Mindless?
One thing that most sci-fi games or novels like to frighten us is by suggesting that alien life-forms attacking in mindless swarms (Or swarms that are slaved to a queen/hive mind). We see this in the Zergs of Starcraft. We see the same in the Tyranids in Warhammer 40K. The humans fighting desperately against waves of attackers who care nothing for their injured or dead. At best, these swarms cannibalized their dead and leave the wounded to their own fate.
Now, these sci-fi stories get their inspiration from ants. Most social insects stick to a vegan diet like the termites and bees. Hornets do fight between hives but they are less well known. In our minds, ants (except the queen) are expendable and they will fight to destroy other ant colonies or defend their own nest.
I would agree that most ants use the same tactics as their sci-fi counterparts. They use scouts to locate their enemies (or prey). They attack in quantity. They are rather sanguine about their casualties. There is a fact that we would get wrong. Ants or at least one species of ants do rescue of their wounded.
Before I go into the unique behaviour of the ants, I need to give some background about the Matabele ants. These ants usually attack termites nests for food. The termites though vegans do fight back which results in casualties. There are two types of ants that attack the termites. The majors (because they are bigger and larger mandibles) will try to break up the termite nest. The minors (which are smaller) rush in to grab the termite grubs/carcasses or to fight against the adult termites.
Even though the termites are not as deadly as the ants, they do their best to cripple the ants. The termites either lob off an ant limb or weight it down by biting on to it. Most crippled ants are dead meat as they cannot march faster enough as the rest of the raiding party back to their nest. This resulted in the crippled ants dying of exhaustion or being picked off other predators like spiders.
The Matabele ants (majors) will carry their wounded (minors) ants back to the ant's nests. You may think that the wounded are used as a food source. You will be wrong. The wounded ants will be seen on the battlefield the next day either with the termite removed or with fewer limbs.
Now, before you start thinking that the ants are extremely caring to their wounded, I need to set a few facts straight. Wounded ants are only carried when the raiding party is marching back. There is no evacuation done on the way to battle or during the battle. Secondly, the colony is about 30% larger with the walking wounded returning to duty. The majors do not see the injured ants. The injured ants release a distress pheromone which ensures a free ride back to the nest. The scientist douses perfectly healthy ants with the chemical and observed the healthy ants getting ferried back to base.
"Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." Khalil Gibran
Now, these sci-fi stories get their inspiration from ants. Most social insects stick to a vegan diet like the termites and bees. Hornets do fight between hives but they are less well known. In our minds, ants (except the queen) are expendable and they will fight to destroy other ant colonies or defend their own nest.
I would agree that most ants use the same tactics as their sci-fi counterparts. They use scouts to locate their enemies (or prey). They attack in quantity. They are rather sanguine about their casualties. There is a fact that we would get wrong. Ants or at least one species of ants do rescue of their wounded.
Before I go into the unique behaviour of the ants, I need to give some background about the Matabele ants. These ants usually attack termites nests for food. The termites though vegans do fight back which results in casualties. There are two types of ants that attack the termites. The majors (because they are bigger and larger mandibles) will try to break up the termite nest. The minors (which are smaller) rush in to grab the termite grubs/carcasses or to fight against the adult termites.
Even though the termites are not as deadly as the ants, they do their best to cripple the ants. The termites either lob off an ant limb or weight it down by biting on to it. Most crippled ants are dead meat as they cannot march faster enough as the rest of the raiding party back to their nest. This resulted in the crippled ants dying of exhaustion or being picked off other predators like spiders.
The Matabele ants (majors) will carry their wounded (minors) ants back to the ant's nests. You may think that the wounded are used as a food source. You will be wrong. The wounded ants will be seen on the battlefield the next day either with the termite removed or with fewer limbs.
Now, before you start thinking that the ants are extremely caring to their wounded, I need to set a few facts straight. Wounded ants are only carried when the raiding party is marching back. There is no evacuation done on the way to battle or during the battle. Secondly, the colony is about 30% larger with the walking wounded returning to duty. The majors do not see the injured ants. The injured ants release a distress pheromone which ensures a free ride back to the nest. The scientist douses perfectly healthy ants with the chemical and observed the healthy ants getting ferried back to base.
"Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding." Khalil Gibran
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