Friends, the photograph above shows one species that conducts regular wars against their own kind. The ants shown are not having a friendly wrestle on a Saturday afternoon but are engaged in a fight to the death.
The fact that there are three against three doesn’t make it a fair contest because, quite obviously, the red ants are much larger and stronger than the black ones and their bites are probably more savage. The outcome of this ferocious encounter is predictable and, when it is over, there’ll be three dead black ants lying on the ground. Either that or they’ll be in the process of being taken back to the red ant nest for food or to be used as slaves.
Ants, who are related to wasps and bees, live in complex colonies much like humans and, like humans, their numbers can run into the millions. They have a very strong social system and each insect has its place: workers, soldiers, egg-tenders, food-gatherers, egg-layers (queens), fertile males (drones) etc. If you don’t fit in, you don’t exist for long!
Ants, like humans, may be herbivores or omnivores.
Some ants are very aggressive and will attack other colonies if food is short or they need more land for hunting and gathering. They take prisoners and will even occupy the defeated colony and turn it into one of its own. Some ants keep other insects like aphids and use them for food (if you check Wiki under ants you’ll find out a lot more about these interesting creatures).
The parallels between human society and ants are many. War is common to both. Killing is common to both. The strong prey upon the weak. Both use other forms of life for food. Both have slaves. Both invade and occupy others of their species. Both have rules governing the conduct of the colony.
From there the similarities are few. Ants do not invent nuclear weapons. Ants do not degrade their environment. Ants do not torture. Ants do not dream up fantasies like gods or allow corrupt parliamentary bodies. Ants work together to ensure the survival of the colony, not for their own advancement or material gain. Ants do not take drugs or experiment with their sexuality. Ants, to my knowledge, don’t have inflated egos, etc.
Possibly, because of these differences, ants will probably be around a lot longer than humans will!
Obviously, they are smarter than humans.
I’m not a scientist but what becomes obvious to me is, that every single species evolved on this earth, will over time, increase in it’s body volume, (referring to Darwin, the strongest/biggest outlive the small(est ones) and then, after thousands (or rather millions) of years become too big and heavy to move, but also the big amount of food consumption needed for survival will be too hard to procure e.g. mammuthus (mammoth), dinosaurian.
For contemporary species, the ‘good news’ is , that the time of human beings on earth is limited. be it terminated by nuclear or other unforeseeing causes.
Reply
David G Reply:
April 18th, 2009 at 8:19 pm
Relevant, insightful comment, John. Thanks!
Reply
Iagree with John sooner or latter, probably sooner, we humans will destroy ourselves.
We came into a beautiful world and everywhere we went we brought unnecessary death and destruction.
What is so sad is the fact that is world could be a wonderful home for humans and all other creatures if only we could control our violence and greed, and that is the one thing most of us are unable to do.
When you look back at early native american cultures and see the level of civilization they acheived while still living in balance with their neighbors and nature it is easy to understand why europeans who were captured would return to the tribes that had taken then rather than return to “civilization”.
Yes there where problems with native cultures, but nothing like what we have today and while their lives may have been shorter and harder physically what is the value of a long life if it is spent doing a job you hate so you can become even more stressed buying things you don’t need in a endless attempt to fill an empty meanless life.
Reply
“Insects do the strangest things,” one of my son’s favorite books’ longest chapter is on the ants, as there are alot of different Ant tribes and customs. However, your paragraph that begins with, “From there the similarities are few.” is where our differences are more like the difference between the native cultures that Jeannie spoke of vs. the classic “white man” culture paradigm that most of us exist in. You know the one, the one that feels like we are on the Titanic and the rich are boarding the life boats, while the third class get locked in their side of the ship and there is a huge glacier with our name on it. And the Captain is saying, “Yes, “we” can.” while ensuring the wealthy stay grotesquely wealthy.
Yep, ants will probably outlive humans.
Reply
Tolerance! Taller Ants! The world demands it. We just proved it. Are we good or what. It’s beginning to feel a lot like xmas! If you don’t get it, forget it. No biggie. Just trying to keep it between the navigational beacons, while most everyone these days seems bent on staking themselves out on an anthill. Curious whether ants are suicidal. If not they’re most likely gaining on us!
Reply
Very interesting. Very— However your claim that human beings “experiment with their sexuality” is rather confusing. Those who find themselves to be genuinely attracted to their own sex- homosexual- are living within their own nature– See it would be UNnatural for homosexual persons to have sex with someone of the opposite sex. So they are not ‘experimenting’ with anything; they are living within thier nature— Which, given the abundant supply of human beings out there, may be serving another purpose (Not creating ONE unwanted child). On behalf of mother nature (clearing throat)- Thank you gay people!! (The ones who are out and live their lives)
Reply
David G Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 8:56 am
Problem is that many gay people are heavily into becoming parents, EShallcross, so they are not really a source of birth control.
Reply
EShallcross Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
By no means did I mean to imply that ONLY gay people choose to/when become parents. They, however, if acting on their genuine nature, will NEVER have an unplanned pregnancy. My favorite bumber sticker of all time : Drive carefull- 90% of all people are caused by accidents.
If gay people make the decision to become parents- it is just that- a decision rather than “Well, we got pregnant, so…. we’re having a baby”
Reply
EShallcross Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Living where I live, I know far more gay and lesbian couples that absolutely DO NOT want, nor are planning on having children. In regards to my heterosexual comrades…. I cannot think of a single couple that is not planning on having children. Within the last three months I know 5 couples that have had babies– Five. Come to think of it… I cannot think of one lesbian couple that I know, that is trying to have a baby. Not one. Perhaps just anecdotal…. but I am of the age that this is not passing trend, but a conscious life path.
Reply
EShallCross,
Say what? You think only gay people choose not to have children, or have consciences that incorporate all the potential eventualities of sexual encounters, including adding another human being to the overburdened earth? As David indicated, and from my experience, many gay people don’t adopt, instead opting for one-time (or 2, or 3..), reproductively motivated partnering, or in vitro fertilization. Please don’t get carried away with completely biased and unsupportable contentions. Heterosexuals who choose not to have children are at least as commensurately responsible for exhibiting conscientious control over reproduction as are those whose sexual preference would otherwise render the possibility moot.
Reply
EShallcross Reply:
April 26th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
You are correct in stating that heterosexuals that consciously choose not to have children are deserving of thanks for not burdening the Earth further.
My Point: When gay people have children- it was a conscious decision– Deliberate– Planned– Wanted. This, if you have ever spent any time in a public school, is FAR better than the hordes of unwanted, and unplanned for children that primarily populate the planet. Get it?
I thank anyone who has evolved beyond their own selfish desires to reproduce their superior genes- Gay or Straight. I am simply stating that when Gay and Lesbian people do CHOOSE to do it– It is just that- a choice – Not an accident.
Reply
Given this thread was about the similarities and differences between ants and humans and their implications I’m not sure just how we got onto the question of gay folk having or not having children.
Reply