Leafcutter Ants - the First Agriculture

[dementedenyz]

Is this Liam Neeson? :)

[kennysandhoj]

@dementedenyz I was just wondering the same thing!

[nholmes1372]

must know more

[No1More1Mr1Nice1Guy1]

god i cant stand liam neeson's mid - atlantic stupid accent.

[Bishop705]

is this Fricking LIAM NEESON? shouldnt he be saving his family or leading his son through the wasteland???? Well he makes watching Ant videos so much cooler

[TheStorkDK]

Is this Liam Neeson?

[100ACREGANG]

ants ftw

[niverent]

I'm not a creationist, but I just can't accept the idea that evolution and instinct can account for some of the activity ants engage in. No matter how I cut it there is some type of intelligence at work.

[matoisy]

@niverent same goes for me i just cant accept that there just randomly appeared some dude in the sky who got bored and created the world and the stars

[eshed888]

@niverent you ARE a creationist if the combination of words "some type of intelligence at work", apeared in your post.

unless you believe in aliens or something.

[niverent]

@eshed888 Hmm, well am I a creationist if I think in YOUR post there is some type of intelligence at work?

[eshed888]

@niverent you know we can keep going in circles about this,

but i feel like cutting to the chase: what intelligence at work did you imply in that post?

not god?

[niverent]

@eshed888 Well, what it boils down to is that I don't believe ants just started farming by chance. That to me is kind of like saying that just by chance mutation an insect just by chance decided not to eat its food. I just don't buy it. I think creationism is simplistic bullshit, and explanations based purely on evolution are slightly less simplistic bullshit.

[niverent]

@eshed888 Another way I could put my position is this: humans aren't smart enough to figure out what is going on, things are ultimately mysterious if one is honest. But many are uncomfortable with uncertainty so they invent explanations that they find satisfying.

[hnnnggh]

@niverent The theory of evolution (and related theories) cover this perfectly well. It doesn't tell us the specifics of how something like this comes together, but it explains the general mechanism. You aren't smart enough to figure it out, so you've invented an explanation you find satisfying.

[niverent]

@hnnnggh OK, then explain to me how evolution explains the ants bringing the antibiotic down into farmed material.

[TheStorkDK]

Is that Liam Neeson??

[rubbaduc7821]

Correction. The narrator sounds like Liam Neeson

[sErgEantaEgis12]

The narrator kinda sound like the Codex narator from Mass Effect...

[jnthnbush]

This is so amazing, I don't get to watch enough of this stuff. It's real sad to think that we are destroying these lands, and wasting money on bombs when we could be saving the land and using that money to do more research.

[MandalorianSquid]

ANT-ibiotics ha ha ha

[ilmasyood]

What a great Creator that Created this Universe.

[tincre10]

Does this remind anyone of Pikmin?

[tincre10]

Yeahhh Umich Bio.

Friggin pre-discussion...

[samltd2]

@tincre10 woohoo!

[8forya8]

U of M biology sent me here as well!

[Timbutzz]

Michigan Biology sent me here!!

[hudson]

@Timbutzz cool!

[ekwiegand]

@Timbutzz me too! bio discussion activity!!:)

[clai212]

@Timbutzz

Me too! Good luck with your essay.

[SuperAliNasser]

@Timbutzz me too! Bio 171

[Timbutzz]

Michigan Bilogy sent me here!!!

[TheAsianPianist]

this narrator sounds like liam neeson, is it him?

[blahblahblahblah1023]

Wow amazing. Evolutionary arms race for 50 millions years.

[stickmanpwner64]

Mature leafcutter colonys can have 8 million hmm... Very good target in an ant sized nuclear war...

[GTRrocker666]

This is pretty interesting. I always knew ants were intelligent. I used to observe them when I as a kid. Insects are smarter than you would think at fist glance.

[LilLovesickRomeo]

@GTRrocker666 interesting yes, but I wouldn't say they're smart... more like, evolved behavior has granted them some pretty amazing things. They don't really think these things up, it's kinda just there (the behavior I mean). It's like how scientists raised beavers in captivity and completely isolated the young in a little empty room, the beavers went through the motions of dam building without having learned the ability to do so from adults.

