woods and 335 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,919 Speaker 1: then come and see what it collected, lobster traps or something. 336 00:18:48,000 --> 00:18:50,240 Speaker 1: But but I can see downsides to that as well, 337 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: because if it's just a pit trap, you can imagine that, well, 338 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:55,760 Speaker 1: something might fall in there, but then something else might 339 00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:59,199 Speaker 1: eat it before you get to it, um so, or 340 00:18:59,359 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 1: it might you know, if you have to make these 341 00:19:01,240 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: all over the place, you might spend a lot of 342 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,639 Speaker 1: energy going around from one to the other. So is 343 00:19:05,680 --> 00:19:08,760 Speaker 1: that really all that much better than just hunting? Well, 344 00:19:08,800 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: and then it kind of comes back to this idea 345 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,320 Speaker 1: that that the trap laid by an animal, especially um 346 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:18,439 Speaker 1: still requires the lethal mechanism, and in the case of 347 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:21,439 Speaker 1: the antline, the lethal lethal mechanism is itself. It is 348 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:26,640 Speaker 1: still essentially uh an ambush predator. Like again, like Emlyn says, 349 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,440 Speaker 1: quote a quick strike weapon that immediately incapacitates its victim. Yeah, 350 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:31,880 Speaker 1: that I can't believe. I didn't think of that. That's 351 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,399 Speaker 1: of course a good point. You have to find a 352 00:19:33,440 --> 00:19:37,440 Speaker 1: way to kill the prey, right. So I mentioned that 353 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:39,960 Speaker 1: that Henzel has a has a whole book that deals 354 00:19:40,000 --> 00:19:41,600 Speaker 1: with with with some of this a little bit, but 355 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: just sort of the broader picture of animals building things. 356 00:19:45,040 --> 00:19:48,280 Speaker 1: It's titled Animal Architecture, and I was reading through this 357 00:19:48,320 --> 00:19:50,879 Speaker 1: a bit. He contends that we're not looking at traps 358 00:19:50,880 --> 00:19:54,520 Speaker 1: when we're looking at cases of an animal baiting another animal, 359 00:19:54,880 --> 00:19:58,320 Speaker 1: because traps are a kind of subset of animal architecture, 360 00:19:58,560 --> 00:20:02,560 Speaker 1: an engineered space that aids and capture. Okay, So by 361 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,760 Speaker 1: his metric here, what the burrowing owl does by by 362 00:20:06,880 --> 00:20:10,400 Speaker 1: leaving dung out around its nest and having this attract 363 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 1: insects to it, that would not count as a trap 364 00:20:13,440 --> 00:20:15,640 Speaker 1: because it is not a structure that in any way 365 00:20:15,720 --> 00:20:19,560 Speaker 1: aids and capture. It just attracts prey to a site. Oh, 366 00:20:19,600 --> 00:20:21,399 Speaker 1: by the way, I want to also speak speaking of 367 00:20:21,440 --> 00:20:23,800 Speaker 1: the burrowing owl again, I want to throw in that 368 00:20:24,280 --> 00:20:27,280 Speaker 1: that while some burrowing owls do build their own burrows, 369 00:20:27,320 --> 00:20:32,399 Speaker 1: they're also burrowing owls that acquire the burrows of other creatures. Anyway, 370 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 1: I want to read this quote from Hansel here. I 371 00:20:34,520 --> 00:20:38,479 Speaker 1: think he puts it rather well uh concerning the animal 372 00:20:38,560 --> 00:20:42,199 Speaker 1: architecture and traps quote. Whereas a house can just be 373 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,040 Speaker 1: a barrier between the builder and the outside world, a 374 00:20:45,160 --> 00:20:48,920 Speaker 1: trap has a dynamic relationship between itself and the prey. 375 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: The prey needs to approach the trap in a particular 376 00:20:52,080 --> 00:20:55,560 Speaker 1: orientation to it, and then needs to be restrained by it. 377 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:59,240 Speaker 1: Traps are therefore more complex than homes and need to 378 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,320 Speaker 1: be more precise icily engineered. And then he goes on 379 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,679 Speaker 1: to point out the quote Among the vertebrates, trap builders 380 00:21:04,720 --> 00:21:08,480 Speaker 1: were apparently absent until the recent history of man. Now 381 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:12,080 Speaker 1: he cites human mental capacity once more for the construction 382 00:21:12,119 --> 00:21:15,800 Speaker 1: of such traps, noting quote, Virtually all non human trap 383 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:20,240 Speaker 1: builders use self secreted materials, and the capture principle they 384 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 1: adopt is the net. The exceptions are simple in design 385 00:21:24,240 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: and operation, as well as rare. And then he goes 386 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:32,080 Speaker 1: on to specifically mentioned ant lions, UH, worm lions, UM, 387 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:42,200 Speaker 1: and larval dip Tira. But anyway, a large takeaway here 388 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:46,719 Speaker 1: is that trap building is not as widespread in the 389 00:21:46,760 --> 00:21:49,440 Speaker 1: animal kingdom as you might expect. Humans make a lot 390 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:53,879 Speaker 1: of traps. There are some very specialized animals, especially some invertebrates, 391 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:57,520 Speaker 1: that use traps made of materials that they secrete from 392 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:02,080 Speaker 1: their own bodies, But generally, trap building is not a 393 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:06,600 Speaker 1: very widespread hunting strategy among animals of planet Earth, in 394 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: which case it would be very interesting to find examples 395 00:22:09,280 --> 00:22:12,520 Speaker 1: of animals such as ants, that make traps in order 396 00:22:12,560 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: to get their nutrition. And I guess that's a good 397 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,800 Speaker 1: segue to what I to the main focus of today's episode, 398 00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: which was a couple of examples I came across of 399 00:22:21,359 --> 00:22:26,160 Speaker 1: ants that do something that could be interpreted as building 400 00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:29,360 Speaker 1: traps as a hunting strategy. Yeah, and I mean it. 401 00:22:29,359 --> 00:22:31,919 Speaker 1: It would make sense that we might find something like 402 00:22:31,960 --> 00:22:37,359 Speaker 1: this in the ant world because ants are masters of construction. There, 403 00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:43,960 Speaker 1: they alter their environment. They're capable of of practicing um agriculture. Uh. 404 00:22:44,000 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 1: They as we discussed in previous episodes the show, they 405 00:22:46,920 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: engage in complex conflicts that we may might well compare 406 00:22:51,520 --> 00:22:55,399 Speaker 1: to warfare. They can solve problems there. I mean, the 407 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,200 Speaker 1: list goes on and on. Ants are amazing um as 408 00:22:59,320 --> 00:23:01,359 Speaker 1: as of course, as as that the now Light D. E. O. 409 00:23:01,480 --> 00:23:05,679 Speaker 1: Wilson was fond of reminding us, um you know, ants, 410 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,119 Speaker 1: there are incredible creatures that we've We've covered them numerous 411 00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: times in the show before, we're covering today, and I'm 412 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,119 Speaker 1: sure we'll cover them again exactly. So the first example 413 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:16,959 Speaker 1: I want to talk about I found so interesting, and 414 00:23:17,000 --> 00:23:20,760 Speaker 1: this one also has some interesting differences in interpretations that 415 00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:23,920 Speaker 1: came across. But just to to start with the basic report, 416 00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,000 Speaker 1: I was reading about this in a paper published in 417 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:31,000 Speaker 1: Nature in the year two thousand five by A. Land 418 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 1: Jean