why do you love ants, robots?

>>35649916
I like ants.
My favorite, are the leaf cutter ants.

>>35649916
>why do you love ants, robots?

they are pretty interesting animals aren't they?

I was reading about how fire ants form rafts during floods that allow them to float on top of the water. they have some pretty interesting group behaviors like that, their ability to form bridges and stuff like that blows my mind

Scientists talk a lot about the group intelligence of ant's, how as a whole they are able to plan their actions at a greater level than any of the individuals, but I am not sure how that works and would like to learn more. Is planning of the ant hill governance actually done on a genetic level - can the individual ant see the bigger picture or are they wholly controlled by their instincts?

they are some of the most interesting animals on the planet, that's for sure

>>35649916
I like the idea of them, they're like little organic robots with their own systems and way of doing things, keeping one would be like the whole colony would just be one big pet, and I think that's really neat. I'm scared of them in real life though, I'm scared of bites and stings and seeing them loose everywhere.

There's no explaining it, their just cool.

>>35649916
I fucking hate them, so god damn much
stupid fucks always in my pantry

>>35649916
do you lads watch that AntsCanada youtube channel?
dude has a huge fuck off ant colony that literally spans multiple floors of his house, it's fucking amazing.

>>35650008
It's not genetic per se. The overall planning is greater than the individual planning because they leave various scent trails to give unconscious instructions to their fellow ants. For example: When an ant is out looking for food, he is unconsciously leaving a scent trail. The scent trail is so he can find his way back to the ant hill whether or not he finds food.

Now here is where it gets interesting: That scent trail is NOT interesting to other ants. If they smell it they ignore it. But if the ant who made it DOES find food, he instinctively grabs a piece of the food and starts following his scent trail back to the anti hill. But the moment he found the food, his body unconsciously flipped a switch and he is now OVERLAPPING his original scent trail with a new, slightly different one. This new scent trail IS interesting to other ants. It smells slightly different, and other ants will instinctively follow it, leading them to the food.

>>35649916
An example of a perfect society completely efficient and set only on expansion, cool as fuck I have watched ants for hours.

>>35651016
sounds cool I will check it out anon

>>35649916
Ants are amazing! Practically superorganisms. They can accomplish nearly anything. Amazing teamwork. Different species have different habits and rituals that I find very interesting.
There really isnt a reason to not like ants, besides maybe if you fell in a fire ant hill as a child. I've been hurt my fair share, but I still respect ants as the badass tiny creatures they are.

google stigmergy

File: raking in the ants.png (99KB, 893x437px) Image search: [Google]

99KB, 893x437px

>>35649916
Met a girl once who was deathly allergic to ants
not really relevant but i needed something so i could complete my true goal of posting this screencap