When Ants Domesticated Fungi

[@eons]

Hi comment section! Ants are pretty cool, right? Make sure to check out this recent video from our friends over at Deep Look on honeypot ants: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iJrHkIyNaLVreaM

[@davidduchesne8421]

How many ants does it take to fill an appartment? Ten It takes tenants!

[@camcasey9479]

hey i hope you are ok you sound like you have been a bit sick x

[@Mr.Autodelete]

I am telling y’all if it took forty million years for ants to go from lower to higher agriculture humans had to have been doing lower agriculture of some sense for a long long time!!! Yes talk more about these topics y’all are the best thank you for another excellent upload!!!!

[@flingage]

ah yes, the ant-icipation was killing me

[@DVOPSEC]

This is the second video that I’ve seen where a life form has lost an ability and was dependent on food to maintain nutrition. First one was that one about how our ancestors lost the ability to make vitamin C. Maybe the next video in the future can cover why it’s easy for life forms to lose an ability but difficult to gain it back?

[@robertalaverdov8147]

Ants also developed animal herding. Their herds consist of aphids. They feed on plant sap and excrete a sweet and nutritious liquid called honeydew, which the ants drink. In return, the ants run a protection racket, defending the aphids from predators like ladybirds.

[@teodorasavoiu4664]

Yeeeees

[@goodking9799]

And sometimes snap their wings off

[@ItsEnderDiego]

Same goes for scalebugs, ant have seen potecting their herd from preditors and even seen carring the bugs to new plants to keep them well fed and productive

[@VocaFan4ever]

Ikr! As a gardener when I see ants I know an aphids infestation is about to break out

[@biokosmos]

exact, they do it on my plants...

[@origaminosferatu3357]

So, basically these ants' ancestors were the equivalent of vault-dwellers, building their homes underground and growing their own food to survive a global apocalypse? Super cool.

[@cmelton6796]

Farm... farm never changes

[@UGNAvalon]

And every time Queens leave their Vault Cities, they take with them their own Garden of Fungi Creation Kit! xD

[@SHF40k]

antout new vegas

[@arandomcommenter412]

FALLOUT: Farm simulator edition

[@MetalS0ldier]

Another Colony needs your help, here i’ll mark it on your map

[@veggieboyultimate]

All this time, I thought the leaf cutter ants were carrying the leaf bits to feed the queen, instead it was something much more complex and awesome.

[@ferretappreciator]

Idk why but I always thought they ate the leaves then would spit stuff out from the leaf to use to build

[@darrenmorales3885]

@@ferretappreciator I think those are weaver ants. But I’m probably wrong

[@DJFracus]

@@darrenmorales3885 Weaver ants do something funnier. They pick up larva and use the larva's silk to stick leaves together for their nests. It's like using a baby as a glue gun.

[@jmmaribong4350]

@@DJFracus kurzgesagt?

[@robertalaverdov8147]

Ants also developed animal herding. Their herds consist of aphids. They feed on plant sap and excrete a sweet and nutritious liquid called honeydew, which the ants drink. In return, the ants run a protection racket, defending the aphids from predators like ladybirds.

[@DeinosDinos]

I went to Costa Rica with my University a couple of years ago and I was lucky enough to be able to see one of those trails of leafcutters! What I thought was really cute is that during rainfall, the ants abandon their harvest and immediately duck for cover, so if you go for a walk soon after a tropical downpour you can actually see a whole trail of these cut leaves just left behind by the ants. For some reason I found that adorable. Love them!

[@keep]

Awesome

[@ericgonzalez8382]

Costa Rican here. They do run for cover when it rains. What’s not so lovely is that they are adapting too well to urban life, like rats or pigeons, and they destroy crops and trees. They are one of the only species besides humans that indiscriminately destroy the habitat that sustains them. It works in the middle of the jungle because there’s sufficient vegetation, but not elsewhere. It’s really frightening to wake up one morning and see a fully grown orange tree completely gone.

[@SyphistPrime]

@@ericgonzalez8382 If I recall there's a species of Ape in their own stone age that's eating all the shellfish in their area to the point where they may doom their progress and lose their tool use when the shellfish run out.

[@sethdrake7551]

water droplets can be really dangerous if youre something as small as an ant: sometimes if a water droplet hits a small insect, the insect can actually get trapped inside it by the surface tension of the water, so they can basically just get drowned by these murderous water prisons that fall from the sky sometimes

[@AtlasAZjourney]

They are cute untill they kill your plants! Costa rican here, they just destroyed my new lemon tree🤣🤣🤣

[@dmanagable]

The idea that leaf cutter ants can trace their development to the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs just blew my mind. And then thinking about the idea that the K-PG meteor "inspired" ants to pick up farming as a lifestyle just blew my mind a second time. Thank you PBS Eons for blowing my mind on a regular basis!

[@dmanagable]

@@Lulu_Catnaps lol whoops thanks for pointing that out

[@ShadowWizard123]

Are you telling me that meteor was covered in ants? Whoa 🐜 🐜 🐜

[@DavidLaMorte]

Ants didn’t trace their lineage. That work was done by human scientists, who deserve your admiration and respect.

[@CatLover-lk9gz]

@@DavidLaMorte Duh. His wording was a tad strange. But that isn't what he meant. He didn't mean that THEY actually even know the origin of themselves.

