Brownsville, Texas
A potentially significant scientific breakthrough took place less than three feet in front of me but I never realized it at the time. I was sitting on the toilet watching a
handful of ants travel back and forth via a ten-foot-long path that I’d seen them use often
during the summer. They entered the
bathroom by way of a window, crossed over to the shower, proceeded down the side of
the shower door and then traversed westward along the edge of the bathtub
before disappearing into the faucet.
Photo by Alex Wild
I assumed at the time that the ants were out to retrieve water from the
faucet. I later learned ants have a separate stomach
which they can use to transport water back to their nest which accounted for the
two-way traffic on the path. As I
watched the traffic, certain patterns of behavior became clear. When an east-bound ant, heading back to the nest, encountered a west-bound ant, there were two things that took place more than 95% of the time. First, the two ants would come to a brief halt and exchange a few quick taps with their antennae. Then they would each continue on their way but almost always passing on the right. The few times that any ants deviated from this was when several ants from opposite directions met at the same time. When these traffic jams occurred, some ants would skip the antennae tapping and if need be, pass on the left to continue on their way. It was as though a DMV office located somewhere in the nest had issued booklets regarding the rules of the road.
It was while I was observing their behavior that something seemingly out of the norm took place. It struck me immediately as very odd when it happened but I had no inkling that it might be a major entomological event. An individual west-bound ant halfway along the route to the faucet met up with an east-bound ant. After the usual antennae taps the west-bound ant did an about face and took off in the opposite direction like a bat out of hell all the way back to, and out through the window. He traveled along the established path, never taking a short cut, but at a pace easily twice that of the many ants that he passed and never once observed the tapping ritual with any oncoming ants. Unfortunately it never entered my mind to get this on film or capture the little sucker for analysis. All I could do was wonder, "What the hell was that all about?" I continued watching for sometime after the hard charging ant made it out the window to see if this behavior might be repeated by some other ant but it never was.
The experience of having seen what appeared to be an anomaly of nature stayed with me for a few days and I eventually decided that I should write a haiku to call attention to it. I went on the internet to a compendium of thousands of haiku poems and searched with the key word "ant". Out of all the thousands of haiku poems there was only one about an ant.
I kill an ant and
realize my three children
have been watching.
- Unknown
I was both startled and humbled. Me write a haiku, what was I thinking? It's no wonder there's only one ant haiku. Clearly, the world needs only the one. Evidently it was written so many centuries ago that the author's name has been misplaced; but I think it far more likely to have simply been discarded as irrelevant given the universal quality of the thought.
Although still intimidated by the talent of others, I start Googling "ant" as I was still curious about the speedy little ant that I watched who received an urgent message to return to the nest, or suddenly realized he had forgotten to turn off the stove. I discovered there's an abundance of information about ants as they inhabit every land mass on the planet, save Antarctica, and there are an estimated 20,000 plus species to discuss. Interestingly, I found the most recent published articles focused on how ants forage for food and water.
It varies somewhat by species but the general foraging strategy for ant colonies begins with sending out from the nest only a small number ants. If they fail to find food, or fail to return altogether, no other ants are sent out as the colony takes this to mean that it is not advisable at this time due to either the weather or predators. The number of ants in a colony can range from dozens to millions. The size and architecture of the nest that the colony builds can vary in size and complexity depending on the species. One method of examining these nests is to create a casting by pouring molten aluminum into the nest entrance (see below).
Photo from pricescope.com
I wouldn't recommend trying this unless you've got several successful deep fried turkeys on your resume. You need to heat the aluminum to 1,220 degrees and that's the least dangerous part for both you as well as the ants. Better yet, just buy one on eBay.
If the members of the initial foraging group return with good news then a large share of the colony's ants will depart the nest and follow the trail laid down by ants returning from the food to the nest. With some species, foraging ants can travel up to 200 meters to bring food back to the nest.
Photo from pinterest.com
The return path from the food to the nest is marked by ants with a chemical substance called pheromones. As additional ants follow the path they add more pheromones with each trip. If multiple paths are initially established the shortest one will acquire the most pheromones due to the greater number of trips in the same time span, increasing its appeal over other paths which eventually are abandoned. When the food source has been depleted, other pheromones as well as antennae tapping communicate this information back to the nest, the pheromone marking ceases and the trail fades away. Despite having read a fair amount about ants I have yet to come across any mention of the renegade display I witnessed.
