Size doesn't always matter. In the world there are a huge number of insects that are much more dangerous than animals. Bites from some insects can be fatal if not properly treated.
We bring to your attention the top 10 most dangerous insects in the world, as well as their photos.
The most dangerous insects in the world
bullet ant
The bullet ant is the largest of all ants in the world. They mainly live in the rainforests of Nicaragua and Paraguay. This species of ants got its name due to their strong bites, which in pain resemble a bullet shot. Scientists have found that a bullet ant sting is 30 times more painful than a wasp sting.
Each colony of these ants has several hundred inhabitants. Usually, they build their nests at the bases of large trees. When a predator is detected, these ants release bad smell. If this trick doesn't drive away uninvited guest- they attack him with almost the entire colony.
Mostly gadflies are found in Central and South America. Young females of these insects lay their larvae in the skin of mammals. The larvae take root under the skin and stay there for 60 days, affecting the subcutaneous zone.
Patients who turn to doctors claim that they can feel the movement of the larvae. After the rim larva matures, it leaves the body.
There are about 2000 known species these insects. Young fleas can consume up to 15 times more blood than their total body weight. A favorite place for flea bites are the waist, elbows of a person. A flea bite causes intense itching and can lead to infection.
fire ant
Currently, about 285 different species of fire ants are known to exist. They are very aggressive and, in case of danger, leave painful stings in the body of the victim. A white pimple caused by a stinger entering the human body will give pain for several weeks.
Also, fire ant venom can lead to some skin problems. Usually, fire ants attack their victims in groups consisting of 10 to 100 insects.
Triatomine bug
Every year, about 12,000 people die from the “kisses” of triatomine bugs in the world. Even the weakest bite of these insects instantly makes changes in the human and animal body, which cannot be eliminated without the help of doctors.
Giant Japanese Hornet
The giant Japanese hornet is the largest hornet species in the world. They grow to a size of 2 inches. About 40 deaths from the bites of these insects are recorded annually in the world.
The venom of the Japanese hornet causes an allergic reaction and burns the human skin at the site of the bite. With multiple bites of these insects, a person can die in just a few minutes.
Japanese hornets are very aggressive and fearless. Each colony of these insects contains 700 members. They feed on honey bee larvae, and they can kill about 40 large bees in just a minute.
tsetse fly
Tsetse flies are among the most dangerous insects in Africa. They mainly feed on the blood of vertebrates, into whose body they inject a powerful toxin after the strongest bites of victims. For some people and animals, the bites of these insects can even be deadly.
According to unofficial data of scientists, about half a million people are attacked by tsetse flies every year, of which about 20% are fatal.
At first, the poison of these insects induces drowsiness and severe weakness on its victim, and if medical assistance is not provided to the patient in time, he may die.
Africanized bee
These insects are also called "killer bees". They are among the most aggressive and dominant insects in the world. A group of Africanized bees are capable of chasing their prey for over one mile. They usually attack in groups of several hundred individuals.
The toxin of Africanized bees is not as dangerous as it might seem at first glance, but they amaze their victims with their numerical superiority. They mainly attack the face of a person, especially the eyes.
These insects live in large colonies, the number of which reaches 30 thousand individuals. After someone or something has disturbed these bees, it is dangerous to stay near their colony for 24 hours, as they will immediately attack.
wandering ant
The roaming ants have the largest colony of any other insect in the world. Each colony of these ants can contain about 22 million individuals. Even elephants are forced to run away when they are attacked by such a huge number of insects.
They are able to destroy any animal that gets in their way. Usually, roaming ants kill thousands of different animals during a single raid. With their strong jaws, they leave wounds on animals and people.
Mosquito
Mosquitoes are the most dangerous insects in the world. Every year millions of people all over the planet die from their stings. Mosquitoes are carriers of malaria, which is transmitted to humans through microbes carried by these insects around the world.
