World's largest ant colony

[Dimentio]

http://www.clemson.edu/sandhill/page.htm?pageId=2412

This must be the largest cooperative unit in the terms of individuals the world has ever known.

No jokes, please. Rather an adoration to the ant, the ruler of the planet.

[Revy]

Sociobiologist (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociobiology) Edward O. Wilson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_O._Wilson), referring to ants (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant), once said that "Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species", meaning that while ants and other social insects (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_insects) appear to live in communist-like societies, they only do so because they are forced to do so from their basic biology, as they lack reproductive independence: worker ants, being sterile, need their ant-queen to survive as a colony and a species and individual ants cannot reproduce without a queen, thus being forced to live in centralised societies. Humans, however, as a more advanced biological being, do possess reproductive independence so they can give birth to offspring without the need of a "queen", and in fact humans enjoy their maximum level of Darwinian fitness only when they look after themselves and their families, while finding innovative ways to use the societies they live in for their own benefit.^ typical lame-brained trash about human nature, but the comment about ants is interesting. let me dig up some cool lil' essay I did on it.



Collective Culture Among Ants

Anyone who’s ever had an ant problem in their home and observed them with interest, has likely observed ants’ highly cooperative nature.

Instead of working for the individual and a greedy self-interest, ants work for the collective. They act as a collective. Their first priority, before anything else, is providing food and nourishment for the colony.

Teamwork is an integral feature of ant society. Consider a small piece of a potato chip. This would be very large and heavy to the average ant. Thus they gather a group of 15 or so ants who hold up the food and move it, making sure to avoid any obstacles. This is similar to humans moving a large couch. One person cannot do it effectively, so a team is assembled.

Human Identification with the Ant

The tendency to anthropomorphize the ant, one of the tiniest of insects, is telling. Ants have been portrayed more positively than any other insect. In the Book of Proverbs in the Bible, ants are held up as a good example for humans for their hard work and cooperation. Aesop wrote the fable "The Grasshopper and the Ants" in which he portrayed ants in a similar way. In some parts of Africa, indigenous cultures consider ants to be messengers of the gods. The Native American Hopi tribe consider ants to be the very first animals. Even ant bites have sometimes been seen as having curative properties or have been used in traditional initiation ceremonies. The Japanese word for ant, ari, is represented by an ideograph formed of the character for insect combined with the character signifying moral rectitude. For a very modern example, one can look at the movie Antz. Why was it culturally acceptable for a child to have an ant farm, which was a colony of insects in a home? This would have likely not been allowed for any other insect.

So why is it telling? Because ants are so cooperative. It reminds one of a communistic society. There are no bosses. Everyone is made to benefit. There is a Queen, but she is not even a leader, but is merely the biological mother to the many ants. Therefore, ants have no centralized system of authority separate from "the people".

The Communist Connection

Edward O. Wilson, a biologist, once remarked: "Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species". He was attempting to argue that ants biologically need a centralized community, because they need to center their society around a fertile queen to survive as a species, contrasting with humans, which are reproductively independent and thus more naturally individualistic and capitalistic. The truth of this argument, or Wilson’s claims about ant and human society, are debatable. What matters is, humans have strongly identified with ants, and Wilson fails to clear this issue up.

In fact, communism was necessary for survival for early human societies. This theory of primitive communism was argued by Marx. Like ants, the key to human survival was food. What one person could do in finding food could be done with the assistance of the many much more effectively. Human society revolved around the community, not the individual. It can be argued that without primitive communism we might never have been able to survive as a species.

Humans have identified with ants because the human psyche strongly identifies with cooperation. This is extremely natural, and one has to be strongly conditioned to make one’s mind devoid of it. It is greed that is most inhuman. Thus socialism is the most natural human society, and goes deep into the most human instincts. Our world is plagued by the poverty and suffering caused by a capitalist society. We could learn a little from ants.

[Dimentio]

In fact, ants are highly egoistic and palace coups are frequent during transition times from one queen to another.

[Revy]

In fact, ants are highly egoistic and palace coups are frequent during transition times from one queen to another.

A "palace coup"? :blink: led by ants?

video?

[Dimentio]

A "palace coup"? :blink: led by ants?

video?

There are several queens in an anthill. Usually, the newly appointed queen needs to eliminate all other queens in the hive, otherwise infighting could erupt within the community. Also, worker ants have been seen stealing eggs trying to impregnate them with their own genome (even though they are sterile). When a worker is revealed doing something like that, the soldier ants are often biting one or two legs off as a punishment.

[LOLseph Stalin]

In fact, ants are highly egoistic and palace coups are frequent during transition times from one queen to another.

Palace coups? Of course, since ants live in a hierarchal society. I wonder if there's ant revolutionaries. :laugh:

[Killfacer]

i've seen bigger.

[Manifesto]

Damn I hate it when the link is bad by the time I look at it.

[Lynx]

All this talk about ants with nary a mention of termites.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

All this talk about ants with nary a mention of termites.

Because termites are wusses.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

A memory of mine in appreciation of ants: when I was a kid I used to collect ants from one colony in a jar and then pour them out on top of another colony and watch as tons of ants would rush to the surface to kill the "invaders."

[StalinFanboy]

A memory of mine in appreciation of ants: when I was a kid I used to collect ants from one colony in a jar and then pour them out on top of another colony and watch as tons of ants would rush to the surface to kill the "invaders."
I think serial killers exhibit similar behavior...

[Dimentio]

In my village, we used to build Roman-style arenas for gladiatorial combats between different kinds of insects.

In a neighbouring village, we had a guy who built a miniature nazi death camp dubbed "Antschwitz". :(

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

I think serial killers exhibit similar behavior...

:laugh: