Post Ao8BHIwr5FrxpUOQu8 by Christo_459@mastodon.me.uk
(DIR) More posts by Christo_459@mastodon.me.uk
(DIR) Post #Ao87CyR30d2FEbC8OW by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T09:46:14Z
1 likes, 1 repeats
Everyone forgets that ants make silk (as do bees who also make wax... the show offs) ants don't just use silk to protect their eggs and pupae like many arthropods. Some ants use silk in nest construction. Which puts them in the company of spiders. The way that ants use silk also requires TWO or more ants to pull it off. Several weaver ants hold leaves close together. Then another ant picks up her baby larvae sister and taps her to tell her to make silk. She then cements the leaves together.
(DIR) Post #Ao87P9qKQAri5dpU7U by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T09:48:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Like birds building nests, and spiders building webs, and bees and their wax combs much of this behaviour is "instinct." But, it can't be a totally automatic process. All of these creatures must adjust to the conditions they work under, they must be flexible, and able to apply their instinct in varied contexts.
(DIR) Post #Ao88z6zsZzyXdu0MeO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T10:06:07Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
I would suggest that using language is "instinct" in humans. Since all people have language and it seems to develop very quickly if not present. But, language is a means of endless expression and creativity.
(DIR) Post #Ao89aSzFmhbMYdWZDU by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T10:12:51Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird to me it's fascinating that silk has evolved apparently many times in arthropods ... and, also, clams! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_silkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byssuswhich I can't explain, so I'll just tag @dantheclamman
(DIR) Post #Ao89k9q9pIQg4StHyi by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T10:14:38Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@llewelly @dantheclamman I almost makes me wonder why *I* can't make silk. (and may it please come from my hands like a webspinner or my mouth like an ant and not my butt?)It would be so helpful to be able to glue and tie things with your own web.
(DIR) Post #Ao8A8uoooUQcip4OVE by llewelly@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T10:19:06Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird @dantheclamman according to my cat, all the cat hairs all over everything are actually silk and I should be grateful.
(DIR) Post #Ao8BHIwr5FrxpUOQu8 by Christo_459@mastodon.me.uk
2024-11-17T10:31:39Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Community working together
(DIR) Post #Ao8CGqAaBKekWp9lSK by mina@berlin.social
2024-11-17T10:42:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I thought, language was a virus from outer space.
(DIR) Post #Ao8D0pYwlr9xxzTyka by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T10:51:16Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mina ... how?
(DIR) Post #Ao8DO1nXRjGYZfMw8e by mina@berlin.social
2024-11-17T10:55:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I don't know, how it actually works, but Laurie Anderson sang about it in 1986 (or so).https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eTSL2kopP4
(DIR) Post #Ao8I08tZuFIhPJcjqK by InsertUser@en.osm.town
2024-11-17T11:42:08Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird is it just the larval stage like silk worms and caterpillars or can the adults make it too?
(DIR) Post #Ao8IFcxKQMiQywlHyC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T11:49:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@InsertUser Ants can only make silk when they are larvae.
(DIR) Post #Ao8JLEiNZ5ZRUW0XfE by jerrej@mastodon.social
2024-11-17T12:02:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird @llewelly @dantheclamman And maybe have an extra arm + hand to hold the build instruction leaflet.
(DIR) Post #Ao8KUPqndDQwaYt4y0 by stib@aus.social
2024-11-17T12:13:14Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@mina @futurebird it's a quote from William Burroughs' novel The Ticket That Exploded.In 1986 he elaborated the idea in an essay in The Adding Machine:"My general theory since 1971 has been that the Word is literally a virus, and that it has not been recognized as such because it has achieved a state of relatively stable symbiosis with its human host; that is to say, the Word Virus (the Other Half) has established itself so firmly as an accepted part of the human organism that it can now sneer at gangster viruses like smallpox and turn them in to the Pasteur Institute. But the Word clearly bears the single identifying feature of virus: it is an organism with no internal function other than to replicate itself."
(DIR) Post #Ao8NV0I4RskdT2cCW0 by Ehay2k@mastodon.social
2024-11-17T12:48:44Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Ants use child labor?
(DIR) Post #Ao8NpnSxKCMLm4cawK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T12:52:31Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@Ehay2k ... well ... I do not think that is how the *ants* would see it. Service being the greatest happiness of the ant. "time flies when you are working most efficiently to serve the colony!"
(DIR) Post #Ao8vQBsXKkXIOvY3Um by DMakarios@theres.life
2024-11-17T19:09:06Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird That's very on-brand for ants! You may just be an incompletely developed blob, but by golly, you're going to be a helpful and productive blob who is Making A Contribution!
(DIR) Post #Ao8vuPIA1mw8gmwSyO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T19:14:19Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@DMakarios When you have pet ants you get to watch the newly emerged "callow" ants who have just been helped from their silk pupae by their sisters. As soon as they are able to move they start trying to do Ant Tasks. Often to the consternation of their older sisters who want to clean them and feed them first, and who rightly perceive that they, being older and more experienced with harder exoskeletons are better equipped to do the Ant Tasks.
(DIR) Post #Ao8vz6JzzEJXIl2Xjs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T19:15:11Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@DMakarios I have a short video of a callow carrying some eggs rather slowly only to have them snatched away by an older faster sister who whisks them away to their destination. Undeterred the young ant still on shaky new legs picks up another batch.
(DIR) Post #Ao8wVm5AFyGI5RgItc by immersfer@mementomori.social
2024-11-17T19:21:02Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebirdAwww 😍 @DMakarios
(DIR) Post #Ao9Apw0AU7WE08qrBY by catselbow@fosstodon.org
2024-11-17T22:01:34Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird @DMakarios Perhaps I would be better at Human Tasks if I had a harder exoskeleton?
(DIR) Post #Ao9CvToWOog0DxAy9Y by CStamp@mastodon.social
2024-11-17T22:24:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird I never learned that. Interesting. All ants or just some species?
(DIR) Post #Ao9EmPDiJDNVHMlC7M by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-17T22:45:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@CStamp Only some weaver ants, of which there are many types use the silk for their nest. Many ants simply use it for silk pupae. And a large number of ants do neither.
(DIR) Post #Ao9G62zYlLoA5L4Mq0 by bug@chitter.xyz
2024-11-17T23:00:30Z
0 likes, 1 repeats
@futurebird i remember reading somewhere that the larvae even have some control over how much silk they produce and can withhold it if they believe their resources are running too thin, which is significant bc those chemical resources can affect their later maturation and caste assignment !!
(DIR) Post #Ao9LinlLolRzuviqDQ by CStamp@mastodon.social
2024-11-18T00:03:32Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@futurebird Fascinating.