[@PatrickLongblkwhtrbbt]

Ants learned to farm because of visitors from space???! History Channel was right???! XD

[@edo4867]

"Leaf-cutter ants source only the finest, freshest biomass"... how true that is. Atta ants can destroy many of your garden plants. In an oversight of mine, they destroyed 4 strawberry plants that I had in my house, and in a single night. Of all the plants that there were, they were inclined to carry only the leaves of the strawberry plant. The Attini are admirable beings, but I have read that if they reached other continents outside of America, the result would be devastating for the plants of those regions; and that is very true.

[@olliepope5775]

The fungi actually sends chemical signals to the ants to tell them which species of leaf it "wants" to consume! They switch species on a sort of rotation which explains why they only went for your strawbs!!

[@edo4867]

@@olliepope5775 So it seems. The fungi probably grow much better with the finest, freshest, most tender leaves and branches.

[@milferdjones2573]

Yet the plants with these ants over all do well. I wonder if the ants take bites out of other herbivores who enter their leaf crop land. But when not if they move around the world the local environments will adjust but will not be the same after.

[@aplaceinthestars3207]

That's what I kept thinking about as I watched this. I've read a lot about how leaf-cutters wreak havoc on subsistence gardens in S. America. While they look so... sophisticated and intelligent, scurrying about and hoisting their cuttings like giant banners, I also enjoy consuming produce. *Gives ants the side-eye*

[@tobiasrietveld3819]

@@olliepope5775 Not exactly. As far as I know there is a only a negative feedback from the fungus, signalling back to the ants if a specific leaftype is detrimental to its health. This is then amazingly 'remembered' by the colony for months and was proven by scientists in an experiment that treated leaves with an undetectable fungicide. The positive selection screening of leavestypes is mostly done by the ants themselves based on the nutritional value of the xylem as this is an important energy source for the ants cutting them up (an Atta major cutting up a leaf spends as much energy as an bumblebee flying). Also if the leaf contains many trace minerals, higher moisture levels or very high carb levels it can also be selected.

[@jenerix5257]

Humans with scurvy: "Damn, I wish I wasn't so dependent on these crops!" Attine ants: "First time?"

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

*chef's kiss*

[@riograndedosulball248]

"Plebs", said Lemon growers

[@Cottenball.Dossier]

I NEED THIS ON A SHIRT. I meant to yell 😂

[@connorduncan5164]

Why did I read this in a pirate accent in my mind lmao

[@dianagibbs3550]

Can I just say how cool it is that in about 25 years, we went from 'hey we finally sequenced a full genome!' to 'we are using full genome sequences of multiple species to determine their evolutionary history'? I think it's super cool.

[@BlurbFish]

25 years ago, the CD-ROM was a high-tech data storage device with a capacity of several MB. These days the same amount of data can be accessed by wireless transfers in a matter of minutes, and most children only see CDs in museums or parents' dust-collecting hoards.

[@dianagibbs3550]

@@BlurbFish And both are about the improved power of information processing, more than anything else.

[@nickark4807]

@@BlurbFish yeah when i was a teenager i had a portable cd player 😅 it's not that long ago i swear

[@fionagibson7529]

I remember as a kid reading an article in a magazine about the Human Genome Project that had concluded a few years earlier. Little 6-year-old me didn’t fully understand the complicated parts but I knew what a genome and DNA were, so I was really excited to hear that, you know, we could actually “read” the whole thing. Now it’s like “we found a pinky bone in a cave and pulled an entire genome out of it.” A lot of people younger than me probably don’t understand just how absolutely insane that is.

[@QUBIQUBED]

@@BlurbFishCDs in museums?!😅😂 😭 Are you for real?

[@jimcappa6815]

I was today years old when I found out that the leaf cutter ants weren’t eating the leaves. And by today years old, I mean almost 59. Great info!

[@LuisSierra42]

I think i first became aware of them in one of the Planet Earth documentaries

[@andreahughes1155]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 how is learning new information sad?

[@andreahughes1155]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 What is a "basic" fact? As a matter of fact the narrator stated the same thing about not knowing they did not eat leaves. Sad, that you are going to put someone down for learning something new to them.

[@andreahughes1155]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 What if he focused on chemistry? Or botany? Or nothing at all? We should celebrate those willing to learn new things. I love how you never defined what a "basic" fact was. Not awnsering a question that was asked. 👆 How to say your dishonest without saying your dishonest.

[@andreahughes1155]

@@neo-filthyfrank1347 Also your push up analogy fails on all levels. You dont start with pull ups if you cannot do one. You work out the muscles associated with that exercise until you can do you one, than work from there. Someone who cant do a pull up today but can three months down the road through hard work should be celebrated, not put down. The same goes for knowledge.

[@CascadePSA]

8:20 “[Leaf cutter ants] are considered the dominant herbivore of the neotropics.” That’s really impressive considering they aren’t really even herbivores and are more of fungiphores.

[@JosePineda-cy6om]

We can consider them herbivores with an extra step. Or, if you consider the whole colony as the actual individual, they are indeed herbivores, with these fungi being part of its digestive system, much like most herbivores have bacteria in their guts that help them process cellulose and lignine

[@samuela-aegisdottir]

But with these perspective, aren't humans the dominant herbivore? We cut excessive amount of plants for various reasons connected to our economy - the way how to feed ourselves.

[@MrsBrit1]

I love the fact that the fungus tells them when to change leaf species because the trees will begin giving off toxins because the ants are attacking the tree, so the ants bring the leaf bits back and eventually the fungi sends them a signal that says "EWW, STOP! THIS IS KILLING ME! BRING ME LEAVES FROM SOMETHING ELSE!" and they stop attacking the tree that's releasing toxins and bring the fungus something else.