Pascal, Jean Solano, Julian Iralay, Bruno Corbara, and Jerome 419 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:44,080 Speaker 1: Oriville called arboreal ants build traps to capture prey uh. 420 00:23:44,160 --> 00:23:47,199 Speaker 1: And also as a supplement to the paper in Nature, 421 00:23:47,280 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 1: I was reading a summary feature that was also in 422 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,920 Speaker 1: Nature by Narel Towie published in April two thousand five 423 00:23:54,560 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 1: called Amazonian aunts ambush prey. So here's the deal. There's 424 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:03,720 Speaker 1: a plant in the Amazon called her Tella phisophora or 425 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:06,720 Speaker 1: maybe Physophora p h y s O p h O 426 00:24:07,000 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: r A. I'm gonna try to say phizopera. So these 427 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:15,440 Speaker 1: here here teleplants. Plants in this genus are woody trees 428 00:24:15,600 --> 00:24:18,480 Speaker 1: or shrubs. I've seen them called both trees and shrubs, 429 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:20,879 Speaker 1: but there if you're trying to picture them as a tree, 430 00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:23,840 Speaker 1: you should be imagining a small tree, a woody stems, 431 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:27,040 Speaker 1: but not like you know, sky high. Plants in this 432 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:30,399 Speaker 1: genus are found in the tropics across multiple continents, but 433 00:24:30,480 --> 00:24:34,520 Speaker 1: their diversity is concentrated around the Amazon, and they typically 434 00:24:34,520 --> 00:24:38,680 Speaker 1: have flowers that are pollinated by butterflies. And this one 435 00:24:38,720 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: species in particular, her tell A Phizopera, is what the 436 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,840 Speaker 1: authors of the paper call an ant plant. This is 437 00:24:45,960 --> 00:24:49,920 Speaker 1: a plant species that is known to have a specific 438 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:55,000 Speaker 1: biological relationship with a species of ant uh and these 439 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,360 Speaker 1: can be found throughout the world. They're they're very common 440 00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: mutual is ums or you know, various kinds of symbiotic 441 00:25:01,840 --> 00:25:06,880 Speaker 1: relationships between ant colonies and the trees or plants they inhabit. Now, 442 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,639 Speaker 1: this plant in particular has a relationship with the arboreal 443 00:25:10,720 --> 00:25:16,119 Speaker 1: ant Alomeras decim articulatus, and they live on the body 444 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:19,800 Speaker 1: of the plant, forming colony centers in what the authors 445 00:25:19,840 --> 00:25:23,600 Speaker 1: of the paper called leaf pouches. They're these little bull 446 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:26,920 Speaker 1: looking things that can usually be found at the places 447 00:25:26,920 --> 00:25:30,840 Speaker 1: where the branches split into leaves. They look like the 448 00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:32,560 Speaker 1: it's kind of hard to describe them. They're just these 449 00:25:32,560 --> 00:25:36,680 Speaker 1: little like green lobes or orbs, and apparently the ants 450 00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:39,359 Speaker 1: like to get inside those and make nests in there. 451 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 1: Now already, one of the things that's that I'm reminded 452 00:25:42,960 --> 00:25:45,679 Speaker 1: of is the idea of like a specialist micro habitat. 453 00:25:46,080 --> 00:25:49,120 Speaker 1: And if you have a situation where a plant is 454 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,200 Speaker 1: is the home to the ants that they have this uh, 455 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: this this ant plant relationship in place. Um, you know 456 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: that the plant itself is kind of the environment, it's 457 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:00,920 Speaker 1: kind of the micro habitat that the ant is the 458 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 1: master off. That's exactly right. But the interesting thing is, 459 00:26:04,240 --> 00:26:07,639 Speaker 1: of course, ants being builders, some ants will form complex, 460 00:26:07,800 --> 00:26:10,920 Speaker 1: you know, dugout colonies in the ground or or other 461 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: types of interesting engineered environments. They can also engineer the 462 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:19,600 Speaker 1: micro habitat of the surface of a plant, and that's 463 00:26:19,600 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: what we're gonna be talking about in this case. So 464 00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: uh oh, And I should say that the colonies that 465 00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:26,840 Speaker 1: were looked at in this two thousand five paper were 466 00:26:27,000 --> 00:26:31,840 Speaker 1: from French guyana in in northern South America. But so, 467 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,800 Speaker 1: what you find in these plants that are occupied by 468 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:40,040 Speaker 1: their by their familiar aunt species is that along the 469 00:26:40,119 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 1: stems of the host plant, the ants will build what 470 00:26:43,840 --> 00:26:48,159 Speaker 1: the authors of this paper called galleried structures, or sometimes 471 00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,320 Speaker 1: they just say galleries. It's kind of hard to describe 472 00:26:51,359 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 1: exactly what this is, but imagine a kind of platform 473 00:26:56,440 --> 00:27:00,639 Speaker 1: built out over the surface of the stem of the plant, 474 00:27:01,119 --> 00:27:04,360 Speaker 1: and it's a platform that the ants can crawl underneath. 475 00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:08,520 Speaker 1: And then this platform has a kind of spongy texture, 476 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:12,280 Speaker 1: almost as if it's or honeycomb texture. It's aligned with 477 00:27:12,320 --> 00:27:16,000 Speaker 1: all these holes in the platform that the ants can 478 00:27:16,040 --> 00:27:19,280 Speaker 1: crawl in and out through. Generally, generally the holes are 479 00:27:19,320 --> 00:27:22,280 Speaker 1: just slightly larger than the diameter of one of the 480 00:27:22,280 --> 00:27:26,679 Speaker 1: worker ants heads. So they're these platforms raised above the 481 00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,320 Speaker 1: stem of the plant. Ants crawl underneath them, but then 482 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,640 Speaker 1: crawl up and up and down in and out through 483 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:35,200 Speaker 1: the holes in the platform. Yeah, it is kind of 484 00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,600 Speaker 1: difficult to describe it because it is so different from 485 00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:41,200 Speaker 1: something that that humans would for the most part build, 486 00:27:41,680 --> 00:27:44,640 Speaker 1: you know, um, you know, by virtue of the ants 487 00:27:45,080 --> 00:27:48,439 Speaker 1: being far more mobile and sort of living in a 488 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:51,159 Speaker 1: in a more three dimensional space than human beings tend to. 489 00:27:51,520 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 1: By the way, these are great to look up, probably 490 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: unless you suffer from trip to phobia. In each case, 491 00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: stay far away if you're If you're freaked out by 492 00:27:59,320 --> 00:28:02,959 Speaker 1: things like lotus pods, uh and um and random holes 493 00:28:03,000 --> 00:28:05,720 Speaker 1: and things, yeah, you might, you might want to avoid 494 00:28:05,760 --> 00:28:08,600 Speaker 1: this particular Google image search. Now, how do the ants 495 00:28:08,640 --> 00:28:12,040 Speaker 1: build these galleries, Well, they apparently make them by cutting 496 00:28:12,119 --> 00:28:16,920 Speaker 1: off tricombs from the stems of the plant. Tricombs is 497 00:28:16,960 --> 00:28:19,760 Speaker 1: a word that comes from the Greek word for hairs. 