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Ants
Ants use their diminutive size to their advantage. Relative to their size, their muscles are thicker than those of larger animals or even humans. This ratio enables them to produce more force and carry larger objects. If we had muscles in the proportions of ants, we'd be able to heave a Hyundai over our heads!
In certain ant species, the soldier ants have modified heads, shaped to match the nest entrance. They block access to the nest by sitting just inside the entrance, with their heads facing out like a cork in a bottle. When a worker ant returns to the nest, it will touch the soldier ant's head to let the guard know it belongs to the colony.
Ant plants, or myrmecophytes, are plants with naturally occurring hollows where ants can take shelter or feed. These cavities may be hollow thorns, stems, or even leaf petioles. The ants live in the hollows, feeding on sugary plant secretions or the excretions of sap-sucking insects. What do the plants get for providing such luxurious accommodations? The ants defend the plant from herbivorous mammals and insects, and may even prune away parasitic plants that attempt to grow on the host plant.
How can this be?! Ants are so tiny, and we are so big! But scientists estimate there are at least 1.5 million ants on the planet for every human being. Over 12,000 species of ants are known to exist, on every continent except Antarctica. Most live in tropical regions. A single acre of Amazon rainforest may house 3.5 million ants.
Ants will do just about anything to get the sugary secretions of sap-sucking insects, called honeydew. To keep the sweet stuff in close supply, some ants will herd aphids, carrying the soft-bodied pests from plant to plant. Leafhoppers sometimes take advantage of this nurturing tendency in ants, and leave their young to be raised by the ants. This allows the leafhoppers to go raise another brood.
Quite a few ant species will take captives from other ant species, forcing them to do chores for their own colony. Some honeypot ants will even enslave ants of the same species, taking individuals from foreign colonies to do their bidding. Polyergus queens, also known as Amazon ants, raid the colonies of unsuspecting Formica ants. The Amazon queen will find and kill theFormica queen, then enslave the Formica workers. The slave workers help her rear her own brood. When her Polyergus offspring reach adulthood, their sole purpose is to raid otherFormica colonies and bring back their pupae, ensuring a steady supply of slave workers.
Ants evolved some 130 million years ago during the early Cretaceous period. Most fossil evidence of insects is found in lumps of ancient amber, or fossilized plant resin. The oldest known ant fossil, a primitive and now extinct ant species named Sphercomyrma freyi, was found in Cliffwood Beach, NJ. Though that fossil only dates back 92 million years, another fossil ant that proved nearly as old has a clear lineage to ants of present day. This suggests a much longer evolutionary line than previously thought, leading scientists to estimate the appearance of ants on Earth as somewhere around 130 million years ago.
Fungus farming ants began their agricultural ventures about 50 million years before humans thought to raise their own crops. The earliest evidence suggests ants began farming as early as 70 million years ago, in the early Tertiary period. Even more amazing, these ants used sophisticated horticultural techniques to enhance their crop yields. They secreted chemicals with antibiotic properties to inhibit mold growth, and devised fertilization protocols using manure.
Argentine ants, native to South America, now inhabit every continent except Antarctica due to accidental introductions. Each ant colony has a distinctive chemical profile that enables members of the group to recognize each other, and alerts the colony to the presence of strangers. Scientists recently discovered that massive supercolonies in Europe, North America, and Japan all share the same chemical profile, meaning they are, in essence, a global supercolony of ants.
By following pheromone trails created by other ants from the colony, foraging ants can gather and store food efficiently. A scout ant first leaves the nest in search of food, and wanders somewhat randomly until it discovers something edible. It will then consume some of the food and return to the nest in a straight, direct line. It seems these scout ants can observe and recall visual cues that enable them to navigate quickly back to the nest. Along the return route, the scout ant leaves a trail of pheromones, special scents that will guide her nestmates to the food. The foraging ants then follow her path, each one adding more scent to the trail to reinforce it for others. The workers will continue walking back and forth along the line until the food source is depleted. Such power and dignity unhampered by sentiment.
If I may put forward a slice of personal philosophy, I feel that man has ruled this world as a stumbling demented child king LONG ENOUGH and as his empire crumbles, my precious ants shall rise as his MOST FITTING SUCESSOR
Comments
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^ Myrmidion has finally cracked and is now worshipping ants
How many times has Myrmidon finally cracked?
^ How many threads has he made?
8D?
…
Just like many other species of insects, wasp is known to be a social animal. As many as 10,000 wasps are believed to inhabit one nest. The queen wasp, who is the only breeding female, builds the nest using a papery substance made of chewed wood and plants. The wasp is known for its poisonous sting, which can be very painful. Wasp stings can also be fatal as some people are allergic to them. The stung area can swell and form a lump that takes a few days to soothe. Almost every species of insects contains a wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it. This natural boicontrol of insect species through wasps makes them critically important in natural control of their population. An interesting thing about wasps is that when these insects die, they release a smell (called a pheromone). This smell warns the other wasps of the lurking danger and is an indicator that help is needed. Diet: Nectar, Insects, Caterpillars, Fruits. Wasps, being omnivorous animals, eat a mixture of plants and other animals. They prefer to eat sweeter plants and feed on nectars, fruits and honey. However, they also eat insects and even large caterpillars. Wasps are predated upon by different animals, which can include birds, amphibians, reptiles and various species of mammal. This is despite of their bright colors, which can serve to deter the predators. Since wasps predate on caterpillars, they are considered as beneficial to farmers. They could comb the whole area to find food and pick caterpillars, which can damage the crops. Wasps are believed to become very aggressive during the months from August to October. During this period, their food preference shifts from insects to food and garbage. This is also the time when they can come in contact with humans and attack them. Wasps are active only during the daylight and they can be usually found resting in their nests during the night time. If one wants to eradicate the wasps permanently, night time is considered to be the best.
Perhaps you've encountered some of these wasps in your communities, displaying both their predatory and defense characteristics, while imbedded within the walls of flesh and passing for what is most commonly recognized as human
^^^ Thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARfLaNJcpsw
Ants are just highly specialized wasps anyway. Combined with wasps they already dominate nearly all life on land as the primary controllers of insect populations, which in turn affect all other terrestrial life. Too many or too few wasps and ants would mean devastating imbalances. Mass die offs of vegetation without adequate pollinators or vast plagues of caterpillars devouring everything in sight.
Social insects pretty much rule, although they have served as an unfortunate source of inspiration for people with authoritarian political ideas down the centuries.
On the pollination side, concern about colony collapse disorder affecting bees in the UK was actually quite big news here a year or so ago.
I could tell from how many times Dr. Who and other British programs joked about it.
Of course it's still going on in many countries and still devastating the livelihoods of bee farmers, but the media seems to have moved on.