₦airaland Forum

Lanchester’s Law, Part I:

Much like the war-fighting formula laid out by Frederick Lanchester during World War I, army ants
engage in combat by emphasizing the size of the army and strategic placement, rather than troop caliber.
Which means “cheap labor” is assigned to the front lines.
“These aren’t the muscular ‘Mel Gibson in Braveheart‘ soldiers, roaring toward the enemy,” Moffett says.
“Mostly, the “bravest” individuals — the ones that first put themselves in harm’s way — are the smallest,
weakest ants, as well as the older ants and the cripples, the throwaways.”
In some ant armies, there can be millions of expendable troops sweeping forward in a dense swarm that’s
up to 100 feet wide. In the photo below, showing the marauder ant in Malaysia, several of the weak ants
are being sliced in half by a larger enemy termite with black, scissor-like jaws.

Roamin’ Ants, Roman Legions

For example, take the army ant, of which around 130 species have been identified in the Americas alone.
The ants operate much like Roman armies. Moving as a massive, united front, they depend entirely on the
element of surprise.
But unlike human armies, “these ants don’t have spies or scouts,” Moffett says. Instead, they accumulate
as many troops as possible, and coordinate a quick offensive surge meant to overwhelm the enemy. Why?
Usually, to lay claim to new territory that’s got ample food — once they’ve eaten it up, the ant army
moves onto the next target.

Tactical Deception:
Like humans, ants can try to outwit foes with cheats and lies. Here, two ants face off in an effort to prove
their superiority — which, in this ant species, is designated by physical height. But the wily ant on the
right is standing on a stone/pebble to gain a solid inch over his nemesis.
Before this discovery, tactical deception was thought to be restricted to “big-brained” animals like apes
and humans. “It’s unclear whether the ants learned this tactic, or are born with it,” Moffett says. “But
that shorter ant will hustle away.”

In war, they’ve done the horrific. They’ve looted food from enemy homes — maybe even killing the
women and children. They’ve employed suicide bombings. They’ve launched toxic attacks. They’ve even
engaged in cannibalism.
Ants, that is.
Ant colonies bear similarities to human communities: That’s been fleshed out and personified before,
from sharply delineated social order to death rituals to strict punishment for illicit behavior and
treachery.
They’ve got complex societies with a rigid division of labor and ingrained conventions that let them eat,
reproduce and wage war as a single unit. Given their massive populations and, as the famed entomologist
E.O. Wilson writes, their “unity of purpose [and] social machinery,” it’s no surprise that ants are also
bonafide masters of war.
“When it comes to war-fighting, ant species are more similar to humans than most other animals, even
primates,” ecologist and photojournalist Mark Moffett tells Danger Room. “Societies with population
explosions, that extend into the millions, are prone to large-scale, intense, tactical warfare. It’s a nature of
battle only possible among communities with plenty of excess labor force.”
Moffett’s been tracking, photographing and analyzing ant behavior for years, following colonies
everywhere from California to Nigeria. The treks informed a book, Adventures Among Ants, where Moffett
lays out — using some incredible, up-close photography — some of the war-fighting similarities between
ants and humans.
At first, some of the critter’s combat strategies seem barbaric or downright bizarre. Until you realize that
humans have a long history of employing many of the same tactics.

SCROLL DOWN AND LEARN

This one na #SpoiltLaptopGate

A cockroach had been having a good time with us in our room every blessed night and I was disturbed. I tried killing it each time but my
wife tells me not to. So this morning when my wife had gone to work I picked up a broom and searched for it all over the room. I saw it
in between the ghana must go bags in the clothes drawer and forced it out. I placed it close to the door and tried killing it with the
broom, and it gave me the go ahead saying; Go ahead and kill me you coward. Jealousy! That's what you are. You are just jealous that,
every night, I make your wife scream more than you do when I climb her.

