Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia

[freedom_to_read]

MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - A huge ant colony measuring 100 kilometres (62 miles) across has been found under the southern Australian city of Melbourne, scientists said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/afp/20040812/wl_asia_afp/australia_animals_ants

1st the Russians find a UFO, now this... what's next? "Mole man metropolis found at center of earth?"

[revree]

1. Australia is also home to a species of prehistoric ants...

that harken back to dinosaur era. I remember reading about it in a travel book, how these two teams of scientists tried to find the home colony and it became this ego contest...

Australia, ants, UFOs, Bonnie and Charley, OH MY GOD THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN END!!!

[TX-RAT]

2. Dupe, posted yesterday.

[Beetwasher]

3. All Hail The Ants!

I'll volunteer to help keep the sugar mine slaves in line!

[quispquake]

5. Hee Hee...

"The spacecraft has apparently been taken over – "conquered" if you will – by a master race of giant space ants. It's difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves." – Kent Brockman

[freedom_to_read]

11. LOL! I had this quote in mind, but couldn't find it.

Kent is my fave.

[flamingyouth]

25. I knew we could count on you!

:hi:

[gratuitous]

7. I for one welcome our new ant overlords

And if the nonsensical rantings of a website poster can be of any service to our new masters, I will be happy to render it.

HAIL ANTS.

[short bus president]

15. here ye be:

[hatrack]

4. "Pellucidar" Discovered At Earth's Core, Heroic Voyager Reports

Seriously, this is a very interesting and disturbing story. Thanks for the post! :hi:

[DEMonstate]

6. Somewhat misleading. A colony is deemed to be all one colony if an ant

can enter another colony without a fight. They colonies making up the "super colony" don't even have to be in close proximity. These ant just "all get along".

[randome]

8. Don't forget about the air car.

Soon we'll all be flying around in the sky!

[KansDem]

9. "THEM, THEM!!!"

Sorry, someone HAD to say it...

[rkc3]

10. Couldn't find the photo fast enough. Nicely done.

[freedom_to_read]

17. hmmmm.... sounds familiar

"Ants are the only creatures on earth, other than man, who make war. They campaign, they are chronic aggressors, and they make slave laborers of the captives they don’t kill." --Dr. Medford

[fudge stripe cookays]

12. GOD I hate ants.

Other people freak out about roaches. With me, it's ants.

I got pushed into a large nest of the big huge red ones when I was around 2, and I still remember the horrible searing pain and having to be practically soaked in bleach while I screamed my head off.

And now, as an adult, fire ants give me the heeby jeebies. One reason you will never find me camping in Texas. Too many creepy crawlies (rattlers, copperheads, fire ants, scorpions...you name it, we got it!).

FSC

[freedom_to_read]

13. worse than ants: flying ants

yeegh.

[fudge stripe cookays]

16. Stop! No more!!!

{{{{hands over ears}}}}}

No more talking about ants!!! Yuck! Ick!! Ucky!!!! Noooooooooo!!!

FSC

[Barrett808]

14. Isn't there a huge megacolony that stretches the length of Europe? n/t

[indigobusiness]

19. Yep, Along the coast

from Italy to Portugal.

[gatlingforme]

18. Are you sure this colony isn't under the WH?

[JohnOneillsMemory]

20. Is the AFP working Operation Mockingbird to distract us from Najaf?

Chimps+shiny objects=fascism attention defecit disorder

[Ready4Change]

21. Russians find a UFO?

What's this?

[freedom_to_read]

22. here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=745124&mesg_id=745124

[Crunchy Frog]

31. The Russians are always finding UFOs. eom.

[hunter]

23. Ants are cool...

We have these same Argentine ants in California. Sadly, in many places these ants have devestated the native ant populations I remember from my childhood. Nevertheless, these ants do have their own sorts of charm.

I'm an organic gardner, and I don't use insecticides, so making a grudging peace with the local ants is the only option. But a stable ant colony can be taught to stay out of the kitchen, and not to build aphid farms in the fruit trees. It takes a firm hand, sort of like training a rat or a puppy, except that ant colonies are not "cute" and they will not return any sort of affection. If they could, a colony of Argentine ants would happily kill and eat me and my family, our pets, and all of our food.

One of my hobbies is network topology and artificial intelligence. Ant colonies make a pretty good natural model of these things. It's not so easy to see "thoughts" (to put it bluntly) forming and racing around throughout a vertebrate brain as it is to watch the behaviors of ants when they are faced with novel situations.

Hmmmm...

That's probably more than any of you wanted to know about me, or about ants.

[freedom_to_read]

24. simant

Back in the early 90s, Maxis made a computer game called Sim Ant. It wasn't much of a success but it was pretty interesting.

Do you grow tomatoes? My mom lives in SoCal & she grows amazing organic heriloom 'toes.

[hunter]

26. I never played Sim Ant...

I'd like to, but I really don't need another reason to sit in front of the computer. DU is vice enough...

My wife grows tomatoes, pretty much a mix of whatever catches her fancy in the seed catalogs and whatever volunteers, so we are not a good home for heirlooms.

[rocktivity]

27. As long as they don't smarten up like the ants in that movie...

Oh, yeah, Phase Four with Michael Murphy!!!

:scared:
rocknation

[nonbelief]

28. PHASE IV

PHASE IV...PHASE IV...PHASE IV...PHASEIV...PHASE IV...PHASE IV...

[jackieforthedems]

29. The Tunnel To Mt. Weather Is A Long One

Gee, it took 4 years to dig that tunnel from West Virginia to Australia? The tunnel to Mount Weather is a long one indeed. So that's what Cheney really is: a mutant ant?!?

[talkinghand]

30. This calls for another rendition of Eggplant Head

by the Antman!

http://www.antiquiousv.com

[jdonaldball]

32. Freepers