In many ways the communication and feedback system that ants rely on parallels the interaction of synapses with the 86 billion neurons found in the human brain. The similarities so intrigued neuroscientist Mark Goldman of UC Davis that he began collaborating on some research with Deborah Gordon, a Stanford ecologist who has been studying an ant colony outside of Rodeo, New Mexico for many years.
Their research suggests that the frequency of electrical impulses along pathways in our brains, combined with interactive physiological feedback, establishes networks among associated neurons much in the same way ants establish and transmit foraging activity to the colony as a whole. The minute I read about Goldman and Gordon's efforts, I thought of a situation at Carey's first job after he moved to Colorado Springs that supported the scientists' thesis decades before they even began their work.
Carey was hired on by a place that bulk mailed post cards to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the U.S. The cards were intentionally produced slightly out of focus which strangely enough increased the chances that they would be read by recipients.
The large font on the card stated:
and then in tiny font:
When people called the number on the card they would be informed that although they unfortunately had not won a car they were eligible for great subscription deals on all kinds of magazines. This type of operation was considered legal at that time (and may still be for all I know) as long as one car was awarded to someone, and the odds of winning, however remote, appeared somewhere on the post card.
Their research suggests that the frequency of electrical impulses along pathways in our brains, combined with interactive physiological feedback, establishes networks among associated neurons much in the same way ants establish and transmit foraging activity to the colony as a whole. The minute I read about Goldman and Gordon's efforts, I thought of a situation at Carey's first job after he moved to Colorado Springs that supported the scientists' thesis decades before they even began their work.
Carey was hired on by a place that bulk mailed post cards to hundreds of thousands of people throughout the U.S. The cards were intentionally produced slightly out of focus which strangely enough increased the chances that they would be read by recipients.
The large font on the card stated:
"YOU HAVE WON A NEW CAR"
and then in tiny font:
"or possibly a prize of lesser value, Call the number below to find out
and provide us with the promo code printed on the back of your card".
When people called the number on the card they would be informed that although they unfortunately had not won a car they were eligible for great subscription deals on all kinds of magazines. This type of operation was considered legal at that time (and may still be for all I know) as long as one car was awarded to someone, and the odds of winning, however remote, appeared somewhere on the post card.
Carey proceeded to sell scads of magazine subscriptions over the first several weeks working with a few others in a small call center in downtown Colorado Springs. One afternoon, there's a knock on the call center door and it turns out to be Mr. & Mrs. Hogue. of Brownsville, Texas, post card in hand, who rather than call in as instructed, decided to simply drive on up and pick up their car. Carey's boss patiently explained to the Hogues that they needed to climb back into their vehicle, drive back home and call the number on the card in order to determine if they had actually won a car, or anything at all for that matter. Mind you the round trip totals 2,310 miles and takes 36 hours if you only stop for gas along the way.
Let us review the evidence presented in this situation involving the Hogues that confirms some of the conclusions drawn by Goldman and Gordon. It is quite clear that the 186,000 residents of Brownsville deployed an initial investigative approach similar to ant colony strategy by sending only two lone scouts from the nest to check out the prospects in Colorado Springs. This displayed great discipline and restraint given that Brownsville has (1) the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty level of any city in the USA; and (2), ranks 5th among the nation's cities for having the highest percentage of residents without a high school diploma.
Furthermore, as no other Brownsville residents traveled to Colorado Springs after the Hogues returned home, it is safe to say that much as ants returning empty handed to the nest, the Hogues successfully discouraged anyone else from making the trip by informing their community that in addition to there being no car, there were predators on the loose.
Furthermore, as no other Brownsville residents traveled to Colorado Springs after the Hogues returned home, it is safe to say that much as ants returning empty handed to the nest, the Hogues successfully discouraged anyone else from making the trip by informing their community that in addition to there being no car, there were predators on the loose.
When Carey called to tell me about the Hogue episode, I asked him, "You do give away a car don't you?"
Carey said, "Yeah, we have to for everything to be legal."
I said, "Well then why didn't your boss just give the car to the poor bastards?"
Carey said, "It's not that simple. The car legally has to go to whoever gets the one card with the unique promo code out of the zillion that we mail. Then the person who gets that one card has to call in and provide the winning promo code. Only then is the car awarded and it ain't going to the Hogues from Brownsville."
I said, "I'm guessing your boss reads a lot of Kafka?"