Ants: who says they aren't crafty

[ZfrkS62]

:shock: Note to self: avoid the Amazon Jungle

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4472521.stm

Fierce ants build 'torture rack' The ants divide labour according to age, with the oldest individuals being trap builders A fierce species of Amazonian ant has been seen building elaborate traps on which hapless prey are stretched like medieval torture victims, before being slowly hacked to pieces. With cunning and patience, Allomerus decemarticulatus worker-ants cut hairs from the stem of the plant they inhabit, and use the tiny fibres to build a spongy snare, Nature magazine reports. This ingenious feat of engineering has only ever been observed in one other species of related ant, French researchers say. The ants cut hairs to clear a path under the plant stem, while leaving some hairs standing to form "pillars" on top of which the lethal platform will sit. Using the plant hairs they have harvested, the ants weave the platform itself, which is bound together and strengthened using a special fungus. When the ants have completed the chamber they puncture holes all along its surface, each just big enough to poke their heads through. Then, hundreds of worker ants climb into the chamber and wait for an unfortunate victim. Ancient sacrifice "Workers will hide inside the platform, with their mandibles just inside the hole and they will wait there for prey to come," co-author Jerome Orivel of the University of Toulouse, France said. Anything with legs slim enough to fit through the carefully constructed holes will meet a miserable fate if they are foolish enough to enter the trap. There is no limit to the ants' ambition - they will try to catch any mammoth of the insect world "They will catch almost anything that goes on the trap," continued Dr Orivel. "And they will grab anything they can - legs, antenna, anything." Once the prey is well secured by jaws fastening all its extremities, it is stretched over the platform like an ancient sacrifice to the gods. Scores of worker ants then stream out from inside the trap and sting it vigorously to cause paralysis. Once the creature is dead or fully immobilised, the ants will carry it to their nest, where they will dismember their prey before carrying it inside. "Small insects will be immediately dismembered and transported to the nest," said Dr Orivel. "But bigger insects will stay on the trap for up to 12 hours." There is no limit to the ants' ambition and they will attempt to catch any mammoth of the insect world - so long as it has slender legs. "Their success depends on the type of insect," Dr Orivel told the BBC News website. "The insects' legs have to be smaller than the holes otherwise they cannot get hold of them. "The ants must have something to catch - for example, caterpillars will have nothing to get hold of so they will not be preyed upon."

Nature never ceases to find ways to amaze me

[gtx28]

All that organization from only 20000 biological transistors. Consider even basic cpus have something like 100 times as many though obviously man made not biological transistors.

[marcelobb82]

SHOUTING IN TITLES, who said it isnt cool !

[ZfrkS62]

gtx, i think you replied to the wrong thread


dan, I think at certain times it adds a little extra to the title since smileys are disabled on titles Granted, putting the entire title in caps is stupid, but one word?

[gtx28]

Na i got the right one, im just tired, but cant sleep what a combo! So i tend to babble. Hey whats that vid in your sig from?

[ZfrkS62]

lol, your post didnt' make a whole lot of sense but i guess re-reading it, it makes a little sense

My sig clip is from a movie called Haggard.

[gtx28]

I was refering to how that article said ants could do all that, well they do all that they do with only 20000 biological transistors, and for a human to make something that can process information that basic using man made transistors takes alot more and is not as well organized or sophisticated.

This is that part where the crowd goes wow ooo ok mhmm nature really is spectacular(que audience to clap now) teehee

[ZfrkS62]

LOL! You are tired aren't you?

Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 dan, I think at certain times it adds a little extra to the title since smileys are disabled on titles Granted, putting the entire title in caps is stupid, but one word?

maybe, but I kinda like the rules being black and white.. it leaves no room for people to try and be wiseasses

"you can do this and you cant do that" is so much easier to understand for everyone than "you can do A only if B is so and so and C does not make D"

you may think I'm being a bit pedantic but really I just like things to be easy

[ZfrkS62]

Originally Posted by Dan\/6 Originally Posted by ZfrkS62 dan, I think at certain times it adds a little extra to the title since smileys are disabled on titles Granted, putting the entire title in caps is stupid, but one word? maybe, but I kinda like the rules being black and white.. it leaves no room for people to try and be wiseasses "you can do this and you cant do that" is so much easier to understand for everyone than "you can do A only if B is so and so and C does not make D" you may think I'm being a bit pedantic but really I just like things to be easy

i get where you're coming from. didn't mean anything negative by it

[JiggaStyles09]

i have always thought that ants were one of the coolest creatures in the insect world. interesting read.

[Z3uS]

I saw a Discovery Channel(or Animal Planet, cant remember) special on these ants a few months ago, but it didnt show this kind of thing

Maybe they hadnt recorded it yet by the time the video was launched.

Although, these ants a really agressive, they can even kill ppl, and what shocked me the most was that the person is dies out of breathe because as soon as the ants make holes in the body they usually hit the lungs first and the person dies out of breath while been eaten by them :shock:

[666fast]

Originally Posted by Z3uS I saw a Discovery Channel(or Animal Planet, cant remember) special on these ants a few months ago, but it didnt show this kind of thing Maybe they hadnt recorded it yet by the time the video was launched. Although, these ants a really agressive, they can even kill ppl, and what shocked me the most was that the person is dies out of breathe because as soon as the ants make holes in the body they usually hit the lungs first and the person dies out of breath while been eaten by them :shock:

Any ant species can kill you, it's just that most aren't aggressive enough to even attempt it. Power in numbers, there isn't much you can do if you have 10 million ants crawling up your leg.

The ants that build the trap are pretty cool IMO, not as cool as those spiders that live in huge communities and build those gigantic webs though.

[Z3uS]

Originally Posted by 666fast Originally Posted by Z3uS I saw a Discovery Channel(or Animal Planet, cant remember) special on these ants a few months ago, but it didnt show this kind of thing Maybe they hadnt recorded it yet by the time the video was launched. Although, these ants a really agressive, they can even kill ppl, and what shocked me the most was that the person is dies out of breathe because as soon as the ants make holes in the body they usually hit the lungs first and the person dies out of breath while been eaten by them :shock: Any ant species can kill you, it's just that most aren't aggressive enough to even attempt it. Power in numbers, there isn't much you can do if you have 10 million ants crawling up your leg. The ants that build the trap are pretty cool IMO, not as cool as those spiders that live in huge communities and build those gigantic webs though.

For sure other ants can kill ppl, but its not as common as these amazon one though

[ZfrkS62]

The ants that build the trap are pretty cool IMO, not as cool as those spiders that live in huge communities and build those gigantic webs though.

I haven't heard of these spiders :shock: I know about the Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula (12in. leg span on avg.) and there is a spider in Japan that builds gigantic trampoline like webs, waits up in the trees for something to hit it, and then drops down on the poor sap that hit its web