A person becomes infected with this especially dangerous disease through the bites of mosquitoes. The WHO estimates that one child dies of malaria every 30 seconds worldwide. In just a year, about 500 million patients who are diagnosed with this terrible disease turn to doctors.
In addition to malaria, mosquitoes also carry dengue, yellow fever, encephalitis, and West Nile virus.
Our world is inhabited by a huge number of insects, both dangerous and completely harmless, both frightening and quite attractive. Some representatives of insects (for example, termites) cause genuine phobia in many people and have an unattractive, and in some cases even disgusting appearance. But do not admire the cute caterpillars, butterflies and beetles, which stand out for their special cartoonish appearance, because many of them carry a real threat to health and even human life and belong to the rating "The Most Dangerous Insects in the World" . In this article, we will plunge into the world of the top ten insects that pose a serious danger to human health.
1. Fire ants. The red ant (fire) is recognized by scientists as the most dangerous view invasive ants. Insects are distinguished by bright colors, which formed the basis of their name. The body length of ants is very small and does not exceed 2-6 mm. This type of termites lives in America, but in recent years the habitat has expanded, reaching Russia.
Fiery red ants pose a serious danger to humans, as they have a strong sting and powerful poison. When the toxin is injected into the affected area of the body, there is a feeling of exposure to an open flame of fire, which intensifies over time. Ants attack people if they feel danger to their own anthill. In this case, the attack is a whole group of termites that sting mercilessly. According to statistics, about 30 people die from the bites of fire ants per year.
2. Ticks. To date, scientists have discovered about 48 thousand of these insects. Many of them do not pose a danger to human health or life. For example, a domestic field tick lives next to a person throughout its life, but due to its microscopic nature, it does not cause any harm.
Another thing is larger individuals of ticks, in particular, encephalitic ones. Incubation period after the bite encephalitis tick is 2-4 weeks. During this period, aching bones, a sharp increase in temperature, and headaches can be observed. In the worst case scenario, the victim falls into a coma, there are disorders of the central nervous system which can eventually lead to death.
Another name for this insect is steppe, which is associated with the habitat of arthropods. The spider has bright color which catches the eye. Karakurts do not attack without a reason, therefore, to become a victim of a bite in Everyday life almost impossible. An insect attacks only if it feels a threat to its life. The greatest activity of the Black Widow is observed in June-July, when the air temperature reaches its maximum.
It is noteworthy that not all steppe spiders pose a danger to the life and health of animals and people. Only females (Black Widows) are recognized as poisonous, which are known for eating their partner after fertilization. The poison of the karakurt is 15 times stronger than the toxin that the rattlesnake releases. After a bite, a person experiences severe acute pain that spreads throughout the limb. Within 30 minutes, the poison enters and spreads throughout the body. If you do not inject an antidote, then a fatal outcome is possible. Therefore, the victim should immediately seek help from specialists.
Not all caterpillars that live on Earth are considered safe insects. Lonomy is a true confirmation of this. The caterpillar lives in the forest zones South America. Among the locals, the insect was called the "lazy clown". Lonomia is perfectly camouflaged on shrubs, so you can suffer from a caterpillar randomly.
The caterpillar attracts people with its appearance- graceful, beautiful, bright and catchy. But behind this charm lies a powerful toxin, which is secreted by small villi on the body. The poison of the insect is so strong that the affected person experiences almost instant kidney failure. In addition, the process of destruction of red blood cells is started, which causes serious bleeding of internal tissues. Characteristic spots appear on the human body - bruises.
If a person manages to touch several killer caterpillars at once, then the risk of lightning hemorrhage in the brain increases. This is followed by a stroke, which becomes the cause of death. According to statistics, every year from 10 to 30 people die from this insect. Many of the victims become disabled for life.
The hornet lives in Asia, India, Nepal, China and Korea, however, bees were also seen in the Primorsky Territory on the territory of the Russian Federation. It is recognized as one of the largest hornets in the world, since the body length of individual individuals exceeds 5 cm. The bee has powerful jaws and a 6 mm sting that easily pierces the skin of an adult. The insect attacks for no particular reason, and fight it off without outside help almost impossible.
