“Despite their excellent vision, worker ants of this genus find it difficult to find their nests at night, due to the difficulty of finding the landmarks they use to navigate.
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“Despite their excellent vision, worker ants of this genus find it difficult to find their nests at night, due to the difficulty of finding the landmarks they use to navigate. They are thus more likely to return to their nests the following morning, walking slowly with long pauses.”
I choose to interpret this as bull ants who stay out too late having a good time ending up having to do “the walk of shame” like a college student.
I'm really curious if anyone who lives in Australia has seen lone bull ants stumbling back home in the dawn. Navigating by landmarks is a pretty big cognitive achievement for a little ant, especially after a big adventure and a night spent sleeping in god knows what flower or under god knows which random leaf... So if you see a bull ant going home like this she's doing her best!
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I'm really curious if anyone who lives in Australia has seen lone bull ants stumbling back home in the dawn. Navigating by landmarks is a pretty big cognitive achievement for a little ant, especially after a big adventure and a night spent sleeping in god knows what flower or under god knows which random leaf... So if you see a bull ant going home like this she's doing her best!
This isn't helping the stereotype about bull ants living like a slightly overly rowdy (murderous) sorority...
I have tried to defend them from such aspersions, but this whole "stumble home at dawn..." IDK girls...
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I'm really curious if anyone who lives in Australia has seen lone bull ants stumbling back home in the dawn. Navigating by landmarks is a pretty big cognitive achievement for a little ant, especially after a big adventure and a night spent sleeping in god knows what flower or under god knows which random leaf... So if you see a bull ant going home like this she's doing her best!
@futurebird I’ve lived in Australia for 16 years and have never seen a bull ant. Australia is almost the size of the US so to find people that encounter bull ants regularly you might have to narrow down the geographical location a bit
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@futurebird I’ve lived in Australia for 16 years and have never seen a bull ant. Australia is almost the size of the US so to find people that encounter bull ants regularly you might have to narrow down the geographical location a bit
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I'm really curious if anyone who lives in Australia has seen lone bull ants stumbling back home in the dawn. Navigating by landmarks is a pretty big cognitive achievement for a little ant, especially after a big adventure and a night spent sleeping in god knows what flower or under god knows which random leaf... So if you see a bull ant going home like this she's doing her best!
"Initially we thought they might be going and drinking some sap which makes them really high but I don't think they are actually getting drunk."
https://www.antwiki.org/wiki/images/9/94/Baer%2C_B._2011._The_copulation_biology_of_ants.pdf
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I'm really curious if anyone who lives in Australia has seen lone bull ants stumbling back home in the dawn. Navigating by landmarks is a pretty big cognitive achievement for a little ant, especially after a big adventure and a night spent sleeping in god knows what flower or under god knows which random leaf... So if you see a bull ant going home like this she's doing her best!
@futurebird I’m not yet confident that I can distinguish bull ant from yikes that’s a big ant. But I do certainly come across solo YTAB ants in the morning more often than later in the day. Coastal east coast Australia, just south of Sydney.
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@doomsdayrs I know exactly what you are reading. A book based on an RPG has no right to be so good. The whole series is fire.
@futurebird Are we both thinking of Chrysalis?
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@futurebird I’m not yet confident that I can distinguish bull ant from yikes that’s a big ant. But I do certainly come across solo YTAB ants in the morning more often than later in the day. Coastal east coast Australia, just south of Sydney.
They are indeed big. And they can sting. So, do be considerate of their personal space.
But, they can also be fun to interact with. If you have a dead cricket you might make a little friend.
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@futurebird Are we both thinking of Chrysalis?
YUP
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@futurebird BWHEHEHEHEHEH
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@futurebird BWHEHEHEHEHEH
I started reading it with an attitude like "this is supposed to be about ants I bet they get all the facts WRONG."
But I was wrong. All of the ant facts are basically excellent ... it's almost educational.
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“Despite their excellent vision, worker ants of this genus find it difficult to find their nests at night, due to the difficulty of finding the landmarks they use to navigate. They are thus more likely to return to their nests the following morning, walking slowly with long pauses.”
I choose to interpret this as bull ants who stay out too late having a good time ending up having to do “the walk of shame” like a college student.
@futurebird I have seen plenty of bull-ants, and have the usual aversion of someone who has been stung by a couple. I encounter them regularly on walking tracks and make a point of giving them a wide birth (those things make belligerent eye contact, as if to say 'you think you're tough? Do you? Huh? Do you?')
I've never seen one stumbling back at dawn.
But then, I'm seldom awake that early.
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@futurebird I have seen plenty of bull-ants, and have the usual aversion of someone who has been stung by a couple. I encounter them regularly on walking tracks and make a point of giving them a wide birth (those things make belligerent eye contact, as if to say 'you think you're tough? Do you? Huh? Do you?')
I've never seen one stumbling back at dawn.
But then, I'm seldom awake that early.
I can't help but admire the sheer audacity of looking at a literal titan a hundred thousand times your size and saying "What you GOT?"
I think they mostly do that when near their nest, though, or that's what I've been told.
I hope I get to meet one in the wild some day.
