Most fanciful ant adventure stories shrink the humans down to ant size. I prefer to scale the ants up to human size.
I think it presents fewer problems, and better explains the increased intelligence of the ants. Ants are among the most intelligent of insects even before you account for the complex decisions made on the colony-level. Nest site selection (when a mature colony moves) is very sophisticated.
I love the cover image on "Through the ant hill" --all summertime, and child-like wonder
Ants are more intelligent than you'd anticipate given the number of neurons in their little brains. Is there is something more sophisticated & refined about their little bundles of gray matter?
What would a brain, human sized, but of ant design be capable of? Tremendous built-in memories & skills? (every ant in a colony is able to do every job, though they are often physically suited best to a particular role.)
Ants can also grow & shrink the size of their brains.
@futurebird There are some interesting animals that are far smarter then you'd think from their brain size. Bees. Ants. And then the terminators of the arthropod world - Portia spiders.
In some of the more unusual species of ant where it is possible for workers to take on the role of queen, there are profound changes in the brains of these ants as they adjust their roles.
Queens in the role of egg laying have the smallest brains. But a queen founding her nest has the largest and most complex brain.
Ant efficiency dictates that no expensive glucose gobbling neurons hang around when they are not needed.
@futurebird Any recommended paper showing ants that grow and shrink their brains, and grow them again? This makes ants as interesting as the Etruscan shrew that shrinks its brain by 30% to survive the winter and grows it partially back in the Spring when prey is abundant again.
Thanks very much. Now I have to find samples of Harpegnathos saltator gamergate ants at the 3 stages of brain size for whole brain comparative #connectomics!
If someone wants to join in as a PhD or postdoc on this topic I am game.
I'm obsessed with Harpegnathos. I've always said that I wouldn't want to keep ants that could sting AND climb glass ... but I'd make an exception for these girls.
Since they have excellent eyesight its easier to understand what catches their attention and why. Watching videos of them hunting, jousting and caring for each other you get the sense of a little spark of intentionality.
When you walk by their enclosures they track you with their eyes.
Find a mate
Fly
Select a nest location near resources
Dig a nest
Keep herself clean
Feed herself and others
Collect food
Lay eggs
Care for eggs and pupae
An established queen must know how to:
Lay eggs
Everything else, even her grooming is done by her daughters. But in gamergate species there is evidence that if an ant ceases to be a queen she can regain all of those skills again-- and they were able to show this meant that her brain literally grew larger!
:: On Myrmecos "remote work" was a godsend for queens who choose to be egg layers for their colony (a role that carries some honor and prestige) -- They are able to keep their minds active & not fall into a queenly stupor as happened in primitive days.
Is it fitting for a laying queen to groom & feed herself? A rather hotly debated topic in magazines-- some say it could harm egg production rates, others wonder why everyone is so obsessed with production rates anymore.
@futurebird@LinuxAndYarn That happens to many things, sadly. We have a family Christmas card from just after 1900 which has a swastika on the front -- it shocked us when we first found it, but then we realised that at the time it was just a pretty stylised cross for most Western Christians (and a different kind of sacred symbol for Buddhists and Hindus).
Now, of course, it stands for genocide and white supremacism.
@futurebird OMG, that is gorgeous. "The ants argue that the mouthbreathing sub-mammals' very use of the name 'gamergate,' which means 'married worker' in Greek, is untenable, because it represents everything the #Gamergate movement is not: skilled, productive, as well as social, sexually progressive, and indispensable to the community."
"...The ants argue that the mouthbreathing sub-mammals' very use of the name 'gamergate,' which means 'married worker' in Greek, is untenable, because it represents everything the #Gamergate movement is not: skilled, productive, as well as social, sexually progressive, and indispensable to the community. A petition has thus begun circulating on Change.org to have the hashtag removed."
@futurebird Why not switch between 1 and 2? Anthropomorphic depictions of apes, like the Freefall webcomic, have their four limbs act as either legs or arms depending on circumstances.
@futurebird Do ants have a sense of balance? Otherwise I’d say 4 legs. Mandibles would be a 3rd hand. Are they cold-blooded? Maybe they’d just carry a little warming pack instead of clothes, with scarves for decorations.
@futurebird four arms is the most fun, but how would such an ant walk? The back legs longer than the gaster with the stinger pointing down? That'd be kinda awkward for repletes! The gaster to the back like a tail? Also kinda awkward for repletes!
I think centaur pose (four legs, two arms) is the most stable configuration.
@futurebird Out of curiosity, I am wondering if you are a fan of E.O. Wilson. I read a few of his books and found his fascination with and studies of ants fascinating.
They absolutely did. There is a whole period in the history of Myrmecos called The Age of War-- the ants were so consumed with their wars that little was written down and much of their knowledge of that time comes from myth and legend.
The Age of War ended when Central City was founded and colonies learned to live in mutual harmony (mostly) --and this is when ant technology really took off and they soon discovered space, the other living planets and eventually Earth.
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