During a bite, the hornet repeatedly lets its sting into the skin, thereby saturating the tissues with highly toxic poison. This toxin literally corrodes human flesh, causing unbearable pain and suffering. A Japanese entomologist who was attacked by a hornet compared his bite to a tissue puncture with a hot nail on fire. Death from tiger bee venom is recorded in 30-70 people annually.
6. Androctonus. The black scorpion is recognized as one of the most dangerous insects for humans from 25 other varieties of scorpions that have the strongest poison. Androktonus lives in the arid regions of the Middle East and Africa. Scorpion venom consists of a potent neurotoxin that causes the death of an adult human in 7 hours. Children with an insect bite die much faster. The antidote is produced by only a few pharmaceutical companies, which limits the range of medical institutions where they can provide first aid for intoxication.
From the bite of Androctonus, up to 10 people die annually. During the attack, the victim feels only a slight discomfort, resembling a weak injection. After a couple of minutes at the bite site pain grow, the affected limb swells and turns red. In the future, the work of the respiratory center is disturbed, convulsions are noted. Ultimately, the toxin reaches the chest and causes paralysis of the heart muscle. If help is not provided, the person dies.
Very dangerous insect living in South America. Anthills are located on trees, so killer ants swoop down on their prey right from the branches. At the same time, they give out a piercing squeak, which is a cry for other individuals. And as practice shows, not a dozen, but a thousand insects come running to this squeak.
Ants have a highly toxic venom that they inject when they bite with their super-powerful stinger. The sensations that the victim experiences during and after the bite are comparable to a gunshot wound, which became the basis for such a name. Among local residents, the name "ant-24 hours" is also used in everyday life. This is due to the fact that after being bitten by an ant, a person will fight for a day in excruciating agony, which is accompanied by unbearable pain and powerful convulsions.
Until today, some Indian tribes have a common custom of initiation into a man, which consists in the need for 10 minutes to put a hand in a mitten boiling with these ants. The sensations from this ritual are comparable only to if a person sticks his hand into hot coals. After the agonizing minutes of the ceremony, many of the boys become paralyzed, and their fingers turn completely black.
As practice shows, among ants there is a huge number of deadly species of these insects. Therefore, army ants occupy one of the most honorable places in the ranking. These termites are dangerous because they are blind, so they attack all those in whom blood flows and eats flesh. And it doesn't matter if it's a fly, an elephant or a person. Soldier ants travel in colonies and do not build anthills, so anyone can fall under this all-destroying force.
Insects have a large body, which often reaches 3 cm in length. The main weapon is a long and strong mandible, with which they cut through the flesh. After the formation of an abrasion, they penetrate inside the flesh, starting to gradually destroy it. This causes unbearable pain to the victim. " living death”- this is how scientists characterize the columns of soldier ants. They are able to completely eat an elephant in 6 days, what can we say about a person who can become their victim.
The main danger of these insects is that they are essentially invaders. If the bees familiar to people do not attack without an immediate threat to the hive, then the killer bee will certainly attack everyone passing by. They hunt in swarms, and the venom is comparable to snake toxin. And if one individual attacks, then nothing terrible will happen to the victim. But if a thousandth swarm goes on the attack, then a severe allergic reaction will occur, followed by anaphylactic shock and in most cases death.
Killer bees are a product of human activity. It is impossible to distinguish this insect from an ordinary European bee in appearance, only if DNA research is carried out. The main danger of Africanized bees is their "addictiveness". If they previously lived in America, then on present stage their range is increasingly deepening to the east, while the bees destroy everything in their path.
This insect is recognized by scientists as one of the most dangerous in the world. This is due to the fact that they are a source of infection of people with sleeping sickness. Despite all the successes of medicine, it has not been possible to find a cure for this disease until today.