498 00:28:19,840 --> 00:28:23,440 Speaker 1: These are small, little fibery appendages that poke out from 499 00:28:23,480 --> 00:28:25,800 Speaker 1: the surface of a plant. You've probably seen lots of 500 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:28,600 Speaker 1: plants before that have little hairy things all over the 501 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: stem or the leaves. Those are tricombs, and they do 502 00:28:31,680 --> 00:28:34,640 Speaker 1: look a lot like hairs. So the worker ants will 503 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:39,880 Speaker 1: move along the stem of a of a Hairtela fizophora plant, 504 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:44,000 Speaker 1: clearing away the tricombs, and then, just to read from 505 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: the language used in the paper here quote then using 506 00:28:47,760 --> 00:28:51,920 Speaker 1: uncut tricombs as pillars, they build the galleries vault by 507 00:28:52,040 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: binding cut tricombs together with a compound that they regurgitate later, 508 00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:02,600 Speaker 1: this structure is reinforced by the mycelium of a complex 509 00:29:02,600 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 1: of sooty mold species that has been manipulated by the ants. 510 00:29:07,640 --> 00:29:11,400 Speaker 1: Fungal growth starts around the holes and then spreads rapidly 511 00:29:11,520 --> 00:29:15,240 Speaker 1: to the rest of the structure. So I think you 512 00:29:15,240 --> 00:29:18,680 Speaker 1: you heard that right. So these ants build their galleries 513 00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:22,120 Speaker 1: along the stem of the plant by cutting the hairs 514 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:25,160 Speaker 1: off of the plant where they live, then using those 515 00:29:25,200 --> 00:29:29,120 Speaker 1: hairs as building materials along with their own barf as 516 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: a kind of mortar, and then holding everything together by 517 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:37,600 Speaker 1: seating it with mold or fungus that they farm. So 518 00:29:38,120 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: they have a kind of agricultural project for farming fungal 519 00:29:42,320 --> 00:29:46,479 Speaker 1: rebar that they use to reinforce the galleries that they build. 520 00:29:47,040 --> 00:29:49,200 Speaker 1: And in quotes given to the press, I've seen the 521 00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: authors of the study compare this composite material to fiberglass. Wow. Yeah, 522 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 1: that does seem like a good comparison. Oh man, I mean, 523 00:29:57,880 --> 00:30:00,480 Speaker 1: it's just so amazing that it's not just like this 524 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:05,360 Speaker 1: physical um act, but they're actually have seating it with uh, 525 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,800 Speaker 1: with this this mold. Oh man, they're kind of they're 526 00:30:08,840 --> 00:30:12,160 Speaker 1: they're building it, but they're also kind of growing it. 527 00:30:12,160 --> 00:30:15,840 Speaker 1: It's amazing and and they tend to it as it grows. 528 00:30:15,880 --> 00:30:18,640 Speaker 1: So I wanted to read another section from the study 529 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,280 Speaker 1: where they talk about the evidence that the ants are 530 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:26,840 Speaker 1: actively tending the fungus as it reinforces these structures. They say, quote, 531 00:30:27,040 --> 00:30:30,360 Speaker 1: we noted that the stems of thirty four young seedlings, 532 00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:34,240 Speaker 1: which had not yet developed leaf pouches, did not bear fungus. 533 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:38,080 Speaker 1: Nine saplings raised in a greenhouse in the absence of 534 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:44,280 Speaker 1: Alamira's that's the ants developed leaf pouches but never bore fungus. However, 535 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:49,080 Speaker 1: fifteen saplings raised in the presence of ants bore my celia, 536 00:30:49,360 --> 00:30:53,480 Speaker 1: whose development was limited to the galleries. When we eliminated 537 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,240 Speaker 1: the associated ants from five of the fifteen, the fungus 538 00:30:57,240 --> 00:31:01,400 Speaker 1: on the galleries grew into a disorganized structure, and none 539 00:31:01,400 --> 00:31:04,680 Speaker 1: of the nine new stems that developed bore any fungus 540 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,680 Speaker 1: at all. Okay, So the fungus is only showing up 541 00:31:07,680 --> 00:31:10,440 Speaker 1: on the plant when the ants are there on the plant. 542 00:31:10,840 --> 00:31:12,680 Speaker 1: And if you take the ants away from the plant 543 00:31:12,800 --> 00:31:16,440 Speaker 1: after they've been using the fungus to reinforce their their galleries, 544 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: the fungus kind of grows out of control and what 545 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: they call a disorganized structure, but with the ants still there, 546 00:31:23,400 --> 00:31:26,200 Speaker 1: it stays nice and tightly formed around the holes in 547 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: the galleries. So they're they're tending their garden. It's like 548 00:31:30,440 --> 00:31:31,920 Speaker 1: a living and I don't know, it's like if you 549 00:31:31,960 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: have to have maintenance workers constantly sort of gardening and 550 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:40,880 Speaker 1: tending to the fungus that held up your skyscrapers. But 551 00:31:40,880 --> 00:31:43,480 Speaker 1: but but here's where we start getting to the trapping. 552 00:31:44,080 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: So the authors of this studies say that they noticed 553 00:31:46,800 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: that sometimes larger insects would become immobilized on the surface 554 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,480 Speaker 1: of the galleries. So you got these these spongy surfaces, 555 00:31:54,520 --> 00:31:58,000 Speaker 1: ants crawling underneath them, and sometimes like a locust or 556 00:31:58,040 --> 00:32:01,840 Speaker 1: a butterfly, some bigger insect lands on the gallery and 557 00:32:01,880 --> 00:32:05,520 Speaker 1: then it gets stuck. What's going on here, Well, they 558 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:08,800 Speaker 1: started to investigate whether the galleries could be functioning as 559 00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:11,640 Speaker 1: a type of trap. And here's what they say about 560 00:32:11,680 --> 00:32:16,560 Speaker 1: how the ambush works. Quote. Our observations revealed that Alomiris 561 00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,880 Speaker 1: workers hide in the galleries with their heads just under 562 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:24,880 Speaker 1: the holes, mandibles wide open, seemingly waiting for an insect 563 00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:28,880 Speaker 1: to land. To kill the insect, they grasp its free legs, 564 00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:32,120 Speaker 1: antenna or wings and move in and out of the 565 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,160 Speaker 1: holes in opposite directions until the prey is progressively stretched 566 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:39,840 Speaker 1: against the gallery and swarms of workers can sting it. 567 00:32:40,480 --> 00:32:43,080 Speaker 1: The ants then slide the prey over the top of 568 00:32:43,120 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: the gallery, again moving in and out of the holes, 569 00:32:46,120 --> 00:32:49,000 Speaker 1: but this time in the same direction. They move it 570 00:32:49,080 --> 00:32:52,000 Speaker 1: slowly towards a leaf pouch where they carve it up. 571 00:32:52,640 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: Oh and then once they get to one of these 572 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: population centers of the colony. You know, these these nests, 573 00:32:57,840 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 1: nest sites in the leaf pouches. Uh, they tend to 574 00:33:00,920 --> 00:33:05,880 Speaker 1: feed bits of protein from the insect to their young. Well, yeah, 575 00:33:05,920 --> 00:33:09,920 Speaker 1: this is amazing and suitably brutal for the world of ants. 576 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:14,480 Speaker 1: So this this, this larger creature lands or walks on 577 00:33:14,640 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 1: to the structure. Um, you know, they're reaching out of 578 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:21,360 Speaker 1: holes to pull it straight down, and then they transfer 579 00:33:21,400 --> 00:33:23,880 Speaker 1: it to a place where they can carve it up. Right. 580 00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:27,240 Speaker 1: Uh So, yeah, there's no sentimentality in the world of ants. 581 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:29,960 Speaker 1: They're just like, okay, this is edible, it's time to 582 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:34,040 Speaker 1: get to butcher in. But anyway, these observations reveal this 583 00:33:34,040 --> 00:33:38,600 Speaker 1: this fascinating three way interaction between the plant, the fungus, 584 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:42,120 Speaker 1: and the ant all sort of living together in this 585 00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: this this uh three way life cycle essentially that apparently 586 00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,840 Speaker 1: serves the purpose of creating a trap to get larger 587 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:53,600 Speaker 1: insects you know these stuff. Oh, I don't think I mentioned, 588 00:33:53,640 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: but the Alamira's decim articulatist ants are very small. It's 589 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,680 Speaker 1: a it's a structure that allows the tiny ants apparently 590 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:07,120 Speaker 1: to capture kill and butcher much much larger prey. All right. 