Asian Super Ant Attracted To Electricity

Asian Super Ant Attracted To Electricity

news.bbc.co.uk

Their compulsion to follow electricity is stronger than their need for food or drink. They are naturally drawn to electrical currents...

Swarms of ants around electrical cables can cause blackouts. "They look just the same as the common black garden ant, although there will be ten to a hundred times as many of them."

The National Trust said 35,000 ant carcasses were found in one electrical junction box at Hidcote.

The super ant is resistant to traditional insect poison.

(visit the link for the full news article)

"Their habit of creating super-colonies means they pose a threat to native species by out-competing them for food and space, and their attraction to electrical circuitry means they could pose a fire risk."

Interesting. It's almost like they could be used as a weapon against first world societies -- destroy all the native life, then cause black outs and electrical problems in the power grid.

Thoughts?

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Kaytagg


I've read the complete article and nowhere in it does it categorically state that it's the electrical current that attracts these ants ... merely that they've been found in large numbers within electrical junction boxes. Neither is a physiological explanation offered just WHY electricity should have this effect on them.

Could be other plausible explanations such as them being attracted to the PVC odour given off by the insulation coating the wire ... or perhaps they're attracted to any heat within the junction box ... or even perhaps they're sensitive to the magnetic fields surrounding the cables, etc, etc

And 35,000 ant carcasses ? Who was the poor sucker who got the job of counting them ? Thats one ant carcass ... thats two ant carcasses ...

Just sloppy and sensationalistic reporting used as a "filler".

Originally posted by afoolbyanyothername
I've read the complete article and nowhere in it does it categorically state that it's the electrical current that attracts these ants ... merely that they've been found in large numbers within electrical junction boxes.

Guess you missed the third paragraph then..

"They are naturally drawn to electrical currents so can pose a fire risk. "

reply to post by zorgon

Guess you missed the third paragraph then..

"They are naturally drawn to electrical currents so can pose a fire risk. "

Nope, didn't miss it at all ...
Where in the ENTIRE article is there even a snippet of information to explain this marvelous "natural" tendency of theirs ? The implication is that these particular ants are the ONLY ones with this predilection for electricity but not ONE word is offered if this is a scientifically researched and validated fact ... or just a "theory" based on one observation.
If electricity DOES offer an attraction for them, then how about the author of the article also throwing in an explanation for this curious behaviour. Just WHAT is it about an electrical current that attracts them ?

Again, just a "fluff" article and not even sure why the OP thought it worthwhile starting a thread about.

Originally posted by afoolbyanyothername
reply to post by Kaytagg

 

I've read the complete article and nowhere in it does it categorically state that it's the electrical current that attracts these ants

They are naturally drawn to electrical currents so can pose a fire risk.

news.bbc.co.uk...

Wow, I don't know what to say, other than learn to read.

Sounds like an easy any to kill. Maybe someone should design an electrical ant trap. Like the bug zapper.

Originally posted by Kaytagg

Interesting. It's almost like they could be used as a weapon against first world societies -- destroy all the native life, then cause black outs and electrical problems in the power grid.

news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The dispersion of the ants would be an issue of practicality rather than the potential damage they would cause me thinks


[edit on 2-8-2009 by zetamafia911]

reply to post by zetamafia911


I've always wondered if the military has considered using genetically modified bugs as a weapon of war.

They already use microorganisms, why not insects too? They are little machines, no doubt. Very very complex machines, but machines none the less. They can replicate, they can do work, they can disrupt, kill, or annoy people.

In my mind, it isn't a far stretch of the imagination to say that insects could one day be used as a weapon.

While the article is about black Asian ants ... I can tell several stories of other electrically attracted ants.

1. We've had common fire ants clog up our breaker box and also the outdoor part of the heat pump.

2. Dad was in charge of a huge research facility that had crazy ants in the 70's or 80's. He said they called them crazy ants because of the way they walked. These electricity-lovers were a big hazard in the labs. At that time, the "fix" was to drill holes in all the walls every so many inches (I forgot the spacing) and fill it with peanut butter. I don't know if the peanut butter was poisoned or not. I didn't ask him what colour they were.