After a bite, a person has drowsiness, serious disorders of the nervous system, which makes the consciousness of the victim confused and foggy. In severe cases, the disease causes coma, and later death. According to statistics, in the territories south of the Sahara desert, about 500 thousand inhabitants are infected with a deadly virus and most of them will face a long, painful death.
No matter how cute the insect is, it can carry a deadly risk for any person, so you should be especially careful when traveling to exotic countries that are teeming with killer termites.
The ant family is by far the most evolutionarily advanced. They live in colonies in which self-organization and division of labor are clearly traced. Ant individuals have a special "language" that allows them to convey complex information, as well as a smell that allows them to determine the belonging of individual individuals to a particular family. In nature, they maintain a symbiotic balance with other insect species, plants, bacteria, and fungi.
Today, science knows more than 14 thousand varieties of ants, 300 of which live in Russia. Not all of them are harmless to humans, and their population is increasing every year, so it is recommended to know as much as possible about them, especially when ants are constantly trying to take root in a house or apartment.
What are ants and what is their role in nature
Despite the beneficial ecological and agricultural features of ants, they can still harm humans by settling in human habitation. From a large number varieties of ants should be aware of the most dangerous for humans that live in nature and venomous bites which can be fatal to sensitive people.
ant family
In spite of different kinds ants, all of them do not live as separate individuals, but build a common house - an anthill, within which they multiply their population. In each of these ant settlements, ants are divided into groups that perform a specific task.
The colonial way of life of these insects contributes to the subsequent division of one anthill into several others. They often build their dwellings deep in the soil, in rotten wood, under small rocky rocks, and can also settle in the foundation of a house, under floors, in the outer cracks of walls.
The most dangerous ants
Dangerous ants are often referred to as killers. Killer ants are not fiction, but scientific proof of the existence of such insects, which can lead to the death of a person, allergy sufferers are more at risk. But this does not mean that other people may not suffer from their bites.
Poisonous ant populations include the following varieties:
There are legends among people that cannibal ants are the most dangerous. However, this is just a myth. Ants don't eat people. Their dangerous species can bite a person, due to the many bites and a large number ant poison, he can die. Small children are at risk of being bitten by hordes of ants.
The biggest ants in the world
People are afraid not only of the poisonous properties of ants, but also of their size. Not all types of ants in nature are small insects. The most gigantic of them are represented by the following types:
The smallest ants
The smallest individuals from the family of ant insects are house ants that settle in people's houses and apartments: pharaoh ants and small red ants (they are also called brown ants). They are attracted to any food waste. Often they settle near the trash. The size of their bodies is 2-4 mm, males are winged. They are a big problem for residents, because they can settle in furniture, floors, foundations, and even household appliances. It is very difficult to fight him, one apartment can be one big anthill with many hidden passages and nests.
Pharaoh ants can enter an apartment from neighboring housing, from the street through windows, with things or products brought. House ants are large colonial hordes, the neighborhood with which is not something pleasant.
At home, ants with wings can also start. Flying individuals are not some special kind of ants, they are just flying females and males, which have a so-called mating season. Flying ant specimens signify that somewhere in human habitation the development of an anthill is soon planned. The wing is food for the female after she has laid her eggs. But the males die after the fertilization of the females. 
Pharaoh ants and redheads can annoy residents for years, the only effective method to combat them - the use of toxic agents - sprays, powders, mixtures, gels, aerosols, boric acid. The process of struggle is quite long, because the effectiveness of the methods of struggle depends on the rate of death of the queen of the anthill.
Ant populations are very large, some species interbreed with others, and sometimes it is very difficult to determine which species they belong to.
- In nature, a spider was recently discovered exactly similar to an ant. But the fact that this is not an ant is indicated by eight legs instead of six. Such spiders make their way into anthills as scouts. An excellent disguise of such a spider is not distinguished even by ants.