591 00:34:07,200 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: And of course the plant out of all of this 592 00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:13,719 Speaker 1: gets some slight mutilation from the ants, but is protected 593 00:34:13,840 --> 00:34:17,440 Speaker 1: from larger insects that would otherwise uh not on it 594 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:19,440 Speaker 1: and do more harm to it than just you know, 595 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:23,400 Speaker 1: creating an interesting lattice work out of its body. Presumably. 596 00:34:23,440 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 1: I mean, I think often there is such a relationship 597 00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,759 Speaker 1: going on. The insect also provides a benefit to the 598 00:34:28,760 --> 00:34:31,640 Speaker 1: plant somehow, uh though in the sources I was reading, 599 00:34:31,680 --> 00:34:34,640 Speaker 1: it wasn't clear to me exactly if it's known what 600 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:37,560 Speaker 1: what the major benefit provided by the ants is. But 601 00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:41,520 Speaker 1: I would guess that's right, that they're probably protecting the 602 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:46,359 Speaker 1: plant from from herbivore large herbivore insects that would tow 603 00:34:46,400 --> 00:34:48,440 Speaker 1: it sleeves down or something. But I don't know for sure, 604 00:34:48,480 --> 00:34:50,200 Speaker 1: I gotta admit right, And then of course we also 605 00:34:50,280 --> 00:34:52,960 Speaker 1: have to do always realize that in the natural world 606 00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 1: the line between parasitism and symbiosis is sometimes a bit thin. 607 00:34:59,320 --> 00:35:02,480 Speaker 1: These are not relationships. They are governed by strict contracts. 608 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:04,880 Speaker 1: So you might see a little bit of push and 609 00:35:04,920 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: pull over the course of evolutionary history. Yeah, ants will 610 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 1: take whatever they can get, right, so you'll be careful 611 00:35:13,400 --> 00:35:16,720 Speaker 1: about entering into a bargain with with with the ants. 612 00:35:17,920 --> 00:35:20,160 Speaker 1: But on the other side of all this, I wanted 613 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:22,760 Speaker 1: to come back on it because I found a book 614 00:35:23,600 --> 00:35:27,640 Speaker 1: where the trap interpretation of these structures has been challenged. 615 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,719 Speaker 1: And in fact, this book was by somebody who's come 616 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,520 Speaker 1: up on the on I think episodes we did about 617 00:35:32,520 --> 00:35:37,600 Speaker 1: ants last year, the biologist Mark W. Moffatt. Yes, yes, yeah, 618 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: So he has a book called Adventures among Ants that 619 00:35:41,640 --> 00:35:45,120 Speaker 1: was came out in two thousand ten University of California Press. 620 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,920 Speaker 1: And in this book I found a section where Moffatt 621 00:35:49,040 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: argues that the trap interpretation of these structures built by 622 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:58,680 Speaker 1: Alamiras desim articulatus is in fact a misinterpretation. Now I'm 623 00:35:58,719 --> 00:36:00,360 Speaker 1: not sure he's right about this, but you want to 624 00:36:00,400 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 1: explain what he claims, So it's a bit of background 625 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 1: in In the section of the book directly preceding this, 626 00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:12,120 Speaker 1: Moffatt has been talking about his observations of various species 627 00:36:12,120 --> 00:36:15,200 Speaker 1: of army ants on rating parties to forage for food 628 00:36:15,960 --> 00:36:20,160 Speaker 1: and also on defensive patrols to protect the colony and 629 00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:24,040 Speaker 1: the rating column from threats. And one of his observations 630 00:36:24,040 --> 00:36:27,239 Speaker 1: in this in this preceding section is how difficult it 631 00:36:27,320 --> 00:36:31,000 Speaker 1: is sometimes to tell the difference between these two behaviors 632 00:36:31,360 --> 00:36:36,080 Speaker 1: and how easily one bleeds into the other. So, according 633 00:36:36,120 --> 00:36:39,680 Speaker 1: to de Moffat, for most army ants, they're defensive attacks 634 00:36:39,680 --> 00:36:42,200 Speaker 1: on a creature that is perceived to be threatening. The 635 00:36:42,320 --> 00:36:46,280 Speaker 1: rating column can quickly turn into a foraging rate in itself, 636 00:36:46,360 --> 00:36:49,239 Speaker 1: so if the threat is killed, it is pretty much 637 00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: immediately chopped up into pieces and carried away as food. 638 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:55,680 Speaker 1: So it's kind of like if you imagine every monster 639 00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,960 Speaker 1: movie ended with the heroes butchering and eating the monster 640 00:36:59,080 --> 00:37:02,279 Speaker 1: after they find feeded it. Well, we do see that sometimes, 641 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:06,279 Speaker 1: in fact, that that occurs in the Mandalorian but um, 642 00:37:06,520 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 1: the case of the Great Dragon. But but yeah, we 643 00:37:09,040 --> 00:37:12,080 Speaker 1: should see more more consumption of the dragon of the 644 00:37:12,440 --> 00:37:15,000 Speaker 1: dragons and monsters and so forth. Use every part of 645 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,600 Speaker 1: the monster be responsible. Well, I don't know. I mean 646 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:20,640 Speaker 1: that's you know, our humans are different than ants. I mean, 647 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:22,719 Speaker 1: ants are not going to let anything go to waste. 648 00:37:22,840 --> 00:37:25,000 Speaker 1: Humans after you fought a monster, you might just want 649 00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:27,720 Speaker 1: to have nothing to do with it. To each species 650 00:37:27,760 --> 00:37:31,239 Speaker 1: their own. But anyway, so from here, Moffatt moves on 651 00:37:31,280 --> 00:37:35,640 Speaker 1: to describing the aunt. I've been talking about Elmira's decim articulatus, 652 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,719 Speaker 1: and he's describing its living situation. The one distinction he 653 00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:42,480 Speaker 1: makes I couldn't find out what was what was the 654 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 1: disconnect here? But he said, you remember how I said 655 00:37:46,120 --> 00:37:49,319 Speaker 1: that the ants build these gallery structures out of Tricomb's 656 00:37:49,360 --> 00:37:52,080 Speaker 1: cut from the plants, a little plant hairs mixed with 657 00:37:52,120 --> 00:37:56,000 Speaker 1: their own regurgitation or vomit, and then uh and then 658 00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,280 Speaker 1: lined with the mycelium of the fungus that they cultivate. 659 00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:01,880 Speaker 1: Math It describes it the same way, but he mentions 660 00:38:02,000 --> 00:38:05,080 Speaker 1: feces rather than vomit. And I don't know who's right there, 661 00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,719 Speaker 1: But anyway, Moffatt gives a few reasons that he had 662 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:13,319 Speaker 1: doubts about the generally accepted interpretation of this structure as 663 00:38:13,360 --> 00:38:16,759 Speaker 1: a trap, specifically as a trap, because he says a 664 00:38:16,800 --> 00:38:20,960 Speaker 1: trap implies that, for example, a locust landing on the 665 00:38:20,960 --> 00:38:24,400 Speaker 1: ant gallery would not have landed there if it saw 666 00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,120 Speaker 1: the ants. The trap would be performing the function of 667 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:31,520 Speaker 1: hiding the ants, so you know, they're hidden beneath the 668 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 1: vault of the gallery, so that the prey insect feels 669 00:38:34,920 --> 00:38:37,359 Speaker 1: it's safe enough to land and then they jump out 670 00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:39,640 Speaker 1: and grab it. Okay, this would be in keeping with 671 00:38:39,880 --> 00:38:43,520 Speaker 1: say the trapdoor spider. Uh would probably be a great 672 00:38:43,560 --> 00:38:46,680 Speaker 1: example of this. Yeah, yeah, I think that's that's comparable. 