[ExI] super soldier ants

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org
[mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of BillK
Sent: Monday, January 09, 2012 3:28 PM
To: ExI chat list
Subject: Re: [ExI] super soldier ants

On 2012/1/9 spike wrote:
> Here’s what I did.  I know that ants will devour earthworms, at least 
> under some special conditions.  I am not sure I understand those 
> conditions.  But I did find a slug this morning and put it next to the 
> ants.  They didn’t seem to even notice it was there.  They made no 
> attempt to devour the sluggish beast.  During that experiment I 
> observed that I was mistaken about the slug being protected by a goo 
> layer.  It isn’t.  There is some other mechanism at play here.
>
>


>...Well, I'm not an ant expert, but generally speaking ants will eat most
anything. But I think only a few species will attack other insects or small
animals. Most ants prefer plants, sugar or dead creatures.

I think you probably need something like army ants or fire ants.
But there are obvious problems in working with those species.   ;)


BillK


Ja, I am not sure what is going on.  These might be the wrong kind of ants.
I do know this group keep aphids in my orange trees.   They come into the
house occasionally.  They will not eat sugar but will go for any kind of
grease or fat of any kind.  They will devour a sick or dead bee within
hours.  I must assume the slug has some kind of defense mechanism but it is
not a slime layer.  I was apparently conflating it with some other beast.

spike