[@theonahmad9612]

this is incredible, where can i read more about it?

[@theonahmad9612]

how do ants even understand fungi signaling?? mind blown

[@Great_Olaf5]

@@theonahmad9612 Probably in a similar way to how we can tell when our crops or livestock aren't healthy and we switch fertilizer or food.

[@georgemurdock7670]

Now it sounds like the fungi is faming the ants…

[@Great_Olaf5]

@@georgemurdock7670 Domestication is almost always a two way process. We've modified our behavior and even physiology to adapt to our crops and livestock in more ways than most people realize. Most humans can instinctively read dog body language, with little need to be taught, and dogs can usually read human body language and voice tone similarly well. Cross species communication like that is relatively rare aside from a handful of nearly universal traits, note that we typically need to be taught to read cat body language to avoid getting signals crossed, and wolves, despite their relatedness, cannot read human body language like dogs can, often even with training and exposure. Farming and herding are behavioral adaptations to aid our domesticates, and we have, as a species, developed several mutations to help digest starches more efficiently and milk for longer into our lives. Siberian reindeer herders would travel with their herds along their migration routes, which are thousands of miles long, when even the most migratory hunter gatherer populations typically operate within a discrete, if fluid, territorial range that can be crossed and surveyed in weeks if need be.

[@AntsCanada]

Ant love forever! ❤️🐜

[@t.n.h.ptheneohumanpatterna8334]

Hi ants Canada

[@nelditaroseong5955]

Hi

[@KillaCatzGames]

Yo

[@scmontgomery]

Farming has to be my favorite form of convergent evolution.

[@EpicGamer-yq8lb]

Mine is everything being a crab

[@gibbous_silver]

@@EpicGamer-yq8lb if you wanted to know, there’s a word for it: carcinization

[@limiv5272]

@@gibbous_silver That sounds a bit too much like 'carcinogen'

[@jackyex]

@@limiv5272 that's because the word for cancer came from crab, as in the original meaning of the word cancer means crab, because some old Greek scientist thought that the tumors looked like a crab's clawn.

[@WanderTheNomad]

@@jackyex Cancer is just some of our cells trying to evolve back into crabs 🦀

[@TheAntimon13]

I was surprised to hear that the fungi cannot live without the ants. Never thought their symbiotic relationship goes that far.

[@tobiasrietveld3819]

That's also because there are bacteria that completely evolved to predate on Leafcutter fungus. And then the Atta developed another symbiosis with a different bacterium that gets to live in grooves on their 'chest', helping the ants fight off this pest (a lot of the battle is making sure the Ph values stay optimal).

[@axelaguirre5014]

Thats kinda like bananas and us

[@QUBIQUBED]

@@axelaguirre5014technically, even if it would be absurd, you could survive an entire lifetime without eating a single banana

[@starstorm1267]

Kinda like the relationship between certain domesticated animals with us. Some of them are so dependent on us for survival that they can’t live on their own anymore.

[@kziila0244]

“It ain’t much, but it’s honest work.”

[@horacegentleman3296]

It ant much, but it's honest work.

[@beanbean4563]

There's something so adorable about the queen ant taking some fungi with her to start her own garden 😭

[@fernandovillanea6133]

The ploidy number of higher farming fungi are also higher than lower farming fungi, the same thing humans do on domesticated crops, higher ploidy creates an artificial barrier for crossing with wild relatives

[@drts6955]

Fascinating

[@romanmeneghinister1584]

Well, that and in plants, higher ploidy typically results in larger tissues such as seeds or fruits

[@Dragrath1]

@@romanmeneghinister1584 ploidy tends to in general help drive the formation of novel structures which much rarer in animals the genetic fossil record shows polyploidy is associated with a number of key evolutionary radiations in particular based on molecular development processes and gene activation and molecular clock dating, bilaterians, gnathostomes, tetrapods, and amniotes all seem to show evidence linking the emergence of these clades to polypoidal hybridization events during times of extreme ecological stress. Namely the molecular clock dating and where applicable fossil evidence roughly lines up with the Cryogenian glaciations, Ordovician mass extinction, end Devonian mass extinctions, & Carboniferous rainforest collapse respectively.

[@danc6167]

As a kid growing up in Toronto, I always loved going to the Ontario Science Centre and watching the leaf cutter ants in the indoor rainforest. I always found it fascinating to see their efficient little train of plants being carried along.

[@germen2631]

This is so cool. Evolution of a certain species is always a pleasure to see, but one that develops medicine for another species is amazing

[@arealhuman826]

hi ET friend

[@krankarvolund7771]

It's not a species, but a family ^^

[@nickark4807]

It's even if of scary haha maybe eventually they will be so smart that they can overthrow us

[@heck_n_degenerate940]

Assuming the period of fungal domination also caused the other peculiar relationship of fungus to ants (the species of mind controlling fungus); one could say it’s possible to imagine that from the perspective of ants an impact from a space meteor literally gave them the zombie apocalypse.

[@strakhovandrri]

There was a video about these fungi on this channel, check it out. It never says about connection between these two events.

[@leviathen151]

OR....the zombie fungi was the result of a "mad scientist" ant who cross bred the wrong fungal spores

[@swadswadlo3717]

I saw these little creatures in the past life while in Panama. No single file moving for that colony, I think they spread about 18 inches across the trail and they had what looked to be a security detail to protect the column. It was amazing!