- Not all ants build their homes in tree trunks and in the ground. Ants, called weavers, make their homes on the branches of trees, stitching the leaves with cobwebs that the larvae secrete into a large cocoon. The weight of such an ant nest can reach three to five kilograms.
Ants against termites
In nature, there are both small red ants, medium and large red and black, brown, and a white wingless "ant". This is what termites look like. What is most interesting, they have nothing to do with ants, although they are similar in appearance to them, they are direct relatives of cockroaches. Termites are a treat for ants.
Ants are the most common insects in the world. Among the representatives of this species of arthropods, there are also poisonous ants, whose bite is fatal to humans. Most of them are found in the tropical forests of South and Central America and Southeast Asia, on the African continent and in Australia.
On the European continent and in Russia, there are no ants that are dangerous to humans. However, the bites of red forest ants, common in Russian forests, are dangerous for people suffering from allergic diseases, and in some cases can provoke the development of coma and anaphylactic shock.
The poisonous threat of many species of ants is greatly exaggerated, but there are still several varieties whose bite is very dangerous for humans. Below are several species of these insects, the meeting with which is fraught with disastrous consequences for people:
poisonous ants
Some species are less dangerous to humans, but are also poisonous. Among them:
Russian representatives
But at the slightest danger, these insects turn into a real instrument of torture. Their numerous bites provoke allergic reactions, accompanied by itching, redness and swelling in the affected areas. There are frequent cases of dizziness, nausea and vomiting. Allergy sufferers may develop swelling of the face and throat, and speech impairment. In some cases, anaphylactic shock is noted. Eye burns with formic acid are comparable to chemical ones and are just as dangerous.
To eliminate negative symptoms, antihistamines are used, and ice should be applied to the affected areas.
Ants living in residential premises do not pose a poisonous danger, however, they are real pests and peddlers. infectious diseases. They begin their existence from the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, therefore they are sometimes called "pharaonic". These pests can cause a lot of trouble, and it can be quite difficult to exterminate them: people have to invent more and more new means of controlling insects that have developed strong immunity to various insecticides over the years of their existence.
The diversity of the world of insects and the properties attributed to them sometimes inspire people with mystical horror. There are legends about the existence of mutant insects in areas of high radiation, underground and in the laboratories of scientists. It is sometimes difficult to separate truth from fiction, but those who are interested in the diverse world of insects will have to face the mysterious properties of these eternal human companions more than once.
In their fight against "harmful" insects, people do much more harm to themselves than those with whom they fight.
Ants are social insects of the suborder of stinging hymenoptera, the closest relatives of wasps and bees, but not all species have a sting and poisonous glands. It is thanks to their remarkable ability to cooperate that ants have become the dominant group of arthropods. In warm countries, on 1 hectare of land, you can count up to 20 million individuals of these ever-hurrying, businesslike creatures.
More than 10,000 ant species are distributed throughout the globe, except for the Far North and Antarctica. The most interesting, diverse and highly organized of them live in the tropics, but in Russia there are also some "ant wise men". For example, red wood ants (Formica rufa) are an inexhaustible source of research and discovery. Surely you have seen their magnificent anthills in our forests, where little red-haired workaholics participate in soil formation and save plants from caterpillars.
Ant Wars
A few paces away from me, among the dense vegetation, a black mass appeared on the ground: ants were advancing. These predators, ants-ecitons, destroy all living things in their path.
Arkady Fidler . Call of the Amazon
If Europe manages to get along more or less peacefully next to the ants, then the United States is less fortunate. As recently as yesterday, you threw a sugar bowl on the floor in horror at the sight of yellow pharaoh ants (Monomorium pharaonis) and urgently called the insect extermination company? What a trifle these your worries are compared to the long-term war between the USA and red fire ants (Solenopsis invicta)!
