Ants commit suicide to protect colony


	Ants commit suicide to protect colony

wiccantexan

10-1-2008 6:24 PM

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tags:

insects, ants, suicide, community, social, nature

1 Comment |

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10-1-2008 10:52 PM

The REAL Napster

There are a million ants for every person on earth.

You do the math I'm too tired.

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://www.clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/23b092ed-02d9-4b21-9471-d9fc93c19d5e/3A17E172-B16E-4E08-B755-065B36639A84/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1" href="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1" style="font-size: 11px;">sciencenow.sciencemag.org</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1">Every night, the Brazilian ant <I>Forelius pusillus</I> takes self-sacrifice to a whole new level. At sunset, the colony protects its nest by sealing off the entrances with sand, and a few ants remain outside to complete the job. Unable to reenter, they die by the next morning--making them the first known example of a suicidal defense that is preemptive rather than a response to immediate danger.</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1"><P>
Social insects are well-known for their willingness to die for their colonies; a number of bees, wasps, and ants succumb after their stings lodge in targets and break off. But until now, these insects were thought to engage in such suicide missions only when enemies were present. </P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1">These findings, which will appear in the November issue of the journal <I>American Naturalist</I>, show that staying outside was suicidal</blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2008/923/1?rss=1">Uncovering the pressures that drive this self-sacrifice could shed light on the evolution of altruism,</blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/3A17E172-B16E-4E08-B755-065B36639A84/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content9.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>