[@katelynnehansen8115]

They do! They have soldier ants that keep watch and help protect the workers! Ants are pretty incredible!

[@613-shadow9]

the past life?

[@Elitecommando501]

@@613-shadow9 yeah. His past reincarnation

[@613-shadow9]

@@Elitecommando501 recycled souls

[@jhnyjoejoe69]

@@613-shadow9 he means life in a previous country. Foreigners have an odd aay of using English that isn't used like we use it. Past life he means previous place of living, previous home and life style.

[@sydposting]

Ahh, I've always been so interested in these little guys! Fun fact: Princess Atta in A Bug's Life is named after a genus of fungus-farming ants! 🤗

[@squallleonheart8494]

One of my fav movie of all time.. for me it's 7 samurai part 3.. or 3rd remake hehe.. and I love ants..

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

As a child I always used to love watching ants and have an anxiety of accidentally squishing them. I find it fascinating that those little guys were farming and living extremely complex lives in massive communities. Their world will never cease to amaze me.

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

@The Philosoraptor thank you I appreciate that

[@sethdrake7551]

what really amazes me is that they figured it all out while still being a distributed intelligence. Each ant only has something like 250,000 brain cells--few enough that a smartphone could probably simulate its entire brain in real time

[@OrkKhanobi]

Same, I spent most of my time outside watching ants tried to protect them from other kids.

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

@@OrkKhanobi you are a hero

[@GeorgeTheDinoGuy]

@@sethdrake7551 wow

[@derekbrou]

I am completely stunned, I knew about some ants caring for aphids like livestock but somehow this is even more insane to me

[@gustavoboscardin9351]

I have seem ants caretaking trees in order to feed from their secretions. They literally ate the parasites and guarded the tree

[@canchero724]

And it's something that has worked for so long. 60 million years is a ridiculous amount of time. Makes us look like amateurs.

[@derekbrou]

@@canchero724 can you imagine the number of generations of ant colonies that encompasses?? Or the number of individual ants!? Why does this hurt my mind so much haha

[@terraristit3752]

@@derekbrou Well, since ant workers (in general) live from three years to one month depending on the species, and since an ant queen lives between 20 and 30 years, 60 000 000 years encompasses around 20 000 000 to 720 000 000 generations of individual ants, depending on the species, or between 3 000 000 and 2 000 000 ant colonies, depending on how long each queen lived. And yes, I used a calculator, lol. Hopefully I calculated this right, I *suck* at math, even when using calculators XD

[@canchero724]

@@terraristit3752 Stop. The numbers are getting too big and I'm getting dizzy lmfao

[@Jobobn1998]

I love episodes about eusocial insects! Easily one of the most-effective evolutions on this planet!

[@Mr.Autodelete]

Do you think some species were more intelligent independent thinkers pre eusocial evolution

[@Jobobn1998]

@@Mr.Autodelete Oh, absolutely. We know that human brains shrank by several percentage points when we became more social and interdependent--which makes perfect sense, since we moved towards having more specialized roles rather than every human having to be a "jack-of-all-trades" just to survive.

[@neochris2]

@@Mr.Autodelete More independent thinkers yes, but more intelligent... not necessarily.

[@BossOfAllTrades]

@@neochris2 independent thoughts and decisions are not needed as much, this is a big reason we as humans develop brains for strategic advantages within hunting.

[@lyreparadox]

Nah, the devs should definitely patch that exploit.

[@WranglerJess97]

Ants never cease to fascinate me. Amazing little creatures. As humans, we should be very thankful that ants aren't any bigger. Could you imagine if they were the size of cats or dogs?

[@gucci1131]

Ant's are so bloody cool, they got their own civilization just minding their own business

[@solsystem1342]

If you haven't heard of super colonies you should try looking them up. Although I think some of them are splintering and/or being beaten back by other invasive species (of ant).

[@user-qw9yf6zs9t]

Humans are so bloody cool, they got their own civilization just minding their own business

[@sethdrake7551]

ants are not a species id describe as "minding their own business"

[@gucci1131]

@@sethdrake7551 I guess your right, they ain't minding their business when they eat thru your house 🤣

[@Chaos2Frozen]

@@gucci1131 Well it's not just that- Ants are also a pretty warmongering species ^^;

[@phatrickmoore]

It really is just crazy, this channel does such amazing work. I have been watching y'all's videos for a long time now, it is very special to me. This is important work and we thank you!

[@sebastianfiel1715]

I have a history with these little pests. They have the body covered in spikes, their exoskeleton is ridiculously strong, and each one of them have a size of 1cm. You can step on them and they'll survive like nothing happened. They are leafcutters with huge heads but they also go inside my kitchen to take whatever they can find. What a pain.

[@milferdjones2573]

I spend a short time at a hospital level pest control company. They don't lay poison or traps they go in and seal every possible way the pests get into a structure. There reps spend tons of time crawling into things to find all the seal points. Also including things like finding out pests hiding in carts left in garage and carried inside and roaches breeding inside of phones. With roaches they had to take everything apart and find their nests and kill them the only way the sprayed when actually killing things.

[@jacobm2625]

@@milferdjones2573 roaches inside of phones? Like old landline stuff, or switchboards, or what? I’m morbidly fascinated.