Dangerous invaders were accidentally brought by sea to the United States from South America in the early 1900s, when an active cattle trade was established. Insofar as climatic conditions turned out to be favorable, and there were no natural enemies on alien land and could not be, after a few years the fire ants multiplied in incredible numbers. They "captured" more and more territories, moving from Alabama to California. Small fiery creatures mercilessly stung farmers, erected anthills in the path of mowers and undermined the image of an omnipotent capitalist power.
In fact, the Americans suffered much more from the poison of wasps and bees, but now the USDA had a good reason to launch "heavy artillery" against fire ants. Mirex pesticides were sprayed all over the southeast of the United States from numerous helicopters and began to wait for the results ... The first to sound the alarm was the biologist, founder of the global environmental movement, Rachel Carson, who later described all the vicissitudes of this war in her bestseller " Silent spring (Silent spring, 1962). “Who has the right to decide for all of us,” she indignantly, “that the highest value is a world without insects, a barren world not even adorned with the wing of a flying bird?” Rachel was right - after eating Mirex-flavored worms, all migratory thrushes disappeared, and in 1976 it was convincingly proven that these chemicals are dangerous to humans and are a heart toxin. Perhaps Carson herself was a victim of pesticides that provoked cancer - two years after the publication of the book, she died.
By the way, in the USSR there were also attempts to use Mirex, but not on such a large scale.
chemical question
A mortal did not win victories over the sky.
Everyone in a row is devoured by the earth-eater.
Are you still whole? And brag about it?
Wait: you'll get the ants for dinner!
Omar Khayyam. Rubaiyat
By the 1990s, fire ants, unlike thrushes, had recovered and expanded their populations. And now they are interested not only in newborn chicks, but also in wires, air conditioners, traffic lights and other electrical appliances that they disable, causing economic damage to the United States in the amount of $ 6 billion a year. The description of the great "ant confrontation" is included in many abstracts and scientific works on ecology, in particular, in 2004, the "detective" work of Joshua Bus was published ( Joshua Blu Buhs. The Fire Ant Wars), which once again reminds of possible consequences the use of pesticides.
 |
Despite the development of transgenic technologies that will help us protect crops from codling moths and leafworms, the topic of chemicals is still one of the hottest in the world. For example, the BBC recently reported that nearly one-third of British food contains pesticides. Even more noise was made in June 2006 by the discovery of a group of scientists from the Department of Public Health at Harvard University, led by Alberto Ascherio (Alberto Ascherio). It has been shown that pesticides used in agriculture increase the risk of developing Parkinson's disease by 70%. Based on this discovery, Mrs. Bertrand Couderc, a lawyer for a certain agricultural worker, was able for the first time in France to prove that his illness was an occupational disease and to achieve significant financial compensation for her ward.
Perhaps, with the help of the fashionable theme of the far-fetched danger of genetically modified organisms, they are trying to distract us from a more real threat? For me, the "chemical question" will always be relevant, since I myself have experienced the effects of chemicals. When I was 13 years old, we moved to a town not far from one of the oldest cities in Siberia - Usolye-Sibirskoye. It always seemed to me that Siberia with its wonderful green taiga is the lungs of Russia. How wrong I was! Almost every morning our houses were covered with a thick cloud of chlorine, and after a few months from a cheerful and healthy child I have become a stunted creature. Then I did not know who was to blame and to whom I should turn my hatred. But surely they could breathe normally and did not know the terrible word "asthma". I was urgently sent to Kyrgyzstan to my grandmother, and I was saved, which cannot be said about some other children who became disabled. They say that at present the ecological situation in Siberia has improved only because many chemical industries are idle due to the economic crisis. But back to our "great and terrible" ants.
As tempting as it was to launch a "chemical attack" on the ants, the USDA has shifted from pesticides to more sophisticated strategic developments. So, from South America have already been imported natural enemies fire ants are humpback flies of the genus Phoridae, which lay their eggs in the body of a living Solenopsis invicta. The developing larva eventually decapitates the ant with the help of a special enzyme. In South America, one can often observe how humpbacks swarm over ant colonies, and their larvae, hiding behind a mask from the head of an ant, brazenly “walk” along with Hymenoptera.