673 00:38:47,120 --> 00:38:49,359 Speaker 1: That that's how it would function as a trap. But 674 00:38:49,560 --> 00:38:53,160 Speaker 1: Moffatt writes that he thinks this is unlikely because he 675 00:38:53,239 --> 00:38:57,160 Speaker 1: doubts that grasshoppers would really be able to notice the 676 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:01,440 Speaker 1: tiny workers of this ant species anyway, quote particularly in 677 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 1: mid leap, or that they would be able to change 678 00:39:05,200 --> 00:39:08,120 Speaker 1: course in mid leap after noticing them. So he was 679 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,360 Speaker 1: a little iffy on that. He's like, I'm not sure 680 00:39:10,440 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: that the trap would really serve much purpose if it's 681 00:39:13,600 --> 00:39:17,080 Speaker 1: supposed to be hiding the ants from the prey animal, 682 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:19,240 Speaker 1: because these are these are insects that are much larger 683 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,640 Speaker 1: than the ants. Anyway, right, So he's saying basically, he's 684 00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:24,760 Speaker 1: saying like this might be if this was a trap, 685 00:39:25,200 --> 00:39:27,640 Speaker 1: which he doesn't think it is. Uh, it would be 686 00:39:27,680 --> 00:39:31,320 Speaker 1: a preposterous trap. Uh, an unnecessary trap. And while again 687 00:39:31,360 --> 00:39:35,400 Speaker 1: we love unnecessarily complex and preposterous traps in our cinema, 688 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:39,319 Speaker 1: we're not talking about cinema here. We're talking about evolution 689 00:39:39,800 --> 00:39:43,920 Speaker 1: and sufficiency. Yeah. Yeah, and things need to be ruthlessly efficient. 690 00:39:44,000 --> 00:39:46,640 Speaker 1: And if it's not ruthlessly efficient, uh, it is going 691 00:39:46,680 --> 00:39:49,879 Speaker 1: to change or go away. But anyway, those are his suspicions. 692 00:39:49,880 --> 00:39:52,440 Speaker 1: So he decided to put them to the test. So 693 00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:55,600 Speaker 1: he tells a story of that that he was studying 694 00:39:56,000 --> 00:39:59,799 Speaker 1: colonies of this ant in the wild in Ecuador, and 695 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:03,720 Speaker 1: he put together a test to interrogate the trap interpretation. 696 00:40:04,120 --> 00:40:06,600 Speaker 1: So to read from the section of Moffett's Bok where 697 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,440 Speaker 1: he describes this test, he says, quote, I hung a 698 00:40:09,480 --> 00:40:13,520 Speaker 1: mosquito net over a plant with a thriving Alamira's colony, 699 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:17,719 Speaker 1: added a hundred grasshoppers and katie DIDs, and sat inside 700 00:40:17,760 --> 00:40:20,759 Speaker 1: for the next five mornings. An unusual case of using 701 00:40:20,800 --> 00:40:23,960 Speaker 1: a mosquito net to keep insects in instead of out, 702 00:40:24,680 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: even after the grasshoppers settled down, they were indiscriminate in 703 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:31,319 Speaker 1: their movements, hopping from where the ants hid under the 704 00:40:31,360 --> 00:40:34,719 Speaker 1: structures to where ants strolled in full view, to where 705 00:40:34,760 --> 00:40:37,600 Speaker 1: there were no ants at all. When they landed among 706 00:40:37,680 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: the ants, even on the structures, they got away unhurt. Certainly, 707 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:45,600 Speaker 1: if the structures served as traps, they were inefficient ones. 708 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,319 Speaker 1: So he's saying in his observations here, he's seeing very 709 00:40:49,440 --> 00:40:55,279 Speaker 1: little correlation between the structures and the hunting behaviors of 710 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: the ants or the behaviors of the prey insects. So 711 00:40:59,200 --> 00:41:03,200 Speaker 1: what purple us does he believe the galleries are serving well? 712 00:41:03,280 --> 00:41:06,200 Speaker 1: He points out that the galleries tend to run along 713 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:10,560 Speaker 1: the stems of the tree, connecting each nest pouch to 714 00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:14,360 Speaker 1: to another nest mouch, and they quote contain a highway 715 00:41:14,360 --> 00:41:17,799 Speaker 1: of workers commuting from nest to nest. And then he 716 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:20,960 Speaker 1: points out that other insects, including other ant species, do 717 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:26,200 Speaker 1: sometimes build various types of physical covers over their trails, 718 00:41:26,320 --> 00:41:30,400 Speaker 1: which are generally interpreted to be defensive in nature. For example, 719 00:41:30,480 --> 00:41:34,080 Speaker 1: some marauder and driver ants have been observed to build 720 00:41:34,120 --> 00:41:37,640 Speaker 1: soil covers over their trails, So could that be what's 721 00:41:37,640 --> 00:41:39,680 Speaker 1: going on in this case? Could these galleries that the 722 00:41:39,719 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 1: ants build actually be defensive in nature? Another strike here? 723 00:41:44,719 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: According to Moffat, he observed that the workers at his 724 00:41:47,680 --> 00:41:51,120 Speaker 1: study site did not actually sit and wait at the 725 00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:53,680 Speaker 1: holes in these galleries, as you might expect them to 726 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:57,000 Speaker 1: do if they were planning an ambush. He says that 727 00:41:57,040 --> 00:41:59,719 Speaker 1: wind conditions were normal, so like if the colony is 728 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:02,160 Speaker 1: not in an agitated state, things are just sort of 729 00:42:02,200 --> 00:42:05,240 Speaker 1: going along normally. Most of the gaps in the gallery 730 00:42:05,280 --> 00:42:09,879 Speaker 1: structures were unoccupied, but he says this changed when there 731 00:42:09,920 --> 00:42:13,120 Speaker 1: appeared to be some kind of threat to the colony. Quote. 732 00:42:13,520 --> 00:42:16,160 Speaker 1: After a day of pulling grasshoppers from my hair, I 733 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:20,640 Speaker 1: noticed interlopers of another ant, a species of fidoli or 734 00:42:20,800 --> 00:42:23,880 Speaker 1: big headed ant, climbing the plant to pin down a 735 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:28,520 Speaker 1: wounded grasshopper missed by the Alamiras. Upon the arrival of 736 00:42:28,520 --> 00:42:32,840 Speaker 1: the fidoli ants, the Alamiris workers began to guard each 737 00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:36,279 Speaker 1: of the several dozen entrances to their arcade. And that's 738 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:38,200 Speaker 1: the arcade, is what he's calling the things that the 739 00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:42,040 Speaker 1: other authors called the galleries, the several dozen entrances to 740 00:42:42,080 --> 00:42:46,680 Speaker 1: their arcade nearest the commotion caused by the intruders. These guards, 741 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:50,760 Speaker 1: aided by nest mates roaming the arcade surface, also caught 742 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,560 Speaker 1: and killed one fidoli and carried it off. So, based 743 00:42:54,600 --> 00:42:58,080 Speaker 1: on these observations, Moffatt argues that the galleries are more 744 00:42:58,200 --> 00:43:03,040 Speaker 1: likely defensive to TechEd trails of workers moving from one 745 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:06,320 Speaker 1: leaf pouch to the other, but that when something attacks 746 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:10,080 Speaker 1: or threatens the colony, the workers quickly shift their behavior 747 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:14,200 Speaker 1: from travel to defense, and then they occupy the holes 748 00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:18,040 Speaker 1: and start biting violently at anything that comes near. And 749 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:20,759 Speaker 1: of course if they are able to immobilize an attacker 750 00:43:20,920 --> 00:43:24,240 Speaker 1: or not necessarily an attacker, if they're able to immobilize 751 00:43:24,239 --> 00:43:27,160 Speaker 1: whatever it is that put them on the defense, they 752 00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:31,120 Speaker 1: immediately shift rolls again and turn that threat into food 753 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,080 Speaker 1: and begin butchering it for the colony again to to 754 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:37,560 Speaker 1: cook the monsters so speak. So we might be better 755 00:43:37,560 --> 00:43:41,000 Speaker 1: to think of these as defensive fortifications, kind of like 756 00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:44,600 Speaker 1: to to use like a medieval castle or fortress scenario. 