Post #1804067

2026-04-30 01:24 UTC

@minmi@sfba.social When an ant wants another ant to stop doing something or come look at something and she isn't listening the most extreme form of ant persuasion is bodily transportation. Pick up your sister who is digging in the wrong place (in your opinion) and move her to the right place. Every ant could do this, though older foragers tend to do it more than most. The queen often gets moved in this way since she is often too scared to move to a new nest on her own. But the workers just carry her.

Replies (6)

@futurebird@sauropods.win 2026-04-30 01:29

@minmi@sfba.social Show up at your depressed friends house. Say nothing when they open the door. Pick them up like a sack of flour and take them, amazed, to dinner.

Open ##1804066
@LexYeen@plush.city 2026-04-30 01:27

@futurebird @minmi I have to admire the bravery of L. humile queens, migrating with their workers when their colonies get flooded.

Open ##1897411
@michaelgemar@cosocial.ca 2026-04-30 01:43

@futurebird @minmi Are most/all ant queens mobile? I know that termite queens get huge and are stationary, but ant queens don’t physically change that much, do they?

Open ##1897422
@edsullivan@sfba.social 2026-04-30 02:28

@futurebird @minmi I periodically see ants returning to their nest, carrying a dead sibling. Are they consumed at the nest? I lose visuals after they’re behind the baseboard.

Open ##1897427
@holsta@mastodon.art 2026-04-30 04:02

@futurebird Please stop talking about my work like this. I do waaay more than point people in the right direction. I swear.

Open ##1897433
@minmi@sfba.social 2026-04-30 04:54

@futurebird huh!! I kind of love this. Imagine you’re banging your head against some nonsense at work and your coworker comes by and is just like “no, this doesn’t look productive” and picks you up and carries you off to something more useful. Sounds fantastic.

Open ##1897434