[@uzesamaX]

I live in Uruguay, and it's very difficult to see ants that don't carry their cut leafs. I mean, a person who loves their plants trembles when they see them around, as it won't be long until your favourite and most cared plants have their precious leafs cut, so it's very true they pick the best of the best. Quino even made jokes on Mafalda's dad's plants and his struggle against ants. As for me, I enjoy watching them carrying those leaf bits even bigger than them, and acting as a sail of sorts when the day is windy

[@daniell1483]

Mind-blowing! It is amazing that humans weren't the first to develop agriculture. I wonder if we can learn anything from these "higher agriculture" ant colonies. I can't help but wonder if they have a calorie-rich fungus that we humans could adopt or something.

[@EluviumMC]

I mean, yeast is a fungus used to make bread, so assuming you're not gluten intolerant, you're kind of like these ants.

[@georgemurdock7670]

@@EluviumMC i wanted to write "eew i dont wanna eat some fungus" but yeast is and so are mushrooms… disgusting

[@randompheidoleminor3011]

Fungus farming termites are thought to have evolved fungiculture around the same time as ants and their fungus (termitomyces) produces large mushrooms that are considered incredibly tasty - and rare, as even we humans haven't figured out how to farm them yet! These fellas are also the ones famous for building 'skyscrapers' with complex ventilation systems in Africa, and play an important role in fertilising the soil there.

[@daniell1483]

@@randompheidoleminor3011 That is exactly the sort of thing I hoped to learn when I made my original post! I've never given much thought to termites before, but if they have fungal agriculture then I count them in the same category. It would be really interesting if someday an ant or termite-designed plant/fungus became useful to humans.

[@adamhercik581]

They literally genetically engineered a high-nutritional crop, like wtf.

[@curtiswfranks]

This was absolutely mindblowing. Can you do an episode on aphid farming by ants?

[@neochris2]

How ironic. They went from leaves to fungus because of a lack of leaves. Evolved a dependency for the fungus, then the fungus evolved a dependency for leaves. Now the ants are dependant on leaves again just like at the beginning but its not for them, they have cursed themselves for extra steps.

[@stillsmashin1529]

There are cows out there that eat better than most of the human population.

[@spagootest2185]

@@stillsmashin1529 it's not that hard when your diet consists of grass

[@pinklasagna8328]

Ants dont rely on leaves though

[@Jedislayer19]

@@spagootest2185 funny thing about that is 50% of daily caloric intake for humans consist of cereal grains and cereal grain products (which come from cereal grasses).

[@hasanmuttaqin464]

Just as we are

[@kn9ne749]

Amazing! Hope you can do a video on ants farming aphids and other insects, pillbugs, mealy bugs, etc.!

[@bobcabbit6343]

I love ants! They figured out farming and ranching long before humans were on the scene. I used to keep whole colonys when I was in my 20s. I loved nothing more then watching them work.

[@Kabup2]

Humans start farming about 1 or 2 million of years after evolving.

[@Rudol_Zeppili]

@@Kabup2 the difference between ant groups is more than in primates, it’s just that humans and apes are more intelligent than ants, so we think we have larger differences. But there are probably a lot of intelligence differences among ants.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Do you wonder if ants watched you and wish you pitched in with the work? ;P

[@solsystem1342]

@@TragoudistrosMPH you can easily tell if insects notice you their behavior changes a lot. Usually they panic but some of them freeze as well. Not as familiar with eusocial insects but I'd assume their behavior would change as well.

[@Kabup2]

@@Rudol_Zeppili Humans start to farming through observation and experimentation, but ant's farming was natural selection. Not intelligent at all, although the results are quite similar.

[@handsofrhythm3415]

Thank you, I really appreciate how you graphically present the information you are conveying. I feel that your visuals are becoming more effective. That helps us common folk deal with geological time a bit easier. Please don't stop Eons team, I dream of the day you make me smart enough (because my countries education system didn't) to be able to financially support you. Until then, I am only able to convey my thanks. Thank you very much for all your hard work, don't stop making history funny and interesting.

[@galeksrus]

Oh my goodness, thank you SO MUCH for making a video on the GREATEST SPECIES OF ALL TIME!

[@douglasharley2440]

which one?...as discussed in this video, there are many different species in the ant tribe _attini._

[@galeksrus]

@@douglasharley2440 True. Sorry for the confusion. I really shouldn't have said "species," it was just the first word that came to mind.

[@drts6955]

Rushing to conclusions as usual?

[@galeksrus]

@@drts6955 Oh dear. I've seen FAR too many of those jokes throughout my life. This is the first one in a while, though.

[@uptown3636]

I think this might be the best PBS Eons video yet. Congratulations to the *whole* team for doing superb work!

[@Scarlet_Soul]

There was an old farmer who lived on a rock, He sat in the meadow just shaking his... mandibles

[@Drew-hl3mc]

Yer name? and comment? hahaha.

[@Mithrandir39]

About 7 years ago I went to Costa Rica for a holiday. A holiday for me mean to hunt for animals to take pictures of so we did lots of searching and came across leaf cutter ants in one spot. I was so fascinated by them that i sat and watched them for at least a half an hour. It was amazing to watch them work.

[@HeatherSaltas]

Will you do the evolution of bees? I’m a beekeeper and this would be so interesting!

[@lexprontera8325]

Supporting this with a like and a comment.

[@pepppery]

Fun fact bee's use to prey on other insects for sustenance, then after millions of years of accidentally bringing back pollen to the hive, Bee's said, you know what, this stuff is wayyy better, and easier to collect. So voila!

