{"id":4339,"date":"2015-08-04T00:04:52","date_gmt":"2015-08-04T04:04:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=4339"},"modified":"2015-08-04T00:06:37","modified_gmt":"2015-08-04T04:06:37","slug":"whoops-there-goes-another","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/?p=4339","title":{"rendered":"Whoops, there goes… another…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"bigggggggyant\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have High Hopes for humans.<\/p>\n

But then sometimes\u2026 we fall short\u2026 even to the smallest of tasks.\u00a0 Follow me here for a moment.<\/p>\n

There are some amazing, amazing things in this world of ours.\u00a0 Most of them, we completely overlook.\u00a0 Some, we try to do away with. Unfortunately.<\/p>\n

So.\u00a0 When was the last time you bought a can or RAID to get rid of that pesky ant problem in the kitchen?\u00a0 Well, here is the thing.\u00a0 Faux Pas, dang it, faux pas.\u00a0 You should never shake a baby.\u00a0 And never burn an ant under a magnifying glass.<\/p>\n

Here is the deal, people-friends.\u00a0 In many ways, ants can do WAY more than we humans could ever hope to.\u00a0 They can outwit and outlast us, for sure.<\/p>\n

They have complex and cooperative\u00a0 societies\u2026 which enable them to survive and thrive in conditions that we humans may not be to task for.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Imagine that for a minute.\u00a0 If HUMANS had complex and COOPERATIVE societies.\u00a0\u00a0 Okay, wake me up.\u00a0 I\u2019m dreaming.<\/p>\n

Back at it. Those little dudes are amazing.\u00a0 I don\u2019t care if they are making off with your food.<\/p>\n

I recently read a study on a breed called\u2026.(Paratrechina longicornis) \u2026 otherwise known as Longhorn Crazy Ants.\u00a0 Seriously.\u00a0 They got the \u201ccrazy\u201d nomenclature, from the way they move.\u00a0 Erratically.\u00a0 But smart as whips, I will tell you.<\/p>\n

Anyway, the study showed them cooperating, in large groups, to move things like Cherios, and Catfood.\u00a0 The videos are truly something to see. And when the \u201cgroup\u201d gets off course\u2026 other crazy ants come running in\u2026 to put them back on the right path.\u00a0 This was \u201cmust-see-TV\u201d!<\/p>\n

Here are just a few other things.\u00a0 Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.\u00a0 Their little muscles are thicker than those of great big animals\u2026.\u00a0 or even humans.\u00a0 (Relatively, to their size, that is.)\u00a0\u00a0 Now.\u00a0 If WE had muscles in the proportions of ants\u2026.. we’d be able to heave a Toyota over our heads!\u00a0 You asked for it.\u00a0 You got it.\u00a0 Toyota.<\/p>\n

Guess what else.\u00a0 Ants started farming long before humans.
\nYep.\u00a0 There is such a thing as Fungus-Farming-Ants.\u00a0 They began their agricultural workings about 50 million years before humans.<\/p>\n

If that weren\u2019t enough, here is what else they did to help their little crops grow\u2026..\u00a0 These little ants used sophisticated secreted chemicals with antibiotic properties to inhibit mold growth.\u00a0 And, like our modern-day farmers (down the road from us)\u2026 they devised fertilization methods using manure.<\/p>\n

One more.\u00a0 Some ants form Super-Colonies.\u00a0\u00a0 There are massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.
\nAnd\u2026. each ant colony has a distinctive chemical profile.\u00a0 This is like a hall pass.\u00a0 It enables members of the group to recognize each other, and alerts the colony to the presence of strangers.<\/p>\n

This is just one little iota of information about our insect friends.\u00a0 I have spent hours watching them at the Cincinnati Zoo.\u00a0 They are\u2026 well\u2026. Crazy.\u00a0 But cool.<\/p>\n

I think we could learn a lot from ants.\u00a0 But the biggest thing is cooperation.\u00a0 Some days, I grow really weary from all our human groups arguing about the world\u2026 with other human groups.\u00a0 And the thing of it is.. in 5 million years\u2026 it isn\u2019t going to make one bit of difference.<\/p>\n

In 5 million years, our sun will turn in to something called a \u201cRed Giant\u201d and it will begin to burn up the closest planets\u2026 one by one.\u00a0 First Mercury, then Venus\u2026 and then.. whoopsie\u2026 there goes Earth.\u00a0 Ants and all.<\/p>\n

As the old song goes\u2026<\/p>\n

Whoops….There goes another Rubber Tree Plant.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust what makes that little old ant<\/strong><\/em>
\n Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant<\/strong><\/em>
\n Anyone knows an ant, can’t<\/strong><\/em>
\n Move a rubber tree plant\u201d \u2014 High Hopes Song Lyrics<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.\u00a0 —\u00a0 Mother Teresa<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have High Hopes for humans. But then sometimes\u2026 we fall short\u2026 even to the smallest of tasks.\u00a0 Follow me here for a moment. There are some amazing, amazing things in this world of ours.\u00a0 Most of them, we completely overlook.\u00a0 Some, we try to do away with. Unfortunately. So.\u00a0 When was the last time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nowyouseeit"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4339"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4346,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4339\/revisions\/4346"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gollypolly.com\/30473\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}