757 00:43:44,760 --> 00:43:49,000 Speaker 1: It's kind of like the various uh crinulations and murder 758 00:43:49,080 --> 00:43:53,200 Speaker 1: holes and uh and and aero slits, except with the 759 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:56,080 Speaker 1: with the with the added point that in this case, 760 00:43:56,160 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: the occupants of the castle or fortress would eat those 761 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,799 Speaker 1: that they killed to ending it right, That's what Moffatt argues. Uh. 762 00:44:02,880 --> 00:44:05,120 Speaker 1: And so to to finish up his section, he says 763 00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,520 Speaker 1: in the end, quote in this way the organization of 764 00:44:07,560 --> 00:44:10,600 Speaker 1: a super organism. He's referring to ants there because I 765 00:44:10,640 --> 00:44:12,719 Speaker 1: think you can make the argument that, you know, an 766 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:16,799 Speaker 1: ant colony might be best understood as one organism rather 767 00:44:16,880 --> 00:44:19,640 Speaker 1: than many. It is a super organism composed of many 768 00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:23,759 Speaker 1: different bodies, he says it quote can be more responsive 769 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,120 Speaker 1: than the tissues in a body. Trail Bound workers can 770 00:44:27,120 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: shift seamlessly in their behavior from transport to protection to predation. 771 00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:34,920 Speaker 1: It's as if one's liver could change function when the 772 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:40,279 Speaker 1: heart is incapacitated and pump blood. So obviously I don't 773 00:44:40,280 --> 00:44:42,600 Speaker 1: know who's right here. Moffatt's book is more than ten 774 00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,200 Speaker 1: years old at this point. Uh, And most of the 775 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:49,319 Speaker 1: things I read about this ant species, Alameira stsim Articulatas 776 00:44:49,440 --> 00:44:53,600 Speaker 1: still described the galleries as ambush traps. And and I'm 777 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,439 Speaker 1: not sure which interpretation is correct, but I do think 778 00:44:56,480 --> 00:44:59,680 Speaker 1: either way, Moffatt makes a very interesting point about the 779 00:44:59,719 --> 00:45:02,920 Speaker 1: flu widity of function when it comes to ant behavior. 780 00:45:02,920 --> 00:45:07,359 Speaker 1: How you know one moment's enemy is the next moment's lunch. Right, Yeah, 781 00:45:07,480 --> 00:45:09,760 Speaker 1: like that, Like the ant colony is not just trying 782 00:45:09,800 --> 00:45:12,719 Speaker 1: to do one thing. Um, it has a lot of 783 00:45:12,719 --> 00:45:16,680 Speaker 1: objectives and it has again this fluidity of function, whereas 784 00:45:16,719 --> 00:45:19,239 Speaker 1: it's it's far easier to look at at a web 785 00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,200 Speaker 1: building spider and know what's up. You know that the 786 00:45:23,400 --> 00:45:26,239 Speaker 1: web is it's uh is its purpose, the web is 787 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:29,280 Speaker 1: kind of its soul uh, and there's no question about 788 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,160 Speaker 1: why it constructed the web. I guess also that this 789 00:45:32,239 --> 00:45:35,360 Speaker 1: raises another question about what counts as a quote trap 790 00:45:35,840 --> 00:45:39,640 Speaker 1: because assuming for a second that Moffatt's interpretation is correct, 791 00:45:39,680 --> 00:45:41,680 Speaker 1: I don't know it is. But if he's right that 792 00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:45,560 Speaker 1: these structures are primarily to defend the ant trails, but 793 00:45:45,680 --> 00:45:49,000 Speaker 1: then when some when a threat presents itself, they turn 794 00:45:49,040 --> 00:45:51,680 Speaker 1: around and use the holes in the galleries as murder 795 00:45:51,719 --> 00:45:55,480 Speaker 1: holes and then eat whatever they can immobilize, does that 796 00:45:55,520 --> 00:45:58,960 Speaker 1: count as a trap? Like? How how specialized does a 797 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,320 Speaker 1: structure have to be for the purpose of catching prey 798 00:46:02,440 --> 00:46:05,440 Speaker 1: in order to be thought of as a trap, Because 799 00:46:05,440 --> 00:46:08,279 Speaker 1: you can imagine other examples where an animal builds a 800 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:11,239 Speaker 1: structure that's primarily defensive in some way, it's more like 801 00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:13,239 Speaker 1: the home from the example you talked about at the 802 00:46:13,280 --> 00:46:15,600 Speaker 1: beginning in that book. You know, it's a barrier between 803 00:46:15,640 --> 00:46:18,279 Speaker 1: you and the outside world. Yet it has some kind 804 00:46:18,280 --> 00:46:22,279 Speaker 1: of feature that like another animal or something could get 805 00:46:22,320 --> 00:46:26,200 Speaker 1: stuck on or something. You know, it's somehow allows you 806 00:46:26,239 --> 00:46:31,040 Speaker 1: to sometimes opportunistically harvest from the structure and then eat 807 00:46:31,120 --> 00:46:33,839 Speaker 1: from it. And does that count as a trap? Now? 808 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:36,000 Speaker 1: I haven't seen this movie in a very long time, 809 00:46:36,280 --> 00:46:39,560 Speaker 1: but um, but I think there might be something comparable 810 00:46:39,560 --> 00:46:42,080 Speaker 1: and Home Alone too, am I? Right? Oh? Lost in 811 00:46:42,120 --> 00:46:44,759 Speaker 1: New York, the one with Tim Curry. O what Tim 812 00:46:44,800 --> 00:46:46,799 Speaker 1: Curry is in that one? I think he plays a 813 00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:49,640 Speaker 1: He plays a snooty bell hop or something that sounds 814 00:46:49,680 --> 00:46:53,200 Speaker 1: about right. Yeah, but yeah, I think the uh Actually, 815 00:46:53,239 --> 00:46:55,279 Speaker 1: we were trying to figure what this out, what this was, 816 00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:57,839 Speaker 1: and Seths just chimed in to let us know he 817 00:46:57,920 --> 00:47:00,920 Speaker 1: was right. Um. The house where the builds the traps 818 00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,040 Speaker 1: in Home Alone two is a house that's like under renovation, 819 00:47:04,760 --> 00:47:08,080 Speaker 1: so it already has featured Like all the traps don't 820 00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:11,719 Speaker 1: have to be imagined from scratch. There are already features 821 00:47:11,760 --> 00:47:13,520 Speaker 1: of the house. I don't remember exactly what they are, 822 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:21,480 Speaker 1: but there are things that are dangerous about it already. Okay, yeah, 823 00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:25,960 Speaker 1: thank you. But I wanted to talk about my second 824 00:47:25,960 --> 00:47:30,000 Speaker 1: example of ants potentially doing something that you could interpret 825 00:47:30,080 --> 00:47:34,280 Speaker 1: as a trap, and this one also involves using foreign 826 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:38,600 Speaker 1: materials around the nest. So the second example was described 827 00:47:38,640 --> 00:47:41,160 Speaker 1: in a paper that I was reading published in twenty 828 00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:46,960 Speaker 1: nineteen in the journal Ecological Entomology by A. Nacio Gomez, 829 00:47:47,440 --> 00:47:53,520 Speaker 1: Diogo Santiago, Ricardo Campos, and Geraldo Vasconcelos. It was called 830 00:47:53,680 --> 00:47:58,280 Speaker 1: why do fight only oxy Ops ants place feathers around 831 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:02,239 Speaker 1: their nests? And I also got some additional information from 832 00:48:02,520 --> 00:48:05,440 Speaker 1: reading an article about the study published in Scientific American 833 00:48:05,600 --> 00:48:09,680 Speaker 1: by Joshua rap Learn in November twenty nineteen. But here's 834 00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:12,520 Speaker 1: the deal. So there is this species of ant called 835 00:48:12,600 --> 00:48:16,120 Speaker 1: Fidoli oxyops. We were already talking about some fidoli ants 836 00:48:16,120 --> 00:48:19,400 Speaker 1: in the last example because the remember the fidoli ants 837 00:48:19,680 --> 00:48:23,239 Speaker 1: invaded the tree and then they got kind of butchered 838 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:26,759 Speaker 1: by the by the Alamira's ants. But Fidoli answer a 839 00:48:26,760 --> 00:48:30,640 Speaker 1: genus known as the big head ants, and this species, 840 00:48:30,680 --> 00:48:34,760 Speaker 1: in particular, Fidoli oxyops, is native to South American savannahs. 