• 5ha99y@lemmus.orgEnglish
    73·
    8 hours ago

    It is in their nature to work like this. They are specialised drones serving that exact purpose. The queen is btw no different. It is the DNA housing drone that produces all kind of drones. Their brains are pheromonally connected. Most possibly they share one brain (and consciousness) and are equipped for some brain parts “getting lost”. It is anthropomorphizing to assume that they act like a human kingdom, where the queen (or king) is the upmost of all things to achieve in one or the other way. Ants are also all female. Only drones for mating are male.

    • Ildsaye [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      2·
      22 minutes ago

      Where ants are concerned, drone refers specifically to the males who are born to mate and then die. The sterile females are called workers.

  • spicy pancake@lemmy.zipEnglish
    7·
    13 hours ago

    I love how the first clown makeup iteration was built in by nature of this being a false color EM

  • wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    4811·
    22 hours ago

    Fun fact: most known ant species’ workers are 0.01% genetically different than each other (ie. queen[s]:mate[s] ratio), and therefore are closer to clones than individual consciousnesses, strictly speaking. ☝🏼🤓

    • Redjard@reddthat.comEnglish
      601·
      21 hours ago

      closer to clones than individual consciousnesses

      You know that genetic clones are still individuals with independent brains, right?
      Like twins don’t have to take on the same profession or have the same personality. They’re about as mentally different as any other random person.

        • Redjard@reddthat.comEnglish
          231·
          21 hours ago

          Then, other than their genetic code, what else is copied between individuals? Is their brain fully encoded in their chromosomes? Does the queen ant go and copy the same brain into all worker ants? Do the worker ants, when pupating, connect to the colonies wifi network and download the current neuronal image for network booting?
          Do they share their fingerprints (for example hair placement) too?

          • MeatPilot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            22·
            20 hours ago

            Insects are complex and different in how they process information. Ants are smart for insects, but still not fully individuals in the same way we look at mammals or other animals.

            https://wildlifeinformer.com/do-ants-have-brains/

            The simple answer is thoughts are pheromones. Essentially one ant shares it’s individual experiences with the entire colony and the colony all works for the same goals. So yeah they kinda connect to the colony organic wifi by releasing the same chemicals that other animals do but the chemicals are shared.

            So one feels rewarded, the rest do and that leads to them working together. This is why if you piss one off, they all attack because that chemical is shared with the colony and all of them become aggressive.

            Also a vast majority of insects are born with all the basic functions and skills of an adult. They come out knowing exactly what to do and how. There really is no “learning”, the colony learns the individual shares that knowledge.

            So every new ant pops out fully functional and basically downloads the rest from the colony to know where found food/water sources are if they are collectors. If they are soldiers they instantly get in line to protect the hive and know the layout.

            • Redjard@reddthat.comEnglish
              6·
              20 hours ago

              So every ant, clone or not, is probably set up to only function in a colony.

              And I assume the genetics determine the language, so that even related ant nests don’t merge but stay distinct?

              • MeatPilot@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                8·
                20 hours ago

                I’m not as knowledgeable about ant genetics as the other fellow. But I do know ants recognize each other from the same colony through chemical signals.

                There are insects that can hijack that, I think rival ants can even trick the ants of another colony to kill their own queen. There are also rival queens that can kill another queen and the rest of colony thinks that’s their queen. Essentially stealing and entire colony of ants they did not birth.

                So they are heavy into identification through chemical means over anything else. Genetics has not a lot to do with identification.

                I’m more of a spider guy. But the insect and arachnid worlds are fascinating to me.

                • wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                  4·
                  19 hours ago

                  Ooh! I love arachnids! Did you happen to catch that research on their pneumatic mobility system that was used in miniature robot models? 😱😍… 😬

              • wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
                2·
                19 hours ago

                The “language” you speak of is more often expressed via pheromones rather than sound xor gesture, where ants are concerned —similar to the majority of the insect kingdom, and beyond.

                Here’re some more ant facts!

                amidst silliness

            • Redjard@reddthat.comEnglish
              9·
              20 hours ago

              Which you can argue for, but doesn’t stem from them being all almost twins.

              I can say Humans are 99.6% genetically identical, and I can say nations are kinda like independent organisms (more sketchy a statement than for ants), but I definitely can’t say Humans are 99.6% genetically identical, and thus nations are kinda like independent organisms.

              “Ants are almost twins” is not the cause of “Ants are not really autonomous individuals”

    • lugal@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      91·
      15 hours ago

      This is wrong. They get the same DNA father side because male ants are haploid (meaning they have one chromosome of each instead of a pair like diploids) but they get different genes from their mother so they are more closely related than human siblings but no where near your made up number. They are still 25% different

        • lugal@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          1·
          5 hours ago

          Fertilized eggs are female, unfertilized eggs male. That’s why they are haploid. They are not going to mate their mother. Go read a book.

        • lugal@sopuli.xyzEnglish
          35·
          15 hours ago

          This is not how anything works. I’m giving you free information by repeating stuff I learned at school and university. If you want to be sure, look it up. This is far from hidden knowledge. I couldn’t care less if I convince a stranger on the internet.

    • morto@piefed.socialEnglish
      231·
      18 hours ago

      You’re mixing being a clone with being the same individual and sharing a mind, which are completely different things.

      • lugal@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        2·
        15 hours ago

        I’m sorry to inform you that the fact is made up. It’s more like 25% in the case of ants. I wrote more in another comment.

        But there are greenfly who can reproduce sexually or asexually. In the former case, they have two parents – boring. But females can just have daughters with the same genetics. They don’t lie eggs but are live bearing so they get pregnant when they choose to. And there isn’t an age limit. In fact they can be pregnant and their daughter is already pregnant before birth, all genetically identical.