yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

How to get Ants to carry a sign - Smarter Every Day 92


3m read
·Nov 3, 2024

Hey, it's me, Destin. Welcome back to Smarter Every Day!

So, you're probably wondering, if you've been watching the Amazon series, how it took an 8-pin, a little scrap of paper, and a camera into the middle of the jungle, and walked out with footage of ants carrying a little sign that says "Smarter Every Day." It's actually pretty simple and gross: you pee on the paper. I know, sounds a little weird, but you got to realize that leaf cutter ants forage for sodium.

But before I show you how exactly we did this and you get to see us make the video, I want to show you a leaf cutter ant colony during the daytime, and then we'll go back and check out the same colony at night. We get Smarter Every Day!

This whole area is a colony. Is that what you call it?

Yeah, these colonies are known to just be giant. They're foraging ants, so they take in those leaves; they grow fungus on it. So, that's a tenth of that fungus very, very regularly. The smaller ones, they really ride on the leaf, and they clean the leaf. They also protect the carrying ant from any decapitating flies that are in the area.

Really? Mmhmm. They clean the leaf on the weighted colony.

Yeah, so one guy, like a bigger ant, will be carrying it, and the little cleaner ant will be on top. They're protecting it and cleaning it from any fungus or any crazy stuff that may be on the leaf.

Awesome! Is there red or millions of ants inside this colony?

So, this is one of several entrances—probably one of their main highways that they used to go and collect leaves. I'm also told they have one of the most complex social structures.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, I mean down to the finest of details. Even like the ants that go out and cut, once they get old, maybe like three months old, and they can't cut as well, then they become carrying ants. So, they kind of retire as a leaf cutter and then they become a leaf carrier.

These are leaf cutter ant trails. They look like people trails, but they're not. One way you can tell, you get really close, you see next to them, you see all the little cut leaves. So, you can see some of them are starting to come out a little bit. So, I bet you if we came back in a few hours, they'd come out and go for the trees.

So, what we're going to do is we're going to cut out little pieces of paper, and we're going to put some salty liquid onto a piece of paper. We're thinking that it will entice them, but I'm going to find out.

Put your headlamp on the leaf. There you go. There you go!

All right, so what do you want to do first?

I've got the "worst smarter every day" one, and I got it wet on the backside, so it doesn't quite...

All right, it doesn't bleed, right? You know, I know mostly the area, so I put it right here.

Yeah, you want pliers? We want to put...

Need a bigger... can we make it bigger?

No, focus was perfect. So that's it! That's how you get leaf cutter ants to carry your sign. Special thanks to Mr. Torres here, of course, entomologist—he's the guy that came up with the idea.

Work well?

All right, that's it. Get Smarter Every Day!

You're not playing nice anymore—going for my face! Imagine that!

Even if I would have thought so, this one's too big. So, of course, leaf cutter ants are cutting, which is still pretty cool sounding.

Yeah, it's about 20 yards away.

More Articles

View All
Executive orders | US government and civics | Khan Academy
What we’re going to discuss in this video is executive orders, and these are directives being issued by the President of the United States that can have the force of law. I know what you’re thinking: isn’t Congress our legislative body, the body that actu…
Robinhood Just Got Cancelled
What’s up, you guys? It’s Graham here! So, you might have recently noticed that something has been missing from the channel lately, and no, it’s not the free stock you can get worth all the way up to $50 down below in the description. Instead, it’s some …
Cellular respiration | Food and energy in organisms | Middle school biology | Khan Academy
So, let’s say I was preparing to go on a long hike. Besides packing water, dressing for the weather, and mapping my route, I’d probably also want to eat a snack before leaving to make sure I have enough energy for the hike. We, as humans, need food to nou…
Article VII of the Constitution | US government and civics | Khan Academy
Hi, this is Kim from Khan Academy, and today I’m learning more about Article 7 of the U.S. Constitution, which is the provision that specified the conditions for the Constitution to become law. It reads, “The ratification of the conventions of nine states…
Dividing fractions and whole number word problems
We are told that Billy has one fourth of a pound of trail mix. He wants to share it equally between himself and his brother. How much trail mix would they each get? So pause this video and try to figure that out. All right, now let’s work through this to…
Jack Bogle: Sell Your Index Funds At All-Time Highs?
I don’t know anybody who has ever been successful in, uh, timing the market. I don’t even know anybody who knows anybody who has ever been successful in timing the market. [Music] This video is brought to you by Sharesight. Seek of tracking your perform…