841 00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:39,440 Speaker 1: So these should be you know, grasslands. Ants sometimes they 842 00:48:39,480 --> 00:48:44,319 Speaker 1: appear to do something pretty weird. They collect feathers and 843 00:48:44,480 --> 00:48:48,759 Speaker 1: place them around the entrance of their nests. So, if 844 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:52,080 Speaker 1: you imagine the nest is buried, the entrance is basically 845 00:48:52,120 --> 00:48:54,680 Speaker 1: a hole in the ground, and then you might just 846 00:48:54,800 --> 00:48:58,120 Speaker 1: find feathers all around the hole, scattered around on the 847 00:48:58,160 --> 00:49:01,200 Speaker 1: ground outside the hole. That's weird. It might make it 848 00:49:01,239 --> 00:49:04,240 Speaker 1: look like the ants aid a live chicken or something, 849 00:49:04,280 --> 00:49:06,840 Speaker 1: but that is not what happened. They appear to collect 850 00:49:06,960 --> 00:49:09,719 Speaker 1: the feathers and put them there. Yeah, it kind of 851 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:12,160 Speaker 1: looks like there's a hole in the ground and like 852 00:49:12,719 --> 00:49:15,000 Speaker 1: a bird was sucked down that hole. And this is 853 00:49:15,040 --> 00:49:18,600 Speaker 1: the the cartoonish remnants of that incident. I thought the 854 00:49:18,600 --> 00:49:21,000 Speaker 1: same thing. Yeah, I was like pop and then just 855 00:49:21,120 --> 00:49:23,960 Speaker 1: puff of feathers they settle around it. But no, that 856 00:49:24,080 --> 00:49:28,560 Speaker 1: is not what has happened. The ants put the feathers there. Uh. Strange. 857 00:49:28,960 --> 00:49:32,799 Speaker 1: So this paper published in twenty nineteen in Ecological Anthropology. 858 00:49:33,400 --> 00:49:38,239 Speaker 1: It claims that these feathers function as bait to attract 859 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:43,279 Speaker 1: prey animals, which then tumble into the nest entrance as 860 00:49:43,280 --> 00:49:46,760 Speaker 1: if it were a pit trap. And the Scientific American 861 00:49:46,840 --> 00:49:49,440 Speaker 1: article actually reports a bit of the background on the paper. 862 00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:52,759 Speaker 1: It says that the studies first author in Nacio Gomez, 863 00:49:53,200 --> 00:49:57,600 Speaker 1: is an ecologist at the Federal University of Visosa in Brazil, 864 00:49:58,480 --> 00:50:01,680 Speaker 1: and while walking around city arcs and his college campus, 865 00:50:01,800 --> 00:50:06,200 Speaker 1: he noticed examples of these ant nest entrances with feathers 866 00:50:06,239 --> 00:50:09,759 Speaker 1: all around him. Apparently this had been observed before. And 867 00:50:09,800 --> 00:50:13,920 Speaker 1: also I was looking at another paper about this ant species, 868 00:50:14,000 --> 00:50:18,200 Speaker 1: Vidal the oxyops uh This one was by Diego Acis 869 00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,279 Speaker 1: at all from one and this paper said that in 870 00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:24,800 Speaker 1: addition to feathers, there will sometimes be other objects around 871 00:50:24,840 --> 00:50:30,320 Speaker 1: these nest and entrances, including shells, flower petals, and seeds. 872 00:50:31,800 --> 00:50:34,360 Speaker 1: But this study in particular was was focusing on the 873 00:50:34,440 --> 00:50:38,840 Speaker 1: feathers and uh so, so he noticed these feathers around 874 00:50:38,840 --> 00:50:41,680 Speaker 1: the entrances and he wondered what was the deal with this. 875 00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:45,120 Speaker 1: Apparently this had been observed before, and there were already 876 00:50:45,120 --> 00:50:49,520 Speaker 1: a couple of untested hypotheses in the scientific literature about 877 00:50:49,640 --> 00:50:52,719 Speaker 1: what the feathers were doing there. One idea was that 878 00:50:52,760 --> 00:50:56,680 Speaker 1: the feathers could collect do in arid regions, so they 879 00:50:56,680 --> 00:50:59,680 Speaker 1: would help provide the ants with water in the mornings. 880 00:51:00,400 --> 00:51:02,799 Speaker 1: And the other idea was that somehow the feathers could 881 00:51:02,800 --> 00:51:07,000 Speaker 1: serve as lures, attracting prey to the nest, and so 882 00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:10,800 Speaker 1: the twenty nineteen study tested both ideas. In one experiment, 883 00:51:10,840 --> 00:51:15,480 Speaker 1: the researchers supplied the ant colonies with water soaked cotton balls, 884 00:51:15,480 --> 00:51:17,600 Speaker 1: so made sure they had access to plenty of water, 885 00:51:18,080 --> 00:51:21,160 Speaker 1: but the ants in these cases preferred to collect feathers anyway. 886 00:51:21,200 --> 00:51:23,600 Speaker 1: It did not seem like access to water played any 887 00:51:23,680 --> 00:51:27,680 Speaker 1: role in in their their desire to collect feathers, and 888 00:51:27,760 --> 00:51:30,480 Speaker 1: this could be evidence that the feathers were not primarily 889 00:51:30,560 --> 00:51:34,120 Speaker 1: for collecting water. But another test was designed to see 890 00:51:34,160 --> 00:51:37,719 Speaker 1: if feathers scattered on the ground would attract prey. So 891 00:51:37,920 --> 00:51:40,920 Speaker 1: they tested this with artificial traps that were made to 892 00:51:41,040 --> 00:51:45,239 Speaker 1: resemble the nest entrances of these ants, and the team 893 00:51:45,320 --> 00:51:47,480 Speaker 1: found that if you put out a trap and scattered 894 00:51:47,520 --> 00:51:51,319 Speaker 1: feathers around it, for some reason, it will tend to 895 00:51:51,360 --> 00:51:55,560 Speaker 1: trap more just sort of uh wanderers, you know, arthropods 896 00:51:55,600 --> 00:51:58,560 Speaker 1: that are out on the ground than traps without feathers. 897 00:51:59,280 --> 00:52:02,439 Speaker 1: And so interesting question, why would they do that. Why 898 00:52:02,440 --> 00:52:05,239 Speaker 1: would a hole in the ground surrounded by feathers get 899 00:52:05,280 --> 00:52:08,600 Speaker 1: more bugs to fall into it? It's not known, but 900 00:52:08,760 --> 00:52:11,400 Speaker 1: Gomez suggests that maybe it's something about the smell of 901 00:52:11,440 --> 00:52:15,680 Speaker 1: the feathers, something about the visual appearance. Maybe a quote 902 00:52:15,719 --> 00:52:18,239 Speaker 1: he gives to the Scientific American article, he says, just 903 00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:22,280 Speaker 1: in general, soil insects are quote very curious, So maybe 904 00:52:22,600 --> 00:52:25,760 Speaker 1: putting an unusual item around the entrance to the nest 905 00:52:26,040 --> 00:52:29,200 Speaker 1: will just tend to get wandering bugs to walk up 906 00:52:29,239 --> 00:52:32,960 Speaker 1: to it and see if it's something of use to them. 907 00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,320 Speaker 1: But I think this would not count just as baiting 908 00:52:36,560 --> 00:52:40,240 Speaker 1: the way the way the burrowing ow owl example would 909 00:52:40,239 --> 00:52:43,160 Speaker 1: with the cow dung or the bison dung, because in 910 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:46,400 Speaker 1: this case it's not just to get the insects close 911 00:52:46,480 --> 00:52:50,319 Speaker 1: to the nest. In this case, the actual nest entrances, 912 00:52:50,360 --> 00:52:53,719 Speaker 1: basically holes in the ground, function quite well as pit 913 00:52:53,800 --> 00:52:57,319 Speaker 1: traps because once the prey insect falls in, they have 914 00:52:57,400 --> 00:53:00,600 Speaker 1: difficulty climbing back out, and the ants will rather quickly 915 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:04,120 Speaker 1: grab and butcher them. Now, this is clearly not the 916 00:53:04,200 --> 00:53:07,759 Speaker 1: only way this ant species has to acquire prey. Fight 917 00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:11,040 Speaker 1: only oxyops do leave the nest to acquire prey. They 918 00:53:11,080 --> 00:53:15,200 Speaker 1: forage like other ant species. But it's possible that using 919 00:53:15,280 --> 00:53:18,000 Speaker 1: the nest as a pit trap and surrounding it with 920 00:53:18,080 --> 00:53:22,760 Speaker 1: feathers as some kind of UH evolved behavior for luring 921 00:53:22,880 --> 00:53:26,760 Speaker 1: more insects into the hole. UH. That helps the colony 922 00:53:26,880 --> 00:53:30,279 Speaker 1: supplement their diet during especially times of the years, such 923 00:53:30,320 --> 00:53:33,000 Speaker 1: as the dry season in this region, when prey is 924 00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:35,840 Speaker 1: more scarce, harder to come by. So they wouldn't be 925 00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:39,520 Speaker 1: obligate trap builders. They would they would be sort of 926 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:42,000 Speaker 1: they would have like a trap business on the side. 927 00:53:42,120 --> 00:53:44,160 Speaker 1: I guess you would say, yes, it is if the 928 00:53:44,160 --> 00:53:46,520 Speaker 1: trap interpretation is correct. It seems like this would be 929 00:53:46,520 --> 00:53:51,640 Speaker 1: a supplemental role in getting extra food to them, extra 930 00:53:51,719 --> 00:53:55,120 Speaker 1: diet diversity, especially in times when they're they're going to 931 00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,839 Speaker 1: be getting less in their foraging, or maybe when they're 932 00:53:57,880 --> 00:54:02,319 Speaker 1: doing less foraging. Okay, because there you know again they're 933 00:54:02,360 --> 00:54:08,320 Speaker 1: altering their immediate environment anyway. Um. There so and then again, 934 00:54:08,360 --> 