Heroic altruistic ants face death alone to save colony

bbc ^ | 15 February 2010 | Matt Walker

[Farmer Dean]

“It should be noted that worker ants are non-reproductive.
Kinda like the 50 odd million Chinese men who can’t find a wife?

[paulycy]

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

[SmartInsight]

“The model for 0bamacare.”

I was going to say that!

That is what crossed my mind as I was reading about this — let the sick go away and die.

[BRL]

When these godless ants built their little towers of Babel, I like to go knock them down and scatter them around. Ants really suck.

[JoeProBono]

[Trod Upon]

So how do we know the ant’s motives? Labeling the behavior “heroic” and “altruistic” seems a bit over the top, but then it is the BBC....

[JoeProBono]

[Vermont Lt]

Or whatever little disease they have enters their little brain and it gets fried. Then, insect, without a good brain, wanders away from the rest of the colony. Not thinking about God, or his grander purpose. Just wondering what all of the hullabloo about sex was. Then they die.

Sounds more like it.

[John-Irish]

Great movie. Joan Weldon is hot!

[John-Irish]

Sorry you feel the way you do. Without these industrious little buggers this would be a virtually sterile and dead world.

[stormer]

Lady scientist, eh? Hmmm...

[Forward the Light Brigade]

Isn’t this a bit like Kamikaze pilots giving their lies to save their empire? Is this really a good thing?

[Arrowhead1952]

Yes, we had lots of problems with fire ants getting into the AC contacts too. I finally put some (no longer available) ant killer into the contact box. That stopped them from shorting it out.

I heard Club Soda will kill fire ants. Just pour it onto the mound and it takes out all the oxygen so the ants die. I will try that this year.

[John-Irish]

Hmmmmm indeed. Joan Weldon had a bit of a career in ‘50’s sci/fi films. In addition to “Them’’ she was in “Earth versus The Flying Saucers’’ and “Creature from The Black Lagoon’’. Joan lookin real good in a swim suit. Love that wasp-waist, foundation-wear look of the ‘50’s.

[stormer]

I wonder what happened to my picture? Oh well. Earth vs. Flying Saucers is one of my favorites. My nephew and I watched it before I took him on a trip to Washington, DC so he could get an idea about all the landmarks. (He didn't bite on my assertion that the reason there is a color change in the stone in the Washington Monument is because of the repairs made after it was hit by a saucer, but I'm sure the people that overheard me telling him that pondered my sanity.) And while your heart is in the right place, it was Joan Taylor in E vs FS and Julie Adams looking so smoking hot in The Creature.

For what it's worth, I think Julie Adams is almost a dead ringer for Brooke Shields.

[fanfan]

I heard Club Soda will kill fire ants. Just pour it onto the mound and it takes out all the oxygen so the ants die. I will try that this year.

Hmmm. I may try that too.

I've been mixing icing sugar with baking soda, and have had pretty good luck with that. They eat it, and explode.

[John-Irish]

Thanks for clearing that up. I thought it was Weldon. Another hot actress of that time was Mara Corday Check her out. You know, given the nature of things today I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those folks at The Washington Monument probably thought you were right! :-) Brooke wished she looked as good as Julies Adams did. GRRRRRRR!! Hubbba Hubba!!(wolf whistles)