In a war between humans and ants , who would win ?

[betazed]

Lol...humans would win for sure, what could ants do to humans??? NOTHING! no ant is capable of killing a man...and humans would only need to kill the ant-queens that lay eggs and the problem would be solved...

Not so fast.

In most ant species the death of the queen automatically starts anatomical changes in another ant of the colony which takes place of the queen. In fact in many colonies the queen actively stops other ants from becoming queens. Once this active control is taken out many queens come into existence.

 

[IglooDame]

Not so fast.

In most ant species the death of the queen automatically starts anatomical changes in another ant of the colony which takes place of the queen. In fact in many colonies the queen actively stops other ants from becoming queens. Once this active control is taken out many queens come into existence.

How does the queen do this? Perhaps it would be possible to introduce sterile queens into the hives?

 

[betazed]

How does the queen do this? Perhaps it would be possible to introduce sterile queens into the hives?

AFAIK, the queen ant keeps spraying a substance (don't remember exactly what substance) on both the workers and the newly laid eggs. this substance, to some extent, determines the caste of the workers and the castes of the new hatchlings. The cast/sex of the new hatchlings is also determined by temperature. I do not remember the details, but I can look it up for you in E.O.Wilson's Sociobiology book tonight when I get home and let you know the specifics if you are interested. This also happens in bees. I remember in bees this substance is 9-keto-2E-decenoic acid.

That this must be so is not that surprising. I quote from a article (emphasis mine).

An overriding principle of social insect biology is that the determination of reproductive (queens) versus sterile (workers) individuals within a social group is primarily environmentally governed . A sterile caste can evolve under kin selection only if the genes for sterility are expressed conditionally, because any allele that invariably caused sterility could not be passed on and would be quickly eliminated from the population

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=123037

Also this is not just with queens. Other castes are also numerically stabilized. For example the soldiers. http://www.devbio.com/article.php?ch=22&id=214

 

[IglooDame]

AFAIK, the queen ant keeps spraying a substance (don't remember exactly what substance) on both the workers and the newly laid eggs. this substance, to some extent, determines the caste of the workers and the castes of the new hatchlings. The cast/sex of the new hatchlings is also determined by temperature. I do not remember the details, but I can look it up for you in E.O.Wilson's Sociobiology book tonight when I get home and let you know the specifics if you are interested. This also happens in bees. I remember in bees this substance is 9-keto-2E-decenoic acid.

That this must be so is not that surprising. I quote from a article (emphasis mine).

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=123037

Also this is not just with queens. Other castes are also numerically stabilized. For example the soldiers. http://www.devbio.com/article.php?ch=22&id=214

No, please don't go to any trouble - barring any imminent insect wars against homo sapien I don't anticipate needing to know specifics. Just the general knowledge that we could probably mess with ants pretty well by duplicating and modifying their hive reproductive processes satisfies me.

 

[betazed]

...modifying their hive reproductive processes satisfies me.

Actually, when I think about it, that might be the only way we could win short of "nuking everything from orbit".

After all a biological weapon (like ants) must be dealt with in a biological way.

 

[ybbor]

after reading the thread i notice that people actually have different opinions on this, so i want to make a poll to get a greater idea of opinion

 

[Dell19]

I guess it depends whether victory has to be total destruction or to a level where huge losses have been inflicted and any valuable urban area is secure from any future attack.

 

[BCLG100]

i would have to say the humans, cos we would have pesticides and stuff like that, total anhililation however i dont know.

 

[anarchywrksbest]

Human Slaves! In an Insect Nation! AAAAH AAH AH AH AH!!

 

[stratego]

If given the same level of complex thinking, ants would win. Given status quo, human would.

 

[King PJ]

I found an interesting article about ants, these ants mutated and all the seperate colonies merged together and created one super colony. Interesting read, heres the link: Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

 

[Colonel]

Nukes Nukes and More Nukes I say those ants will die and we smart humans go to mars and terraform that atmosphere

 

[Mrogreturns]

When the ants declared war on Elmer Fudd they met with victory.

History is on their side.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

Moderator Action: The two ant vs human threads merged.

 

[Goldflash]

You're all missing the point. Humans would win.

We Have Raid

 

[Ren]

Humans, hands down. Apart from chemicals, we have a couple of other advantages on our side like fire ...and big feet

 

[Silverflame]

Neither humans nor ants can actually "win." No matter what happens during the actual battle, neither side will ever be able to fully exterminate the other. Humans can simply retreat onto ships, while ants... well, they're ants. The only way to get rid of all the ants is to destroy the Earth, as well as ourselves.

 

[Drakan]

I found an interesting article about ants, these ants mutated and all the seperate colonies merged together and created one super colony. Interesting read, heres the link: Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

Hey King PJ, that's exactly what I had posted already in post Nº 96 !

 

[aneeshm]

Back on topic - can we win against the ant-bee combine ?

 

[aneeshm]

Sorry about the huge font size , but visual reminders are more effective . So please , now it is not only the ants , it is also the bees . And they are attacking co-operatively . Can we (and if so , how can we) survive ?