7 replies to this topic

[BleepingBleepers]

I accidentally didn't close the outworld completely because it was so dark in my room. Good thing I checked 15 minutes later and found about 8~ that ran out. I caught most of them. Not many escaped because there was a fluon barrier that was SUPPOSED to stop ALL of the ants but apparently cannot.

 

My room is messy so finding two of them 5 ft away is A LONG distance for an ant.

 

So I'm wondering, when the ants escape, how come they run so far off? I would think as an ant, they are colony oriented as in they prioritize the well-being of their colony before their own safety. I would think if they escape, they'd stick close, find a safe place, return and then sneak the Queen out. But in this case, it was less of a "one for all" benefit for the colony and more of a "omgosh, I escaped, F the Queen and this colony, I finally got my freedom so I can stop pretending!!"

 

Like their escape doesn't feel like it was for the colony, they seem to abandon it all and run off on their own.

I mean, I do notice SOME of the ants kinda stick close but some straight up made a run for it as far as they can.

 

Or do they just easily get lost a lot?

[AntidepressAnt]

Probably just acting as scouts, "mapping out" the new territory. And likely many simply panicked, being in a new, unfamiliar place with a giant trying to capture them too, lol

[Stubyvast]

Yeah ants can go really far on their own without returning to the nest. I found a formica obscuripes worker almost half a kilometre away from its home nest! Amazing how far these can go. I think that for ants that have never before explored, they might be scared or perhaps searching for a better nest site, in order to later report back and begin the moving process. As for abandoning the colony...well, ants can't even two weeks without their host colony to protect them in the wild, and I'm sure its the same for ants raised captive. 

[Mushu]

How big is the colony. I can tell at about 50-100 workers, they start having more scouts explore further. 

[ANTdrew]

This could also go under the Ant Pet Peeves thread! Honestly, though, not all ants do this. My Crematogaster that manage major jailbreaks all the time generally just stay around my ant shelves. My Pheidole wander a bit further off, but there is some method to their madness. Campononotus are really not the smartest ants, in my opinion.

[Serafine]

I accidentally didn't close the outworld completely because it was so dark in my room. Good thing I checked 15 minutes later and found about 8~ that ran out. I caught most of them. Not many escaped because there was a fluon barrier that was SUPPOSED to stop ALL of the ants but apparently cannot.

 

My room is messy so finding two of them 5 ft away is A LONG distance for an ant.

 

So I'm wondering, when the ants escape, how come they run so far off? I would think as an ant, they are colony oriented as in they prioritize the well-being of their colony before their own safety. I would think if they escape, they'd stick close, find a safe place, return and then sneak the Queen out. But in this case, it was less of a "one for all" benefit for the colony and more of a "omgosh, I escaped, F the Queen and this colony, I finally got my freedom so I can stop pretending!!"

 

Like their escape doesn't feel like it was for the colony, they seem to abandon it all and run off on their own.

I mean, I do notice SOME of the ants kinda stick close but some straight up made a run for it as far as they can.

 

Or do they just easily get lost a lot?

Five feet is not a long distance for an ant at all. Large Camponotus colonies are known for foraging trails spanning over a thousand feet, and Leafcutters can beat even that very easily.

Even small ants like Lasius niger often nest in the ground but forage all the way up into the treetops, which is a ridiculously long distance for such a small animal.

 

Many ants can also be very fast if they want to (the slowest ants i had so far were Myrmica and Solenopsis fugax thief ants, Lasius niger are like 6-legged racing cars and Serviformica species can be even faster than that, the queens included. And then there's stuff like black crazy ants and desert-dwelling silver ants that can just zoom all over the place at an absolutely stupid pace).

Edited by Serafine, June 15 2024 - 3:30 AM.

[BleepingBleepers]

I mean, 5 ft is a long distance in my messy room and also because carpenter ants are somewhat on the medium / slower side in terms of exploring. Like, it would have to climb off my messy table and transverse along other objects and even the carpet.

 

 

Interesting though, appreciate the replies.

 

Kinda wish I could put a tracking device on some of these ants and see if any actually try to make it back to the nest after the escape, like percentage wise. Like if I let 10 ants escape on purpose, put a tracking device, see how many of the 10 actually stick close or try to come back to see if it can get the Queen out.

 

I also agree, my Camponotus are EHHH in intelligence. They do some stuff that's kinda interesting but nothing too far off from what I expect of ants, which is: Work hard and work in groups will EVENTUALLY get the job done but not so much about working smarter.

 

Now I'm interested in finding ants that people find especially 'smart' in ant terms. Smart as in ability to figure out how to reach weird places to get food or escape, how more organize they are, how cleaner they keep the nest, interesting ways they deal with disturbances other than just plain out bum rush'em, how they interact with one another.

 

 

Kinda also thinking:

 

1. Do ants in small colonies exhibit higher intelligence since with fewer numbers, they'll have to play it more strategically / more efficiently to survive?

2. Meat ants that are more predatory over scavenger ants like Camponotus. I do notice animals that are predators, like actively hunting prey, have to overpower and sometimes outsmart the other animals to get their meal, which builds up strategy / intelligence.

 

 

Curious Curious!!

 

Again, thx for the reply guys, always nice chitchatting with you guys, nothing all that serious, just fun talks 

Edited by BleepingBleepers, June 15 2024 - 8:22 AM.

[Mushu]

They will try to come back but they probably won't try to rescue the queen per se, but may move if their nest is not ideal, or if they decide they've found a better spot(most likely space related if temp/humidity is ideal). There's of course other factors like if the species have satellite nests or just nomadic.t I think we can all attest, the smaller the colony the more jittery and smaller the radius they may explore. I think when there's so many workers there's more and more phermone trails laid/upkept, their radius grows.

 

1. Do ants in small colonies exhibit higher intelligence since with fewer numbers, they'll have to play it more strategically / more efficiently to survive?

 

I would say different behavior compared to when they have a larger colony. However I can say that I notice a difference between my Myrmecocystus placodops 01 vs placodops 02/03. The 01 was definitely more aggressive taking down any/all fruit flies, exploring more even with only 10 workers, compared to the 02/03 which was more docile even with 30-40 workers. 

 

2. Meat ants that are more predatory over scavenger ants like Camponotus. I do notice animals that are predators, like actively hunting prey, have to overpower and sometimes outsmart the other animals to get their meal, which builds up strategy / intelligence.

 

They definitely have a more sound hunting strategy innately built into their dna.