And the fight goes on again
The ants had no doubt spotted the arsonists and were chasing them. They ran faster than people, and the distance between the one and the other was getting smaller and smaller.
Vladimir Obruchev. plutonium
No one wants to go through the sad experience of the United States, but until scientists have invented a biofilter like the one shown in the movie "A Sound of Thunder", no one is safe from invasions of South American ants. So, in March 2006, Israel was attacked by the army of the same militant Solenopsis invicta. Creepy photos of Israeli crabs covered in fire ants have been circulating around the world, and "Beware of ants" warnings have appeared on beaches. In Australia, frightened environmentalists are fighting the "crazy" yellow ants Anoplolepis gracilipes, which inject acid into the eyes of local defenseless lizards and chicks and threaten to destroy endemic fauna. They are trying to fight them with the help of a special insecticide "Fipronil" mixed into food balls that are attractive only to ants of this species.
Russia, with its cool climate, is not a very pretty place for tropical "barbarians", but a fire ant, Solenopsis savissima var, has already been found in one of the Moscow hospitals. Richteri. If we take on faith the hypothesis of some pessimistic scientists, in particular, Mike Pilling (Mike Pilling) from the University of Lind West Yorkshire, in 100-200 years the climate in Europe will become incredibly warmer. Probably, it will be pleasant to harvest two or three crops a year, but nothing else will prevent heat-loving ants from conquering new territories.Some tropical ants can bring an unadapted European to a heart attack with their appearance alone, but what will happen if they come to visit you? In the jungles of Southeast Asia, I saw colonies of ants a meter (!) wide that swept through the grass like giant black waves. Tourists fled away, and only naturalists like me looked at this riot of life with great pleasure. And the point here is not courage, but knowledge of the habits of insects - most ants do not look for meetings with a person at all and rush at him only when the "destroyer" approaches the nest. The most dangerous are South American and African wandering ants, which sweep away everything in their path, and people have to leave villages or build a fire barrier around their houses.
In Search of Solomon's Ring
So ants, colliding somewhere,
rub their stigmas to find out
maybe about booty or about the path.
But only a moment, the embrace of friendship lasts.
Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy. Purgatory. XXVI song
Is there a way to protect yourself from Hymenoptera invasions? Probably, the study of the behavior of social insects will help us in this. When crowds of hungry leeches or mosquitoes attack you, you have to flee, but ants are more highly organized creatures, so why not… negotiate with them! As the prominent ethologist and Nobel laureate Konrad Z. Lorenz used to say: “I have every reason to believe that Solomon really could talk with animals, and even without the help of a magic ring, the possession of which is attributed to him by legend.”
The so-called hypothetical language of ants is still too complicated for human understanding, but experiments to decipher it have been going on for a long time. This language, most likely, consists of a complex of smells (pheromones), gestures (limb movements) and antennal contacts. The most popular object for studying the “linguistics” of insects is honey bees, relatives of ants. It was on them that the Austrian zoologist Karl von Frisch, who received the Nobel Prize in 1973, proved the existence of a symbolic language of dances. The final confirmation of the presence of "language" abilities in bees was received in the early 1990s by an engineer from Denmark, Bent Bach Andersen. He conducted a truly amazing experiment, creating an artificial robotic bee that gave commands to real bees where to fly for nectar. And they did it! Such experiments are incredibly difficult for a number of reasons. For example, bees from different localities have different dialects, much like people from different republics.
But this does not prevent us from dreaming how convenient it would be to learn to “speak” to ants: “Danger! Everyone get out of this area immediately!" A less fantastic way to deal with ants is to synthesize the smell of ant enemies and introduce it into the anthill. Insects will no longer distinguish who is theirs and who is a stranger, and they will arrange a "fratricidal" war. Similar experiments are already being conducted at the University of California at Irvine (UC Irvine) on the Argentine ants Linepithema humile, also imported from South America and crowding out local arthropods. A group of scientists led by Neil Tsutsui managed to obtain a substance that "Argentines" perceive as a label of ants of another species.