[HaligonianType1]

I would like to meet these ants, and have a beer with them.

[rshaynes1]

Cool discovery in re-coating on the ants being antibotic of sorts

[Coingg]

wow... just wow.....thats realllllly cool!

[bolton876]

oh snap mueller was my evo teacher

[JWKeebs]

This brings to mind some interesting philosophical questions regarding the human agricultural revolution, and our ability to sustain massive populations. What is "natural"?

[Dikrech]

Amazing.

[veryyes10]

Ha ha ha

Go ants :D

[stoyashot]

so they carry penicilline on their body, thats interesting.

[staraction]

i know, it is totally fungerrific isn't it? get it? fungerrific lol.

[baggedyman]

I learned about them in college Biology class. The bad thing is that they can take all of the green of a tree in just a day. Not good for the tree.

[Origin305]

I hate when people turn this into a evolution subject. This is the ant subject. Ants are amazing so take that shit somewhere else and comment something usefull

[m4rkhenderson]

Your everyday ant is impressive enough, but ants that know how to cultivalte fungi and produce anti-biotics! - Evolution? Result of chance? - I personally just don't buy it.

[danlwarren]

Natural selection isn't random at all. This is one of the most common and pervasive misconceptions around, and the fact that it is so persistent is a terrible indictment of modern science education.

[bongpig]

the ants didn't just one day decide to live like this as is evident by the thousands of other types of ants and habitats they exist in.

These ants are able to live like this today because of evolution. If their anti-bodies did not evolve the bacteria would take over killing the fungi and the ants

[mizamazor]

Their anti bodies?! What the fuck are you talking about?

[DiscoSamurai7]

My God, you are STUPID!

[Georgedegriek]

Wow this guy is a genius :D

[KoyasuNoBara]

Princess Atta from "A Bug's Life"? She was an ant? Atta is a type of ant? Do you get it now?

[xtheEviLx]

this is interesting =) thx for the upload.

[marilstitt]

is anyone studying these ants' communication system? I just sprayed my Mexican redbud with melaleuca because they were carrying off all its baby leaves. Went out an hour later and there is no sign of them

How's that for communicating?

[Avarakedavra]

Fucked up their entire lives.

[bearz]

is there a part 2 of this clip? interesting clip.

[darthtomygun]

lol everyone thinks ants are stupid there probably one of intelligent tihngs on the planet

[RamzaOwns]

lol that ant at the end hitchhike the leaf for a free ride, only to find out the leafcutter is not moving the direction he wanted

[lochnesswim0202]

It's actually called a minim and it rides on the leaf to keep a parasitic fly away from the ant carrying the leaf. The fly will land on the big ant's head and try to lay its eggs on the unsuspecting ant. The minim doesn't allow that to happen! Kinda cool..

[kc139799]

wow that is so cool! its a complete society. amazing

[madilov11]

ants are so amazing and smart.

[dmfaria83]

This is my leaf cutter ants formicarium: watch?v=sXIGt4DZbGs

[KoyasuNoBara]

...Oh, dear God.

I just realized Princess Atta's name from A Bug's Life was a joke.

Yes, the video is interesting. It's just that I never realized that about her name.

[haschner]

Seeing the ants in the wild is truly amazing. I've seen them in Belize and Roatan.

[hudson]

It from PBS's fantastic 7-part series, Evolution. You can find more details on the PBS site.

[dmfaria83]

This is one of the most amazing videos about ants I've ever seen!!! Where can I find the rest of the video?

[tenpack51]

It's the same guy that does the voice of king Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia.

[orinocojones]

Go fuck your mother!!!!!

[orinocojones]

Fuck it, threesome, yours and mine. I'll father you a new brother and name him junior.

[mcbrite]

what kind of ignorant asshole makes a comment like that?

[kittydreamz86]

The kind who gets paid sweet money.

[larodem]

An awesome nerd?

[theamari98]

call my classmate crazy, but she said those ants are kinda cute.

(please don't respond to me)

[rladngus24]

LOL

Man: "opening a nest is a very exciting moment."

Ants: "To arms! They're here! Those human scumbags are here! OH MY GOD! THERE ARE TWO OF 'EM!!"

