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Post by quinn on Aug 10, 2014 19:23:14 GMT -5
..by the millions?? Are you sure? According to Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson who are two of the top experts in myrmecology (study of ants), there are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 ants at any given moment. There are no truces or negotiations between colonies. Ants will even raid other colonies, murder everyone and take the unborn. Later putting them to work for the good of their colony. Do they raid for resources or just ant-blood-lust?
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Post by laughter on Aug 10, 2014 19:30:43 GMT -5
That's alot of ants.
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Post by silver on Aug 10, 2014 19:35:10 GMT -5
According to Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson who are two of the top experts in myrmecology (study of ants), there are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 ants at any given moment. There are no truces or negotiations between colonies. Ants will even raid other colonies, murder everyone and take the unborn. Later putting them to work for the good of their colony. Do they raid for resources or just ant-blood-lust? Wow, that whole scenario reminds me of Antilla the Hun~*
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Post by laughter on Aug 10, 2014 21:01:18 GMT -5
Do they raid for resources or just ant-blood-lust? Wow, that whole scenario reminds me of Antilla the Hun~*
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Post by quinn on Aug 10, 2014 22:53:08 GMT -5
Do they raid for resources or just ant-blood-lust? Wow, that whole scenario reminds me of Antilla the Hun~* Ha - pretty funny. My question was actually serious, though. Animals kill, yes, but it's usually related to survival. Actual survival or a perceived threat to survival. What's happening in Gaza (and Iraq and Syria) seems to be more about perceived threats to a way of life and a belief system. And throw in cultures of war and revenge, plus no doubt loads of issues I'm not up on. I could maybe agree that there will always be wars when actual survival's at stake, but I don't see how we can continue with the craziness of megalomaniacs and genocide and clashing religious beliefs and expect our species to survive.
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Post by silver on Aug 10, 2014 23:46:48 GMT -5
Wow, that whole scenario reminds me of Antilla the Hun~* Ha - pretty funny. My question was actually serious, though. Animals kill, yes, but it's usually related to survival. Actual survival or a perceived threat to survival. What's happening in Gaza (and Iraq and Syria) seems to be more about perceived threats to a way of life and a belief system. And throw in cultures of war and revenge, plus no doubt loads of issues I'm not up on. I could maybe agree that there will always be wars when actual survival's at stake, but I don't see how we can continue with the craziness of megalomaniacs and genocide and clashing religious beliefs and expect our species to survive. Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more about the last bit. But, the part about "...throw in cultures of war and revenge" seems to be it in a nutshell (that and testosterone - best scapegoat ever - with a kernel of truth). All that stuff disgusts me, and I don't know how I got so lucky as to be born in a time (so far so good) and place where I'm not smack dab in the middle of all that insanity.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 0:35:59 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 0:38:56 GMT -5
In all seriousness, I'm not sure there is a solution. Most all social animals (including humans) will war. Whether it's about overt identification with an ideology or a more primal identification with a pride, a colony or simply a territorial dispute. Walk outside on a summer day and pay close attention to the ground. You will find ants murdering each other by the millions. victems of conditioned minds are humans; dont know about ants at your place.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 0:48:54 GMT -5
But ants at my place sure didn't know what hit 'em when Mum gave me a convex lens to spy-the-world through. Like an Insane Warlord over Gaza the ground was torched, ants vaporised.
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Post by laughter on Aug 11, 2014 12:20:07 GMT -5
dude, you remind me of Abe Vigoda ... couldn't find one 'o him in drag ... cause like, .. noone wants to see that ...
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Post by silence on Aug 11, 2014 15:41:51 GMT -5
Wow, that whole scenario reminds me of Antilla the Hun~* Ha - pretty funny. My question was actually serious, though. Animals kill, yes, but it's usually related to survival. Actual survival or a perceived threat to survival. What's happening in Gaza (and Iraq and Syria) seems to be more about perceived threats to a way of life and a belief system. And throw in cultures of war and revenge, plus no doubt loads of issues I'm not up on. I could maybe agree that there will always be wars when actual survival's at stake, but I don't see how we can continue with the craziness of megalomaniacs and genocide and clashing religious beliefs and expect our species to survive. Sure, yes there's an important distinction. The ants are killing over territory and competition for survival. The main point being that violence is an extremely critical part of life. Life is eating itself on a daily basis. Often brutally and without mercy. We can't likely continue the way we have been and expect to survive. Although whether humans live or die is of very little consequence in the grand scheme of things.
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Post by silence on Aug 11, 2014 15:44:29 GMT -5
According to Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson who are two of the top experts in myrmecology (study of ants), there are approximately 10,000,000,000,000,000 ants at any given moment. There are no truces or negotiations between colonies. Ants will even raid other colonies, murder everyone and take the unborn. Later putting them to work for the good of their colony. Ok. By take the unborn, I take it that you mean take the eggs? I often see colonies, frantically take their eggs underground whenever I move stones or pots they've built their nests under. And I just gathered that this was to protect them from becoming bird food, though it could be to get them away from other ants as well, yeah? ~ As a sidenote I thought of you the other week. There was a small clump of something on a shrub branch at a garden, and as I looked closer, it was revealed as a nest of baby spiders. What I understand is that the mother carries the sack until maturity then she must just leave them somewhere safe. Because I disturbed the shrub, the nest came to life, and loads, probably a 100 or so, wee spiders started dancing away from each other. It was well cool to watch. I tried filming them on my phone, though really I needed your micro-photography kit. They all danced back into their little ball at the end. The ants are using the heat that's gathered from the sun hitting the rocks to speed up brood development. When the rock is moved they become alarmed and scurry out of harms way. But yes, ants keep each others numbers in check far more than any other organism. The invasive fire ants in the south have almost entirely decimated local species.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 15:53:22 GMT -5
Ok. By take the unborn, I take it that you mean take the eggs? I often see colonies, frantically take their eggs underground whenever I move stones or pots they've built their nests under. And I just gathered that this was to protect them from becoming bird food, though it could be to get them away from other ants as well, yeah? ~ As a sidenote I thought of you the other week. There was a small clump of something on a shrub branch at a garden, and as I looked closer, it was revealed as a nest of baby spiders. What I understand is that the mother carries the sack until maturity then she must just leave them somewhere safe. Because I disturbed the shrub, the nest came to life, and loads, probably a 100 or so, wee spiders started dancing away from each other. It was well cool to watch. I tried filming them on my phone, though really I needed your micro-photography kit. They all danced back into their little ball at the end. The ants are using the heat that's gathered from the sun hitting the rocks to speed up brood development. When the rock is moved they become alarmed and scurry out of harms way. But yes, ants keep each others numbers in check far more than any other organism. The invasive fire ants in the south have almost entirely decimated local species. The fire ants obviously are returning to their rightful homeland. It's not like the native local species had an actual legal claim to that territory or anything. Just a bunch of poor farmers at best. Do ants have a world governing body whose edicts are ignored as well?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 21:44:18 GMT -5
dude, you remind me of Abe Vigoda ... couldn't find one 'o him in drag ... cause like, .. noone wants to see that ... no-one wants to depart seriousness? www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki4QoKJhsOU
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Post by Deleted on Aug 11, 2014 21:44:55 GMT -5
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