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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Non ant fans, do delete forthwith, no extropian content
here.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I saw something today that so amazed me. Brief review
of previous experiments: ants in my fruit trees, farming aphids which draw sap
from the tree and I don't like that. Put sticky goo around the base
of the trees so the ants could not get to the ground. The ants wandered
about in the tree for a while, then apparently leapt to the ground for some odd
reason. The antomic half-leap was about 25 to 30
hours.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Follow-on experiment: I allowed a twig to grow until it
touched an adjoining maple tree into which the ants had free access. They
have no interest in farming aphids in the maple tree, but will gladly use
it for a path to the orange tree. Twice I came out in the back to find the
twig had made contact and the ants were streaming across, but what I really
wanted to find out is how long the fruit tree twig had to be in contact the
maple before the simple-minded bugs would inadvert-ant-ly
discover the new bridge.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Ants must be running an exceedingly simple program: goto
orange tree, run subroutine aphid, return on same path to hole in the
ground. To verify this, I was hoping to have a maple branch grow out over
the orange tree, so then an ant could go out on the maple, leap down to the
orange tree, run aphid subroutine, leap to the ground, walk to the hole.
This would involve the ants coming and going on different paths, which I have
never seen them do.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Yesterday a branch of the orange tree was growing close to
the maple, but not below. The distance yesterday was about one cm.
The orange tree branch was about even with, or slightly above the maple
branch. Today they were closer, perhaps half a cm, but still not
touching. I noticed there were some, not many, ants in the orange
tree. I checked for other paths into the orange tree, but none
existed. Then I noticed there were a bunch of ants on the leaves of both
the maple and the orange, right where they were the closest.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>Here was the amazing observation. Occasionally a
breeze would cause the leaves to oscillate, at which time the two trees would
very briefly touch. The ants were jumping across the gap in those
brief instances when the leaves touched. They were going both
directions in those brief instances.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>I don't know what in the hell to think now.
Surely they don't reason in any real sense. How did they figure out how to
jump across?</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2>spike</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><SPAN class=156210000-15092008></SPAN> </DIV>
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