Discussion
Having read several books by people who became fascinated by ants I can say that watching ants will *do things to you* --I think it's the combination of the their unexpected complexity then the one two punch of these creatures being totally alien while at the same time some of the only creatures that do things that people do:
* agriculture
* public works
* networking
* traffic
* war
etc.
I'd add:
Monarchy/Royal Bloodlines
Use of Chemicals
Self sacrifice for the good of the community
And I'd add bees/wasps/hornets to this list of animals. I know 3 apiarists and they say these things.
Ants don't really have monarchy or royal bloodlines. All of the workers of a colony are more closely related to the queens offspring (their sisters and future queens) than they would be to their own children if they mated and laid eggs.
If they could have a male offspring that would not be true. But, they are kind of aligned with the goal of raising the queen's eggs.
And the queen isn't in charge at all.
HOWEVER there are those strange ants from Spain who do have a separate "royal bloodline" ... but those ants can't reproduce without the complementary colony...
https://www.science.org/content/article/ant-queen-lays-eggs-hatch-two-species
Hymenopteran genetics are wild.
@futurebird have you read the novella “Missile Gap” by Charles Stross? This is a prominent theme
Chimps also have "wars" but it's more like gang violence than a human war.
Only ants do war like people.
Interesting. Was just reading à chapter about the connection between humans and eusocial insects like ants at the behavioral level (Bickerton - More Than Nature Needs). They are the rare species with displaced communication.
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