This is Tulip, the median carpenter ant worker. Today she enjoyed some wet cat food. I can’t seem to find Pepper, the ant with the green spot, I think she might have cleaned the paint off (she was very dusty) — stay tuned for more important Tulip updates. #tulip#ant#namedAnts
Tulip is about two years old. It's been nearly two years since I marked her. The queen of this colony is 4.
I came upon this interesting scene today: a ladybug had found an ant "aphid farm" and was about to deliver a whole world of pain. The ant fell down the plant while trying to block the ladybug.
(Some species of ants have a mutualistic relationship with aphids. They herd the aphids to collect honeydew, and protect them from predators.)
Agriculture
War
Keeping Livestock
Barn Raising
Royal Coups
Child Labor
Grain Silos
Paper
Garbage Management
First Aid
Evil Stepmothers
Division of Labor
Seed Saving
Social Distancing for Disease Management
Pranking the Neighbors
Architecture
Packing to Move
Tour Guides
High Density Housing
Sewer System
I've moved from Mastodon.Social to Sauropods.Win; in celebration here's a Muscleman Tree Ant (Podomyrma gratiosa), looking a little worse for the wear—she's missing a pair of legs!
"[T]he ant colony optimization #algorithm (ACO) is a #probabilistic technique for solving computational problems which can be reduced to finding good paths through #graphs. Artificial ants stand for multi-agent methods inspired by the behavior of real ants. The pheromone-based communication of biological ants is often the predominant paradigm used."
Next time you think, "I can't make a difference, I am only one little person .."👇
This Tiny Ant Species Is Disrupting the Lives of African Lions
"..tiny and seemingly innocuous invasive ant species is changing tree cover in an East African wildlife area, making it harder for lions, the world’s most iconic predator, to hunt its preferred prey, zebra.
"... pulling on the ties that bind an African ecosystem together, determining who is eaten and where,”