7 replies to this topic

[OhNoNotAgain]

Searched the forum and didn't see this listed. There are several news articles on this, many behind a paywall, but this one is viewable if you're under your LA Times limit on your browsers. I remember reading this a couple years ago, probably when it came out, and this is why I was a bit bummed by my Veromessors' relatively lackadaisical attitude. But my first colony DID seem to care for a sugar-coated individual once I got her far enough into the test tube.

 

 

 

Medic! Ants injured while hunting for termites get help from paramedic-style triage system

https://www.latimes....0216-story.html

 

 

[justanotheramy]

I love this about ants.

I liked this Guardian article about it, which has video, and this sentence which for some reason I find very touching:
"When help arrives, the injured ants tuck in their legs so they can more easily be carried back to the nest."

https://www.theguard...njured-comrades

[OhNoNotAgain]

Yeah I guess I was a bit disappointed V. pergandei covered in water/sugar/oil don't seem to get that kind of help unless (in the case of my first colony) I shoved them deep into the test tube. But someone scoffed at my use of the word "medical" so um ... hey, not making it up  

[Manitobant]

I wonder if you could keep these if you had a termite feeder colony...

[justanotheramy]

Maybe the coating meant they weren't effectively emitting the pheromone to attract help?

[justanotheramy]

Of the 5 alate larvae my orphan colony are raising, only 1 was already big and jubey when I dropped her in there… and the workers didn't mover her for ages. First, they spent a very long time… tending to her surface with their mandibles.
I don't know if they were soothing her, or repairing her, or what they were doing? But it was interesting.

[OhNoNotAgain]

I suspect Veromessor just aren't into medical triage very much because it SEEMS like they aren't very coordinated in general, unlike a species that regularly finds concentrated and dangerous food sources like termites or something. Just a guess, though. I think I read somewhere (?) V. pergandei don't do the typical food scent trail thing because their diet is so heavily seed-based, and they find seeds scattered and I'm suspecting it's usually one ant per seed... though I am told they follow large highways away from the nest and then branch out individually down the road. But I could be wrong on this speculation.

[ponerinecat]

I wonder if you could keep these if you had a termite feeder colony...

No. They're basically army ants with set nesting spots. You'd need more than one colony, maybe like 500.