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Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

arstechnica.com

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Re: Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

#31

Post by Analemma_ »

stronglikedan wrote: post #30

Does anyone know why they can't climb back out? The fourth picture shows them crawling on the walls and ceiling around the pipe. The third picture shows that the pipe isn't smooth inside, so they could conceivably climb it. Zooming in on the fourth picture doesn't seem to show a gap between the ceiling and the pipe, but that is the only reason I can think of as to why they couldn't climb back out.

I would guess the problem is they don't even know they need to climb it to begin with. I don't think ants have enough consciousness to realize "this is the way I fell down, so this is where I have to go to get back", and the pipe wouldn't have any pheromone trails or anything to signal them. It's a long way to climb when you don't specifically realize that's what you need to do.

Re: Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

#33

Post by a3n »

Analemma_ wrote: post #31
stronglikedan wrote: post #30

Does anyone know why they can't climb back out? The fourth picture shows them crawling on the walls and ceiling around the pipe. The third picture shows that the pipe isn't smooth inside, so they could conceivably climb it. Zooming in on the fourth picture doesn't seem to show a gap between the ceiling and the pipe, but that is the only reason I can think of as to why they couldn't climb back out.

I would guess the problem is they don't even know they need to climb it to begin with. I don't think ants have enough consciousness to realize "this is the way I fell down, so this is where I have to go to get back", and the pipe wouldn't have any pheromone trails or anything to signal them. It's a long way to climb when you don't specifically realize that's what you need to do.

My guess is that some do climb out, randomly, but not enough to be statistically significant.

Hell is not knowing that you're in hell and should get out.

Re: Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

#36

Post by wruza »

Drdrdrq wrote: post #17
deforciant wrote: post #13

Researchers should end this madness and free the ants. I don't think that those ants are happy :/ :(

Exactly. This is not a colony, it is prison for ants, where they basically starve to death. They should just lower some wire through the shaft and free them, anything else is cruel.

http://www.peta.org/about-peta/contact-peta/report-cruelty/

Re: Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

#37

Post by jrapdx3 »

CaptSpify wrote: post #25
ptrincr wrote: post #19

Entirely female population? This sounds somewhat familiar. Life finds a way.....

I thought ant workers were typically females, or am I thinking of bees...?

Applies to both bees, and ants. (And related species, wasps, hornets, et. al.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hymenoptera

Re: Ant colony discovered in an abandoned Polish nuclear weapons bunker

#39

Post by ff10 »

Applejinx wrote: post #12

"The continued survival of the ‘colony’ through the years is dependent on new workers falling in through the ventilation pipe. The supplement of workers more than compensates for the mortality rate of workers such that through the years the bunker workforce has grown to the level of big, mature natural colonies." For heaven's sake someone hide this article before Jeff Bezos reads it :)

Geez

But there are parallels to certain human anxieties... ants falling into limbo, where certain death awaits you and the supply of poor souls never run out. If you listen closely you can hear their screams and their agony and despair from having no purpose.

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