[@gustavopachecoortizpinchet2412]

I am so happy that I found this amazing video. A couple of weeks ago I was walking with a friend through the center of Cuernavaca (State of Morelos, Mexico) and we saw this flow of ants (about 20 cm wide and several meters long) in the middle of the street, each one carrying a cut sheet. It was already amazing to witness this phenomenon, but now knowing that it could have been ants of an agricultural colony leaves me speechless. This video got me more hooked on bioinformatics. Greetings from Mexico!

[@hayvenforpeace]

It’s amazing that *insects* can be so intelligent to figure out such a complex survival strategy.

[@MagSec40]

The beauty of evolution is how it is able to create competence without comprehension. It's intuitive for us to assign intelligence to certain behaviors, but it's misleading. The truth is more interesting and complex.

[@hayvenforpeace]

@@MagSec40 This is true, and my OP was mistaken. Instinct and programming can be just as powerful as intelligence.

[@rhysarthur3378]

Is it really as complex as we think?

[@stephanieyee9784]

This is incredible and gives me a greater appreciation for ants. They really are quite amazing creatures and very intelligent.

[@toodlesX14]

I guess I always assumed leaf-cutter ants ate the leaves, I never really thought about it. This video is a mind blowing revelation for me!

[@Stgpop]

Thank you PBS for being solely about the facts. So many programs have failed over the years but you guys keep getting better with your wide variety of content covered. Truly the best publicly funded channel since I was a kid

[@LowerTheBoom]

This reminds me a little bit of the episode where they talked about how the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs also created the conditions under which the Amazon rainforest would inevitably emerge.

[@imperium5195]

I love this channel, when I was little I was passionate about all that talk to you on channel, like for example dinosaurs, mesozoic, paleozoic the Cenozoic... also the large mammals of the Paleocene, the Pleistocene, the Miocene... This channel is just literally a gold mine 🤩🤑😌

[@marsbalaba9373]

Designed to be a collaborative insects, it's like a collective information being brought together whenever they perform, a network of connection, ants are awesome indeed.

[@Alice_Walker]

This is one of my favourite Eons videos! So so cool! 🍄🐜🐜🐜🐜

[@germen2631]

"A parade of leaf-cutter ants, tirelessly carrying food to their nest", In that especific moment in the video, you can see a group of ants do nothing while the rest work. Maybe ants and humans aren't so different

[@deithlan]

I don’t have the exact numbers with me but, in fact, a pretty high percentage of ants in a nest are, in any given moment, doing absolutely nothing! They completely rely on the work of others, and hey, it perfectly works for them!

[@RobertSanz1]

"watch tower ants"

[@nickcosimano5028]

I used to have leaf cutters under house. They brought leaves by our front door. Our family loved them and they never left until we moved. I used to help them sometimes. Also, don’t some make vents to empty toxic air from the fungus and bring in fresh air.

[@Mr.Autodelete]

Please more videos on agriculture and evolution!!!!

[@jso6790]

Every episode just blows my mind. The natural world truly is awe-inspiring.

[@user-mx2qx4rl9o]

Great video, loved how much info was packed in here

[@newnamepending7084]

Thank you PBS, for continuing to teach meaningful subjects and blow my mind.

[@guyh.4553]

I think I knew this but it is great to learn the how's and why's of their evolution. As usual, great video Eons!

[@Russo-cy5pg]

this is so cool! my textbook for biology 2 talked about their symbiosis but I did not know about how the impact effected their evolution or about the types of ant agriculture.

[@HobbesTWC]

"which is also how I go through life" made me chuckle. very informative and fun video.

[@grokeffer6226]

Fascinating. When I watched the movie, Don't Look Up, I immediately thought about ants and how they might have survived and thrived after such an event. There would certainly be lots of stuff laying around that an ant could eat.

[@joshualoiacono5488]

Great video! I looked up “Ant fungi gardens” because I’d never heard of them until it was mentioned in a textbook. Thanks for the history and explanation!

[@magichands135]

From what Ive heard, an ant colony has about the same neuron mass as a human brain and all ants together make up roughly the same amount of biomass as all humans. There must be some meaning in there somewhere.

[@solsystem1342]

Not in the same way you think. Ant and other distributed intelligences are much better at some tasks ie: comparing many options, efficient exploration and, multitasking. However they are much worse at other tasks like visual processing, creative problem solving, speech recognition, etc.

[@groverrogers6916]

@@solsystem1342 its almost like the difference between ants and humans is the same as collectivism and individualism hmmmm

[@xenasaur520]

not even close. humans are about 2.5% of animal biomass, whereas ants are about 15-20%

[@tjarkschweizer]

"There must be some meaning in there somewhere" Why? On what do you base this assumption?