00:54:13,759 Speaker 1: a whole like this is not a huge energy investment. UM. 935 00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:17,399 Speaker 1: Who already part of the nest the nest. I guess 936 00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:20,600 Speaker 1: the question is coming back to those those reasons that 937 00:54:20,640 --> 00:54:23,880 Speaker 1: were put forth UM earlier that we don't see more 938 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:27,759 Speaker 1: pit traps. Uh. Does this would this make the the 939 00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:32,239 Speaker 1: ant population more visible to potential predators? UM? I mean 940 00:54:32,239 --> 00:54:35,279 Speaker 1: maybe maybe so maybe not. Maybe maybe the animals that 941 00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:39,400 Speaker 1: would be interested in eating the ants already would be 942 00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:42,040 Speaker 1: able to detect their presence. And then again, also the 943 00:54:42,320 --> 00:54:45,759 Speaker 1: ants have more capabilities than that one little larva at 944 00:54:45,760 --> 00:54:47,520 Speaker 1: the bottom of a small pit. You know, we're not 945 00:54:47,560 --> 00:54:51,319 Speaker 1: dealing with one organism. We're dealing with this, um uh, 946 00:54:51,680 --> 00:54:55,480 Speaker 1: this entire colony of organisms that that kind of behave 947 00:54:55,640 --> 00:54:58,359 Speaker 1: as a single organism. Yeah, obviously I don't I don't 948 00:54:58,360 --> 00:55:00,120 Speaker 1: know what all the you know, the cost benefit at 949 00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:05,120 Speaker 1: analysis of this evolutionary calculus would be um. But but yeah, 950 00:55:05,560 --> 00:55:09,200 Speaker 1: there must be some reason why by having your aunt 951 00:55:09,280 --> 00:55:11,719 Speaker 1: nest as a as a pit trap in this environment, 952 00:55:11,760 --> 00:55:15,600 Speaker 1: for this ant is is not such a it's not 953 00:55:15,719 --> 00:55:18,720 Speaker 1: such a danger that it outweighs the benefit of getting 954 00:55:18,719 --> 00:55:21,920 Speaker 1: some bugs to fall in as free meals. But I 955 00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:24,879 Speaker 1: also like this because it's like by house analogy. It's 956 00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:28,680 Speaker 1: like if your entire house was just like below the 957 00:55:28,719 --> 00:55:31,320 Speaker 1: ground and the entrance to the house was a spike 958 00:55:31,400 --> 00:55:35,600 Speaker 1: pit trap like a tiger trap, just waited for things 959 00:55:35,640 --> 00:55:38,360 Speaker 1: to fall in and be like, oh, bonus, here's dinner, 960 00:55:39,880 --> 00:55:41,719 Speaker 1: and you alway, and that you had the lures, you 961 00:55:41,719 --> 00:55:43,160 Speaker 1: had the feathers, all around. I don't know what that 962 00:55:43,200 --> 00:55:45,520 Speaker 1: would be. In the human example, you put just cotton 963 00:55:45,560 --> 00:55:49,680 Speaker 1: candy around the around the trap that you come in through. Well, 964 00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:53,319 Speaker 1: this is certainly another fascinating example. Um yeah, and I 965 00:55:53,360 --> 00:55:56,560 Speaker 1: love how both present the possibility of ants building traps. 966 00:55:56,600 --> 00:55:59,799 Speaker 1: But since they are ants, like, it's it's not that 967 00:56:00,000 --> 00:56:02,799 Speaker 1: cut and dry like like, ants have a complexity all 968 00:56:02,840 --> 00:56:04,880 Speaker 1: their own, so you can't really look at them in 969 00:56:04,880 --> 00:56:06,960 Speaker 1: the same way you would look at a a single 970 00:56:07,000 --> 00:56:10,320 Speaker 1: solitary spider or or certainly even the you know, the 971 00:56:10,719 --> 00:56:13,120 Speaker 1: human example, Like, what we do with traps and how 972 00:56:13,160 --> 00:56:15,840 Speaker 1: we think about traps is a rather different scenario compared 973 00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:18,240 Speaker 1: to anything, you know, anything that we're seeing in in 974 00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:22,440 Speaker 1: several of these animal examples. Yeah, well, I guess that 975 00:56:22,520 --> 00:56:25,920 Speaker 1: does it for for ant traps on my end. But well, 976 00:56:26,640 --> 00:56:28,719 Speaker 1: who knows what the future will hall. Perhaps there'll be 977 00:56:28,760 --> 00:56:33,400 Speaker 1: more exciting studies coming out of the world of ant research. 978 00:56:33,840 --> 00:56:35,879 Speaker 1: I mean, it's it's it's highly possible. I mean we're 979 00:56:35,880 --> 00:56:39,680 Speaker 1: still we're just still making a significant discoveries about about 980 00:56:39,680 --> 00:56:42,680 Speaker 1: ant species and what they're up to. There are frontiers 981 00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:46,240 Speaker 1: of ants you couldn't even dream of. There are ant 982 00:56:46,320 --> 00:56:49,400 Speaker 1: traps that we don't even know about yet because they 983 00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:52,120 Speaker 1: haven't been sprung on us when you fall into them. 984 00:56:52,160 --> 00:56:55,120 Speaker 1: You go through the two thousand one stargate and in 985 00:56:55,160 --> 00:57:01,880 Speaker 1: the in the room with the the French furniture. You know, 986 00:57:01,920 --> 00:57:04,680 Speaker 1: we've never watched an ant movie for a weird house cinema. 987 00:57:04,719 --> 00:57:07,480 Speaker 1: I wonder if we should at some point. Oh, I 988 00:57:07,600 --> 00:57:10,760 Speaker 1: have for years been looking at the cover of a 989 00:57:10,800 --> 00:57:15,480 Speaker 1: Blu ray at Videodrome called Phase four. It's a picture 990 00:57:15,520 --> 00:57:18,320 Speaker 1: of a hand with some ants. I know it involves ants. 991 00:57:18,360 --> 00:57:21,240 Speaker 1: I don't know anything else. I guess the question I 992 00:57:21,240 --> 00:57:24,600 Speaker 1: would have, especially after talking about ants like this again, 993 00:57:25,240 --> 00:57:28,400 Speaker 1: is are we looking at thinking about movies that that 994 00:57:28,440 --> 00:57:30,720 Speaker 1: just that have a giant ant in them and have 995 00:57:30,880 --> 00:57:34,200 Speaker 1: encounters with various giant ants, or is it truly about 996 00:57:34,240 --> 00:57:37,640 Speaker 1: the ants as this kind of super organism. Um and 997 00:57:37,920 --> 00:57:41,760 Speaker 1: I like the ladder. Yeah, though maybe having a giant 998 00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:45,680 Speaker 1: sized ant is kind of a way through our fantastic 999 00:57:45,720 --> 00:57:49,120 Speaker 1: fiction that we think about super organisms. So it's kind 1000 00:57:49,120 --> 00:57:51,360 Speaker 1: of like, yes, the answer small, but they they work 1001 00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:53,640 Speaker 1: together and they're able to do great things. So we 1002 00:57:53,720 --> 00:57:55,760 Speaker 1: just think of like a giant ant. That's like just 1003 00:57:55,840 --> 00:58:00,480 Speaker 1: one way of contemplating what they're capable of. So the 1004 00:58:00,520 --> 00:58:02,880 Speaker 1: next time Aunt movies come back, if you're out there 1005 00:58:02,920 --> 00:58:06,600 Speaker 1: thinking about resurrecting the giant Aunt movie, consider having them 1006 00:58:06,600 --> 00:58:10,480 Speaker 1: like tear people apart. Things like that, um you know, 1007 00:58:10,760 --> 00:58:14,080 Speaker 1: crawling out of windows, pulling people Taunt against the sides 1008 00:58:14,160 --> 00:58:16,600 Speaker 1: of a building and then transferring them up to the 1009 00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:20,919 Speaker 1: rooftop and tearing the new pieces. Nice final processing. Yes, 1010 00:58:22,400 --> 00:58:24,080 Speaker 1: all right, well we're gonna go and close out this 1011 00:58:24,120 --> 00:58:26,240 Speaker 1: episode here, but we'd love to hear from everybody out 1012 00:58:26,320 --> 00:58:30,240 Speaker 1: there about traps, traps and movies. Traps in the human world, 1013 00:58:30,320 --> 00:58:33,440 Speaker 1: traps in the animal world. Um uh, is there is 1014 00:58:33,440 --> 00:58:35,440 Speaker 1: there some corner of this topic you'd like for us 1015 00:58:35,480 --> 00:58:38,240 Speaker 1: to explore more in the future. Let us know we 1016 00:58:38,280 --> 00:58:40,080 Speaker 1: would love to hear from you. If you would like 1017 00:58:40,120 --> 00:58:42,200 Speaker 1: to listen to other episodes of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 1018 00:58:42,560 --> 00:58:44,480 Speaker 1: you will find them in the Stuff to Blow Your 1019 00:58:44,480 --> 00:58:47,600 Speaker 1: Mind podcast feed Core episodes on Tuesdays and Thursday's Listener 1020 00:58:47,600 --> 00:58:51,760 Speaker 1: Mail on Monday's Short Form Artifact on Wednesdays. On Friday, 1021 00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:53,360 Speaker 1: we do weird how cinema thiss are Time to set 1022 00:58:53,360 --> 00:58:57,000 Speaker 1: aside most serious concerns and just look at a strange film. 1023 00:58:57,720 --> 00:58:59,560 Speaker 1: As always, you can also get to us rather quickly 1024 00:58:59,560 --> 00:59:02,280 Speaker 1: by going to stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 1025 00:59:02,680 --> 00:59:05,880 Speaker 1: Huge thanks as always to our excellent audio producer Seth 1026 00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:08,439 Speaker 1: Nicholas Johnson. 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