3. In 2002, a new electricity-loving ant was named in Houston after the exterminator, "Raspberry". Since they are red, and not black like the OP article ... I presume they are not simply renamed Asian ants. Raspberry ants are part of the Crazy Any family. They eat computers even!

Links on the Crazy Raspberry Ant:

www.timesonline.co.uk...

urbanentomology.tamu.edu...

en.wikipedia.org...

So, ant attraction to electricity isn't new. The arrival of the Asian ant in UK is probably what's new.

reply to post by zetamafia911


Big aeroplane,full of ants flys over enemy city,opens cargo doors.
I think the ants would survive,being light enough to float down to earth.
This could be weaponised I think.
Some termites can tell where north is,and they built their mounds accordingly.

But how do termites know where north is? The answer is they can sense the earth’s magnetic field, probably by storing magnetite in their bodies. Existence of their magnetic sensitivity was demonstrated by inserting strong magnets into an existing mound, whereupon the termites began rebuilding it in a different alignment.

www.mexicowoods.com...

Maybe the ants in the OP are attracted to the magnetic field of the junction boxes/transformers?

A good friend of mine works in A/C in the southern U.S. and he has told me that fire ants are the bane of his industry, as they frequently invade the exterior unit of air conditioners and cause a lot of service calls.

I know also that here (Caribbean) ever so often a bunch of dark fire ants will go into the pressure switch of our water pressure pump and cause a problem. They'll get between the contactors of the switch, their little bodies arc across the contactors and eventually cause a situation where the switch malfunctions..... and they seem to just keep on coming, even in spite of apparently seeing others of their hive get toasted.

Most of the time you can identify fire ants in that they move slower than conventional ants. I'lll see a slow-moving line from the ground to the switch and they're all just piled up in there and still coming, to the point where I have to unplug the pump, scrape their fused bodies out of the contactors, sometimes even have to sand them a bit to get the metal bright again. We've put down an orangish rockdust ground cover around the house, so we can see when the biters have made a new nest.

Our other pump is 12V DC, and they never bother it a bit. I'm guessing that they are attracted to the magnetic field of AC.

Red imported fire ants have long been a problem in the south part of the US.
one trick to get rid of fire ants is to put two copper stakes into the mound about 8 inches apart and hook a car battery charger to the stakes.

After 24 hours spray gasoline on the mound and light.

The electricity drives fire ants crazy and makes them come to the top of the mound where the gasoline gets them

www.azda.gov...

Another way to kill a mound is to build a rotating drum with hopper to feed the drum.
Then you start the drum rotating with a large weed burner in the drum and use a backhoe and dig up the mound and run the dirt through the burning hot drum.
This bakes them real good if you get dry dirt to about 200 degrees.

At about 200 degrees wet dirt will steam them till cooked.

This is what ranchers in Texas do to kill mounds it works every time.

reply to post by Kaytagg


I think that the way some people view the world is amusing.

What if human beings were attracted to junction boxes.

It would be along the lines of "Mentally ill citizens take out power grids in summer of rage madness, the human beings have a natural resistance to swine flu" if it were the BBC.

Yet when the little ants do it they must be super insects.

The BBC never fails to amuse me these days, they must search around the sewage system for articles these days.

This was not meant to offend any super ants on ATS.



[edit on 2-8-2009 by XXXN3O]

So what is new about this?

Fire ants prefer to build their nests directly under electric fence wire in pastures. It is VERY annoying because it short circuits the fence and the beasties attach when you try to clear the wire of dirt.

Zorgons Secret Ant Nest Remedy

Buy a gallon of Citronella lamp oil...

Pour a small amount directly into the open hole...

Next morning the ants will be gone...

That will be $10.00 consultation fee

We do a lot of serious camping... learned this a long time ago

Don't take my word for it, just try it

The workers get the oil on themselves... when they tend to the Queen she dies

For some odd reason the ants vanish without a trace... I have never figured out where they go



[edit on 2-8-2009 by zorgon]