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Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

theatlantic.com

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Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#21

Post by codeflo »

Not a biologist, but my impression is that in some of ways, individual ants behave more like cells in a multi-celled organism than individual animals. The hive is the organism. (The analogy is certainly not perfect.)

Considering that, I don't find this paradoxical at all, still very fascinating. Please correct me if my understanding is wrong, but I think cancer also in some sense helps the individual cell at the cost of the organism. For example, cancers induce the formation of cappilaries to get more nutrients -- not so dissimilar from these infected ants inducing other ants to feed them.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#25

Post by wizzwizz4 »

dham wrote: post #20
wonminute wrote: post #12

It reminds me of this story. Basically, a healthy host is in the parasite's best interest... https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/19/magazine/the-parasite-und...

Same with a virus. A virus doesn't want to kill the host. A deadly virus is an unsuccessful virus

Viruses are a little different, though. Retroviruses aside, viruses spread as much and as fast as possible; any mutation that makes them spread more slowly is crowded out, evolution style.

So long as it can spread between hosts well enough, a deadly virus is a very successful virus – up until it's driven its host species to local extinction.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#26

Post by gumby »

The use of the word "parasite" seemed odd to me: at first blush they seem symbiotic: the ant gets the tapeworm; what it eats feeds the tapeworm too, and the ant gets a long and pampered existence. This, truly, is a symbiotic, not parasitic relationship.

However, it may be good for a single ant, but if you view the entire colony as an organism, what the tapeworm does is transform its host into a parasite upon the colony (this is mentioned in the article too). Thus, by transitivity, one might consider the tapeworm a parasite, not upon its host organism itself but upon the colony. Quite interesting.

BTW parasite was an actual job in Roman times, though a non-medical one.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#28

Post by felipemnoa »

jaywalk wrote: post #15
djrogers wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they will be basically stoned, and won't care about working anymore, so they'll be ex-CEOs.

Unless the people around them behave like the uninfected ants and just worship them 24/7.

I know a guy who elicits this sort of worship here in the USA.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#29

Post by Pfhreak »

axiomdata316 wrote: post #18

>"The tapeworm-laden ants didn’t just outlive their siblings, the team found. They were coddled while they did it. They spent their days lounging in their nest, performing none of the tasks expected of workers. They were groomed, fed, and carried by their siblings, often receiving more attention than even the queen—unheard of in a typical ant society—and gave absolutely nothing in return." I wonder if there is a huma…

Let people enjoy things.

If you don't like the Kardashians, fine. I don't either. But clearly some folks do and are willing to help propel them to fame (or notoriety).

I know your comment is being glib, but it's emblematic of HN crowds saying, "I don't like this thing, therefore this thing is funny/bad." It costs you nothing to post your comment and just let people like the things they like.

Re: Ant parasites that prolong the life of their host

#30

Post by Pfhreak »

usefulcat wrote: post #17
amelius wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What if it's a male ant?

According to Wikipedia, in larger colonies most ants are sterile, wingless females: "Larger colonies consist of various castes of sterile, wingless females, most of which are workers (ergates), as well as soldiers (dinergates) and other specialised groups."

Yes, the parent poster understood that, and was asking about the males specifically because they are relatively rare.
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