Unless they know how to embroider with a cross
Is there anything in the world more beautiful than an ant? The lines of his body are clean and curved, the aerodynamics are perfect ... He looks like an Italian racing car.
Bernard Werber. Ants
If we forget about the ant wars, in which man himself is guilty, then the civilization of ants is an interesting object for peaceful study and contemplation. Try one day to watch the "ant wise men", and very soon such a hobby can grow into something more. The simplest and most innocuous experiment to detect ant "intelligence" is this: place a low candle on the dome of the "house" of red wood ants, and you will find that they are able to put out the fire with the help of well-aimed shots of formic acid.
The mysterious behavior of insects has also given rise to a new fashion - in some European pet stores they sell special formicaria (something like strong terrariums) with small colonies of ants inside. In Russia, this hobby is only in its infancy, but there are already special clubs for ant lovers. Here you can discuss what to feed your pets and how to keep them. So, many ants die after eating mayonnaise or sausage, but live happily ever after if they are fed fresh honey. The fact that ants are no less gourmets than people, I was convinced on September 8, 2006 at a book fair in Moscow, talking with science fiction and insect lover Bernard Werber.
- Tell me, how do you know such details of the life of an ant civilization? Did you really watch them or is everything written a fantasy? I asked this kindest Frenchman.
- I moved a small anthill to the courtyard of my house and watched the insects with pleasure. What angered me the most was that they didn't want to eat anything but caviar! After completing the research, I took them back to the forest.
Fortunately, people have an interest in ants not only gastronomic. Ants are the best in many ways, and it would be nice to learn something from them. For example, if you carry out simple mathematical calculations, it turns out that ants run faster than people. That is, if they were our size, they would reach a speed of 80 km / h. In addition to unprecedented speeds, these insects also demonstrate the phenomenon of longevity. Usually the anthill is updated every year, but some females live up to 10–20 years. Perhaps the secret of their longevity is in the ant "state system"? The architectural talents of these small insects cannot but arouse admiration.
Many human corporations are affectionately called "anthills", but how can we compete with ants! Any human firm is unstable, since some "worker" will sooner or later begin to weave intrigues and try to take the place of the "queen". With ants, such blasphemy is impossible, since there are certain castes from birth, and all workers are underdeveloped females who will never become queens. Among the ants there are also slave owners, for example, Amazon ants (Polyergos rufescens), stealing the pupae of other ant species. If you are lucky and you meet Amazon ants in the southern part of the Moscow region, be sure to watch them. Their robbery trips to neighboring anthills are a breathtaking sight. The most curious thing is that the slaves who do all the work for the Amazons will never find out about their origin and will not charge the enslavers with racism.
In the animated film “The Ant Bully”, spiritualized ants demonstrate the wonders of cooperation - they build living “bridges” and “ladders” to cross the gorge, confer, develop a war strategy. Do you think these are all fairy tales? Some species are really capable of such tricks, for example, wandering ecitonic ants (genus Eciton) are constantly wandering and have to overcome many obstacles. For some reason, thousands of ants constructing pontoon bridges from their own bodies do not surprise me. Now, if we saw such miracles of mutual assistance among people somewhere in the center of Moscow, at rush hour, it would be a sensation. What do you think?
Chicken in kefir - recipes for marinated, stewed and baked poultry for every taste!
Simple Chicken Recipe in English (Fried) Recipes in English with translation
Chicken hearts with potatoes: cooking recipes How to cook delicious chicken hearts with potatoes
Recipes for dough and fillings for jellied pies with mushrooms
Stuffed eggplant with chicken and mushrooms baked in the oven with cheese crust Cooking eggplant stuffed with chicken