[@krankarvolund7771]

"From what Ive heard, an ant colony has about the same neuron mass as a human brain" Yeah, no XD An ant colony can vary, from species to species to a few hundreds individuals to several thousands with multiple queens, or even multiple nests. There's no way that all of these different types of colonies will all be equal to the same neuron mass as a human brain ^^

[@Beryllahawk]

Ah, I do love listening to Blake enjoying a script. The jokes and especially his giggles really made my morning hahaha! Absolutely fascinating video. I had know that leafcutter ants used them as farm fodder, but I did NOT know there was a whole huge group of ants that did similar farming! Nor did I realize how far the leafcutters' range spreads - I thought they were a single species in the Amazon rainforests. (Granted: the documentaries I've seen likely focused on the Amazon species but still.) And a very plausible theory indeed for why the ants might have needed to farm in this way, too. Do we have any notion about the "herding" ant species? I recall being taught that "all" ants (by which I suppose the teacher meant Texas red ants, which were hands down the most common ones in our area and the specific ones we had to look at in the classroom) keep herds of aphids or similar such smaller insects. The particulars surely must vary between regions and species, of course - this information was given me back in the 1980s and was massively simplified for elementary school kids. But it seems like - IF there were aphid herders around the Big Boom as it were - it would make a kind of sense to move from "domesticated" aphids to finding something else to domesticate; aphids rely on plants of course, so they too must surely have been struggling in that dark and humid apocalypse, right? Thank you Eons for another really, REALLY great video! I look forward to the next one - might even say with great ANTicipation!!

[@Meganopteryx]

I've seen opportunistic herding behaviors in fire ants and dark rover ants at the very least.

[@rs8751]

I wonder if there's a similarly lengthy evolutionary and genomic history for those shepherd ants that farm aphids and other insects?

[@lexprontera8325]

Me too! In fact I could think of SEVERAL ideas for episodes about coevolution.

[@mmcguire6286]

I think that humans should domesticate leaf cutter ants so that we can then study the first(?) double-domesticated species: the fungus domesticated by our domesticated ants. This would accomplish nothing but be lots of fun.

[@Najolve]

It'd be even better if we could train them to hunt fire ants that like to colonize my yard.

[@gustavsantos6225]

@@Najolve you would definetly not want that, these leaf cutter ants are ruining my lemon tree, i actually think it is going to die

[@Jamelith]

Lower is more bio diverse and more sustainable. It will only be because we are omnivores that we would have a hope of surviving an age that destroyed our non bio diverse crops. Maybe with a bit of AI help thrown in.

[@jamesdominguez7685]

Absolutely fascinating! I always love your videos, but this one blew my mind multiple times. I kept pausing it and taking off my headphones to tell my wife about the newest thing I'd learned.

[@Eckendenker]

What's even cooler: This happened twice. Termites aren't related to ants/bees at all (they're roaches) and developed beat for beat the exact same model. Colony state. Individual specialization. Breeding Queens. Fully domesticated fungus. Harvesting only a special type of plant (wood).

[@cassiopeiasfire6457]

Leafcutter ants are my favorite! I didn't know we'd worked out their history tho, this was fascinating!

[@douglasgorde5823]

Why is the idea of being domesticated by an ant so fascinating but also so existentially dreadful?

[@MrsBrit1]

What's even neater is that the fungus has also domesticated the ant because it literally tells them what food to bring, and they do it. This is at least true for leaf cutter ants. The trees release toxins to make the ants stop attacking it and that toxin will kill the fungus, so when that toxin reaches the fungus, the fungus sends the ants a signal to stop bringing it and bring something else, and they do! They have to, or their fungus will die.

[@Rudol_Zeppili]

@@MrsBrit1 citation (not because I doubt it, but because I really like that idea)

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

Humans don't naturally go on picnics...ants domesticated humans to provide food AT picnics!

[@solsystem1342]

@@TragoudistrosMPH If you think picnics are the only time you bring ants food you're sorely mistaken. Need I remind you that ants outmass humans that is to say if you put all ants and all humans on a balance scale the ants would weigh more. Like a lot more.

[@SacredDaturaa]

Reminds me of The Future Is Wild where one of the hypothesized future scenarios were the last mammals being farmed by spiders. (Stephen Baxter's Evolution also had a similar concept? I don't recall 100%.)

[@heatherpalmucci5999]

The most Contant rich per square second of documentary footage. Absolutely loved it and I hope to see more.

[@dontask8979]

Question... I heard ants only take what they can use. Here's the weird part... Years ago and I was outside and was using a light weight desk type stapler. Next thing I hear was the exgf son was like "LOOK!" There were ants carrying the dropped staples away. Not like 1 or two, there was like 6 walking off at the same time. We ran like 50 more through the stapler and left them in a pile. Long story short...they carried off everyone of them. Why? Maybe the iron? Iv been puzzled by this for over 20 years. Love to hear some thoughts

[@corruptedminds5679]

Some species of ants use small twigs and such in building thier nests. Maybe it's something to do with that? Honestly no idea though.

[@robertfaler1947]

They read the Dilbert book: "Build a better life for yourself by stealing office supplies"

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

I can't find anything online... An ant species has metal reinforced mandibles ... but not every species does...

[@lenarianmelon4634]

As an ant keeper the most likely explanation is building material, not for the nest but likely for drying a road. Ants use dry and hard materials such as sand when a path gets wet.

[@marcociolli785]

Marvellous, PBS Eons you are AWESOME!

[@LowerTheBoom]

Edward O. Wilson might have liked this episode. Due to the fact that he was a real big student of ants.

[@Antoniomlx]

Living in Brazil, one can often hear, in gardens, the quite loud sound of leaf cutter ants, by the thousands, cutting and dragging leaves around

[@elkoraki779]

Ants are farming, crows are taming wolves and monkeys are entering the stone age we aren't the only ones we are just early

[@Whuditlooklike]

This is the most fascinating thing I have ever discovered from this channel. I had no idea ants were practicing agriculture.

[@huehuecoyotl2]

These guys are all over the place in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas.