eesy:
By March 2013 towards the end of my second term in SS2, I was appointed Senior Prefect of my school. I was so nervous when we (my classmates and me) were called up to the podium of our assemby hall to be given our post. From that very moment I knew a huge responsibility have been placed on me and if I wanted to be remembered as a good and responsible student , I must discharge my duties accordingly.
Although it be that I was a shy and lazy student, I determined to be bold and hardworking to earn a good name for myself. My dream from that day was to be one of the best Senior Prefect my school has ever had. This made me work very hard, even my classmates noticed it. I remember one of my classmates one day came to me and said "eh! eesy you've changed o"though she did'nt tell how I've changed, I knw what she meant. I used to be a very shy boy, I hardly talked to the girls in my class, same to the boys, which made them not like me. So I was just a loner.
But when I was made Senior Prefect things changed, I was able to address my fellow students during assembly and I held a lot of meetings with my classmates, I was the president of SU, Press club and Drama club. In the cause of doing these things I learnt the following lessons:
Public Speaking: My experiance as the SP of my school have taught me how to talk to an audience. I have addressed an audience comprising my principal all my teachers, my school mates and their parents, suming up to almost a thousand people twice. And I did well.
Leadership: Being the SP also taught me the art of leading.
Politeness: Because I wanted to be loved by both my teachers and students, I Was respectful and considerate of other people. It's now a habbit.
Organisational Ability: During my tenure, I organised so many extra curricula activities which featured plays from the drama club and News by the Press club members. This taught me how to Organise a team.
Punctuality: A leader must show good example. I always told my juniors to be punctual and I did so too. Today I apply that in everything I do.
Though at the end of my tenure I wasnt crown the best Senior Prefect, I can proudly say I learnt a lot.

you are in ss3 now

Deejacy2:
Wow never knew, well like they day learning never ends. Thanks a lot for your contribution.

actually, here's more on the topic; www.nairaland.com/1969055/response-why-ants-carry-bodies#27494385

Deejacy2 created a thread on why ants carry the body of their dead here: www.nairaland.com/1967049/why-ants-carry-bodies-fellow , well she is correct to some extent but it's not because of instinct that they want to dispose of the dead members of their colonies in middens (ant cemetery). this is the reason why;

To the naked eye, ants deal with their dead much like humans. When a
member of the colony dies, the carcass will lie where it fell for a period
of roughly two days. In the fashion of a wake, this time period
presumably gives the other ants time to pay their respects to their fallen
comrade. After two days, the living ants take the dead ant to an ant
graveyard in a respectful procession, honoring the good work it
performed for the colony.

Well, not quite. The carcass does lie there for two days and it is carted
off to a pile of dead ants. But this isn’t done out of social obligations or
as a healing ritual to soften the loss. As Harvard entomologist Edward O.
Wilson discovered, in reality, the dead ant must lay there for two days
because the other ants simply don’t realize it is dead.

Two days after death, the tiny ant corpse begins emitting a chemical
called oleic acid. To an ant, the smell of oleic acid equals death. The
experience of death is not a sense of loss, not a dead body, not an ascent
to ant afterlife- it is simply oleic acid. As soon as the living ants smell
the oleic acid smell, they spring into action, carrying the tiny decaying
intruder out of their midst and dumping it into the pile.

Even more interesting, Wilson discovered that if you give a live ant a
bath in oleic acid, it is as good as dead to the other ants. The still alive
(but oleic acid covered) ant is carried off to the dead ant pile, trying to
clean itself, flailing around, perhaps screaming “um, hey guys, I’m fine,”
to no avail. If you smell like a corpse, sorry little buddy, you’re a corpse.
Into the pile with you

SOURCE: www.orderofthegooddeath.com/on-the-death-rituals-of-ants

Hope its not those chinko with hard screen

JigsawKillah:
Your age? Oh
You're 60 already!
Older than Nigeria and brain still underdeveloped than the roads of Nigeria
Idiot

like I said, I dont argue with children ,
so mentioning me to argue with wont do you any good.
Oya, Go and prepare for school,you are almost late

JigsawKillah:
Must you always type?
Foolishness!

[size=20pt]at my age, I dont argue with children[/size]

If you wanted to be FTC, kindly go the 'New Section', Sport section is my zone.

I just dey laugh!!!

So?

Like If You Know Nigeria Will Qualify for AFCON

Share If You Know Nigeria Will Not Qualify for AFCON

And this topic will now go and make frontpage.



PS, I like how Olu Jacobs voice is #GulderUltimateSearchAdvert

Am typing this from Roman Abramovic's yatch





















[size=25pt]so you dont believe me[/size]

Just came to book space

BoiledCorn, longest time!

your theory is wrong, this the correct theory; www.nairaland.com/1969055/response-why-ants-carry-bodies#27494385

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