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[-] sexy_peach@feddit.de 57 points 2 years ago

Why is it bad when ants do it?

[-] TofuWater@lemmy.world 155 points 2 years ago

Ants follow eachother in a line so they don't get lost on their way back to the nest. When they've lost track of the scent for any number of different reasons back to the nest they will follow the ant in front of them for guidance eventually turning into a "death spiral" seen in the picture. The ants are lost and will never find their way home and will march to their deaths.

[-] Th4tGuyII@kbin.social 110 points 2 years ago

This death spiral/"ant mill" is actually quite short, though still deadly - in the worst case scenarios, a death spiral can be literally kilometers long, some ants might not even make a single revolution around it, which is kinda terrifying to think about.

[-] Monkeyhog@lemmy.world 47 points 2 years ago

I'm not an ant, so it's not really scary at all to me.

[-] SkyeStarfall 27 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

You don't follow the pheromones of fellow humans when you lose track of home?

[-] Triple_B@lemmy.zip 33 points 2 years ago

I did once, but I got arrested.

[-] mjhelto@lemm.ee 6 points 2 years ago

And banned from Sea World?

[-] misterdoctor@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

Makes you wonder why they’d shout hurrah in that situation.

[-] Triple_B@lemmy.zip 39 points 2 years ago

They run in that circle until they die because they're all following the one in front of them.

[-] JoShmoe@ani.social 9 points 2 years ago

Can’t you redirect their focus by dropping something nutritious nearby?

[-] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 25 points 2 years ago

They're just following the trail of pheromones ahead of them. It goes around in circles so they'll just walk and walk until they die of exhaustion.

Never heard about it so had to read up on it, it's as obscure as a rat king to me.

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 years ago

rat kings are mostly fake though

[-] idegenszavak@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 years ago

Current sience says it's very rare, but can happen naturally. There are multiple confirmed modern sightings.

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 years ago

I did say "most," 1963, 2005 and 2021 are the only real ones I can find.

Compared to there being dozens in the 17th and 18th centuries

[-] explodicle@local106.com 6 points 2 years ago

I imagine we did more rat watching back then.

[-] mjhelto@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago
[-] dasgoat@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

RatTube. Where it's just, you watch a tube with rats in it.

[-] mjhelto@lemm.ee 4 points 2 years ago
[-] dasgoat@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

But this one eats you when you look down it! Hooray!

[-] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 3 points 2 years ago
[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

reason why i said "most" not "all" most examples are from the 17th and 18th century when proof was hard to ascertain and there have only been a handful of modern occurring examples since the prevalence of science and photography

[-] Curiousfur@yiffit.net 4 points 2 years ago

Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though. It really feels like one of those things where it's difficult to prove either way since the conditions cannot be duplicated in modern times. I'm still leaning towards more being faked, but not having huge chunks of a population living in 17th century squalor may be a factor in whether or not a rat king could actually form.

[-] mjhelto@lemm.ee 2 points 2 years ago

Far fewer rats living like they did in the 17th and 18th century nowadays, though.

TIL rats also have wealthy capitalists siphoning the means of production. Imagine being a rat back then. All the free food and squalor. Makes sense there would be more kings!

[-] funkless_eck@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 years ago

fair. but having gone through a phase where I read all of Crowley, Eteilla, Charles Fort, bunch of Golden Dawn / Rosicrucian texts etc I just get this feeling that it was hokum most of the time for dramatic effect

[-] registrert@lemmy.sambands.net 1 points 2 years ago
[-] systemglitch@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago

Circle of death! Rip circle ants.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

How do we make this just, you know, happen I fuckin hate ants

[-] kattenluik@feddit.nl 19 points 2 years ago

There's zero reason to hate ants? What a lame comment.

[-] TeraFloppy@lemmings.world 10 points 2 years ago

Have you had ants setup shop in your coffee maker before, or you cereal? Ants that follow you to work in your butt crack somehow? Lucky you.

[-] systemglitch@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Personally input everything with sugar in it in a sealed container. Started doing that about 8 years ago and I've never had an issue with ants since (they were the reason I started doing that).

Butcrack ants are pretty funny though

[-] LukeMedia@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

I always get ants in my bathroom, there's no sugar in my bathroom.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

They're going after my fucking water.

[-] ehrenschwan@feddit.de 4 points 2 years ago

I believe they usually follow the trail of the ants walking infront of them so when they're walking in a circle they'll technically walk in a circle indefinitely.

this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2023
499 points (100.0% liked)

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