Posted on 02/20/2010 5:05:13 PM PST by JoeProBono
Ants live altruistically, but some die altruistically too.
When ants of the species Temnothorax unifasciatus get sick, they abandon their nest, walking far away from their relatives to die alone.
They perform this act of heroism to prevent the illness that is killing them from spreading to the colony.
The discovery, published in Current Biology, is the first time that such behaviour has been shown in ants or any other social insect.
Professor Jurgen Heinze and PhD student Bartosz Walter decided to investigate the ants' behaviour after becoming interested in anecdotal reports of dying individuals deserting their families.
The workers left the nest voluntarily and were not carried away
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I remember Tarantula. Interesting back story and married to Richard Long (an actor I always liked). I've got about a million channels on my TV, but you rarely see good old fashioned 50s & 60s B movies any more. (Not that I could stay awake for the Late Late Show.)
Yeah, “Tarantula’’ was a good one. With Leo J. Carrol and John Agar. Agar was married to Shirley Temple but that didn’t last. He flammed out early, drinking got him.
Reminds me of the lyric from Rocky Horror:
I know Leo G. Carrol
was over a barrel
when Tarantula took to the hills
“I wish Congress, as a whole, were as smart...”
Maybe the ants could teach Congresscritters the art of euthanizing self...
LOL! “Beaver was a dreamer who never got it right/died in living color and lived in black and white’’.
Connect the dots into a full circle: From Lady scientist to Kinky Friedman and back...
Well, I left barber college searchin for knowledge
Went to the University
I must confess, sir this lady professor
Turned me on to Anthropology
Now I’m a Homo Erectus, got to connect this
Bone that I discovered yesterday
Tyrannosaurus Lived in the forest
Died because his heart got in the way
Dear Doctor Howard, come down from your tower
And join me for lunch at the ‘Y’
Although yore thirty I still think yore purty
Let’s give it that good ol college try (rah rah)
Well, I've never heard about that either. I heard dry grits will kill fire ants too. The eat them, and it explodes them with the slightest moisture from their insides.
Or maybe they suddenly realize the place sucks, and they’d rather go off and die. Or maybe they’re just not that bright.
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