Nairobi, Kenya — Two Belgian teenagers were charged Tuesday with wildlife piracy after they were found with thousands of ants packed in test tubes in what Kenyan authorities said was part of a trend in trafficking smaller and lesser known species. Lornoy David and Seppe Lodewijckx, two 19-year-olds who were arrested on April 5 with […]
Tag: ants
Would you trust an ant to amputate your limb? Science is showing they are skilled surgeons
An insect bites off another insect’s leg. Is this predatory behaviour, aggression, defence, competition or something else? In the case of carpenter ants, it’s for the good of the amputee and to the benefit of the colony. A July 2024 study found carpenter ants carry out lifesaving amputations on their colony siblings. Image © Waffa/Shutterstock […]
Why Microscopic Organisms Rule Evolutionary History
It’s easy to be captivated by the giants—the towering dinosaurs, massive mammals, and colossal pterosaurs. Yet, if we zoom in, quite literally, we’ll find that the true champions of evolution are the tiny organisms, often overlooked but incredibly resilient and ancient. Picture this: the Earth, freshly cooled, about 3.8 billion years ago. It’s a world […]
Empire of the ants: what insect supercolonies can teach us
It is a familiar story: a small group of animals living in a wooded grassland begin, against all odds, to populate Earth. At first, they occupy a specific ecological place in the landscape, kept in check by other species. Then something changes. The animals find a way to travel to new places. They learn to […]
Survival Skills: Cooking in Nature Without Modern Conveniences
Cooking in nature strips back the complexities of modern life, presenting an opportunity to connect with the environment in a primal way. It’s about utilizing what you have, where you are, to nourish yourself. Embracing the wilderness requires a shift in mindset from the convenience-driven approaches of contemporary kitchens to the resourceful, innovative methods of […]
In Kenya, vicious ants are nesting birds’ best neighbors, study finds
The remarkable partnership between East Africa’s whistling thorn trees and their resident ants is well known, but now a new study brings to light the trees’ relationship with birds. Acacia ants will swarm over branches and bite elephants or giraffes who try to eat the leaves of the whistling thorn (Acacia drepanolobium). As an incentive […]