sandbox : Last Ant Standing

Every night, the Brazilian ant Forelius pusillus takes self-sacrifice to a whole new level. At sunset, the colony protects its nest by sealing off the entrances with sand, and a few ants remain outside to complete the job. Unable to reenter, they die by the next morning--making them the first known example of a suicidal defense that is preemptive rather than a response to immediate danger. picked by AutumnLotus 3 months ago

tags last ant standing brazilian forelius pusillus

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17	Nicky666

3 months ago

cool story!

The ants stuck outside might be old or sick, Tofilski conjectured. Thus, they may have essentially sacrificed themselves for the greater good, being more expendable members of the colony.

Nah, I think the ones left outside just picked the shortest straw.

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9	roarkmei...

3 months ago

FOR THE HORDE!!!

Edit: FOR THE OVERMIND!

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14	Rambo202...

3 months ago

I love watching and studying ants...They are so fascinating. When i was little I wanted to do it for a living, but I didn't know how I would make a living. I should've hung out with this guy, lol. I'm 24 and I just ordered my first ant farm 7months ago. Maybe I should've kept that to myself, lol.

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18	Boomshan...

3 months ago

« Rambo2020 : I love watching and studying ants...They are so fascinating. When i was little I wanted to do it for a living, but I didn't know how I would make a living. I should've hung out with this guy, lol. I'm 24 and I just ordered my first ant farm 7months ago. Maybe I should've kept that to myself, lol.

Nah - I ordered my first ant farm when I was 31. My wife thought I was a little strange.

It was absolutely fascinating. As they died one by one, they'd carry the dead ones to one corner of the farm. The pile got slowly bigger and bigger as they'd slowly pile on the ants as they died. As they were going they were topping the pile off with a layer of sand/rocks. When the last one died it crawled up on top of the pile and just stopped moving.

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14	Rambo202...

3 months ago

« Boomshank : Nah - I ordered my first ant farm when I was 31. My wife thought I was a little strange.

It was absolutely fascinating. As they died one by one, they'd carry the dead ones to one corner of the farm. The pile got slowly bigger and bigger as they'd slowly pile on the ants as they died. As they were going they were topping the pile off with a layer of sand/rocks. When the last one died it crawled up on top of the pile and just stopped moving.

WoW. That is fascinating. I set mine up and decided to go the route of capturing my own ants. Yea I was able to pick up about 20 of them and put them in the farm, far from a colony, lol. So now I'm ordering a pack of ants in the mail with the coupon that came with the farm. I'll be sending it off this weekend. I hope my ants are as cool and ritualistic as yours, lol.

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