[@emberandfriendsanimations2454]

Even here, closer to Houston

[@du_nut_tuch_me4230]

1:18 Carrying a friend in a match be like:

[@nicelydunwell5681]

Amazing spectacle when seen in person! Fire ants en masse are equally amazingly... Not nearly as fun.

[@grillmeisterkush6396]

this is the most incredible thing i have learned from this channel!!

[@johnquach8821]

There are also farming Termites! Some farm fungi as well.

[@khublaklonk4480]

That could make for an interesting comparison.

[@pigboiii]

Bruh that is sooo freaking cool. The part about the queen taking a piece of the fungus to start her own colony is insane

[@douglasharley2440]

*AMAZING!* i am certain that ants will easily take over the earth if/when humans fail.

[@justinjacobs1501]

I mean... they already control the earth.

[@douglasharley2440]

@@justinjacobs1501 no way, humans are the dominant species on earth...whatever we want to do, we do, and nothing but ourselves can stop us. that being said, i'm sure the greatest biomass is bacteria.

[@Mr.Autodelete]

Those mandibles scream future took users don’t they

[@KianaWolf]

Personally hoping corvids fill our niche when we're gone. But I'm biased in favor of the birds. ...And now I have the temptation to write a story about an ant v crow war. Another item for the list of unpursued ideas...

[@douglasharley2440]

@@KianaWolf crows are *amazing* creatures! but ants have a strategic advantage in that they are much smaller, and cold blooded, and thus need far less resources to survive whatever global traumas we humans would have suffered/caused. also, birds in general , and crows in particular, are highly-entwined with humanity's fate (cows too), and i doubt there'd be many crows without humans. peace

[@mollydugan6144]

I’m about to start an internship studying how ants collectively carry large objects to their nests and I just had to press play on this. I was not disappointed!

[@duybear4023]

You should do LICHEN next. I hear they're fungus, algae, cyanobacteria, and somehow yeast.

[@ficialintelligence1869]

I'm lichen your suggestion.

[@VeronicaGorositoMusic]

Yes! And mold!

[@WilliamFord972]

As a biochemist, this was an awesome vid!

[@MrCrownUK]

I though this was going to be a video about ant relationship with aphids. Interesting how different species of ant farm different things.

[@galois6569]

I would like a video on the ants that farm aphids next.

[@drts6955]

I always see ants feeding from aphids in my garden but recently discovered some species of ant actually take the aphid eggs to their nest, hatch them, feed the young, and when they're big enough put them out to pasture on the correct plant :0

[@hurgcat]

@@drts6955 The virgin fungi agriculturalist vs the chad aphid shepherd

[@drts6955]

@@hurgcat another example of convergent evolution certainly lol

[@jwilliams703]

I frekin love ants. they are the words builders and farmers. They're absolutely amazing.

[@xinceras-6542]

I've always wondered, is this specific fungus edible for humans as well? Could we cultivate it as a food source too?

[@kalunmak9112]

we eat plants

[@antoniomigueljimenezmartin4018]

Well.. we make bread with a type of fungus so... not only plants.

[@nyarparablepsis872]

Wow. Just.... wow. Thank you for sharing such amazing things with us!!

[@StitchTheFox]

Ants are for sure one of my favorite animals. They build whole nations and fight each other over territory. I want to have a giant ant room. Just a place rife with ants in like a mock forest. It would be glorious 😍😍🥰🥰😂lol

[@deithlan]

If you don’t know about it already, I’m pretty sure you'd love AntCanada’s channel here on KZbin!

[@silnalapa]

Imagine how Darwin would be thrilled for every new episode of PBS Eons

[@deepanshuverma7149]

UPSC

[@drawwithanita5262]

Haha yes

[@drawwithanita5262]

It would be better to watch these channels than the upsc ones

[@Sjalabais]

Wow, wonderfully presented video full of new information - to me at least. * leafcutter ants are the rainforest's dominant herbivores * they developed agriculture first ... * ... cultivating entirely domesticated and dependent fungi ... * ... that produce "gongylidia" snack buds for their masters That’s the kind of stuff I go to KZbin for, and the way you lay it out and explain it for a non-biologist means I will remember it, too. Perfect!

[@drts6955]

You don't even need to go to the forest, you'll find them in downtown Rio and other cities! And other types take squished cockroaches out of the gaff free of charge! What's not to love about them?

[@CHEVYedsf]

Another awesome video!!! Can we please have a video on evolution of snails and slugs?? I love snails 🥺🥺

[@terraristit3752]

I would like to see one, too. I don't nessecarily love them, but I find it interesting how such a slow animal has survived this long, considering their shell is incredibly weak against any larger animals. If anyone knows, can you please explain what is the evolutionary advantage of having a shell that slows a creature down that much, but grants practically no protection against bigger creatures? I've never managed to figure it out. Thanks in advance!

[@mascadadelpantion8018]

My girlfriend was just saying how cool ants are and that I should get over my fear of bugs. But I will always admire Aunt from afar because you know they're gross

[@fersuremaybek756]

it's the little things piling up that build up to such amazing futures, will we ever see another species defining moment such as "fire" or "tools" that will propel them further.

[@alto7183]

Si esto pasa con insectos, no me extrañaria ver seres inteligentes biológicos que hagan esto hervivoros con hongos y otros seres, sin mencionar hasta manipulación, domésticar algo que a su vez doméstica otro ser vivo, sugerencia y opinión personal.