Queen: "Noooo! I'm being taken away to be tested in some weird, nasty lab! My colony! What of my colony!? It's over.. My life's broken :("

[blaineyson]

Actually, the queen doesn't care about the workers. They are replacable. Like the video says, the queen escapes from a different nest with just a small amount of fungus. She could do it again if they let her go.

[purplefuzzythings]

wow... awesome

[Winboloer2]

Excellent video.

[ULT255]

Holy shit. Learning that made my life a lot better. No sarcasm.

[darkshiv]

I want to pour a cup of fire ants in their, I wonder what would happed.

[graymalkin5]

Mayhem. When I was working with leaf-cutters in the lab, an escaped cockroach landed up in one of the nests and vanished under a boiling mass of furious ants, from the smallest 3 mm minims right up to the 2 cm soldiers - they didn't stop until the 'enemy' had been annihilated! Oh, and they drank the body fluids, so leaf-cutters aren't all vegetarians...

[darkshiv]

I wonder if a couple of scorpions could last in that mass.

[graymalkin5]

Not for long! The ants grab all the extremities and hang on, even if their heads get ripped off, so the 'enemy' gets stretched out and held down by dozens of angry ants, while others come along and cut it up like they're chopping up leaves... Since they can easily chew through leather (I lost two good pairs of Doc Martens while I worked with them) your scorpions wouldn't last more than 5 minutes!

[darkshiv]

Woah...

[hudson]

and more great info! what lab were you working with the leafcutters? what was the purpose? i'm fascinated.

[hudson]

wow - great story! thanks for sharing!

[graymalkin5]

I was doing research on the mutual relationship between the ants and their fungus, which involved a lot of time watching ant behaviour in some large captive nests. Sounds mad but it was great fun!

[hudson]

that sounds like mad fun! i would love to hear more about the research. did anything get published?

[staraction]

dude, you have an awesome video. i love ants...once when i was younger...i caught one fire ant and i painted him black and returned it to his colony and he lived for a long time...that was in my native country Colombia in South America. in the fron yard we had a huge tree that they ants were using to have their colony and it kept it free of pest and all for exchange of food..it was pretty awesome.

[blaineyson]

The fire ants could only contend with the leafcutters if they had their own colony behind them.

[BARRYZIT0]

amazing

what if i killed the queen...what happens

[graymalkin5]

End of nest.

[killerbee2k]

kewl, ants and termites are awesome

[superfisto]

thanks

[gregtestagent]

"opening a nest is a very exciting moment" from the ants perspective, they're are going: "ahhhh!!! they're back! protect the queen! protect the queen!!"

[DaScatman]

That was truly incredible.

[whybeass24324]

could be acromyrmex octospinotus but they are light like atta cenolophotes

[graymalkin5]

Not Acromyrmex - look more like Atta, but wouldn't want to be specific as to which one.

[whybeass24324]

If anybody else wants help i have my own colony just write to me.BTW these are atta ants.

[maximus448]

sweet i got to do a presentation over this symbiosis and this helps alot!

[STurlington]

you should show this video to the flemmings - we saw ants doing this exact thing up on a hill in costa rica - it was amazing. We couldn't figure out why they were all carrying so many leaf pieces - it's awesome that now I know why!

[hudson]

cool!  feel free to share any related online resources on the topic you've found in the comments. thanks!

[khturner]

This is great! I am preparing a lecture on this very topic, and this has helped me out immensely. Thanks!

[danserjeant]

I'm teaching 11-12 year olds about the mutualism between fungi and ants, would it be possible you could email me the file please? They need some visual stimulation! I would be extremely grateful if you are allowed to.

[Kytawky]

that was really cool and helped me on a report i had to do on evolution

[shadowq8]

this is incredibly interesting

[antdude]

Thanks. Was there more ant scenes than the one you posted from that documentary?

[hudson]

I don't think so, but have you heard of the documentary "Ants - Nature's Secret Power"? Awesome stuff featuring Bert Hölldobler, one of the world's greatest ant scientists.

[antdude]

Yep, it was a good one.

[antdude]

What's the name of this documentary?

[hudson]

Its from the PBS documentary "Evolution".

[cnygemini]

Everything in nature has a balance