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We had originally planned to have an all new interview for you, but due to some holiday scheduling, mayhem that had to be delayed, so instead the doors creaking open and we're going down down into the vault to bring you an episode of yesteryear. This, so it originally aired january twentieth twenty twenty two and it is about allegations that acts as in the insect build structures that could be called traps Please enjoy the welcome to snub to blow your mind production of iheart radio traffic welcome to stuff to blow your mind. My name is robert lamb and I'm your ormoc, and today we're going to be talking about traps I mention this in some we'd have cinema episodes, but for some reason ever since I was a little kid I have always loved

of movie scenes where the protagonists build a trap to use against the villa. nor the monster member like home alone, when I was a little kid that that that whole sequence was a great is sort of exp ends to fill my whole childhood impression of what the movie was and if you go back watch it as an adult, it's kind of weird that it's only like fifteen or twenty minutes of the run time in the humbler yeah yeah. does seem like very method, One thing I remember the other traps third wraps and certainly people feel certain nostalgia for them there. Hard swells at the thought of her name we're going into daniel stones, foot but also the armor brother ones like ino. Arnold schwarzenegger builds a bunch of traps in predator and bit but like this wasn't just when I was a kid I it's still works on me. I remember there was a sequence. I just love in the more recent horror movie? It follows where the characters build

crap for the earlier that's right the day. That is They have a very much a kind of home alone. Sir said that they do there for it is not only the heroes that that have traps always love a good villain trap as well, especially the trap door, trout, trap door. Sequence is always a lot of fine now be at something like Anna lindh, labyrinth, l of the trial when the trap door springs, not our hero, and at, but actually tomorrow's weird. How cinema also has a fun trapdoor secrets? Oh yeah, so look forward! but yeah one side of the the protagonists getting through trap set for them another one of my favorite movie sequences as a child was the beginning of raiders of the lost ark. Oh yeah, when indies going through all the traps that something about is just like deep in the brain it it's very satisfying, waldo, all traps. Yeah, that's a great sequences, well end

all these are greatly winces, in spite of the fact that when you, You can't win, you really think long and hard about. Many of these scenarios in through the cracks definitely show we would all of these traps still be working in this ancient ruin that Indiana Jones finds himself in their noses a hard argument to make their right. How did the spring trap Pirate by you sticking your hand through a shaft of light when it was ready made like thousands of years ago, yeah or you know, if it's duke and predator like how does he do it? How does he make this? prepare for compound bow. Just in this way, a few hours I'm an afternoon in the jungle. Thus the standard survival, training humphreys other various you walk traps that he builds didn't. Didn't you go to that camp? Did I built a bow like that at a cat camp? I think we sharp sticks. You know that would be. That would be more valuable, rightly makes

spear hear about it most of the way there, but you know, I think, probably speaks I am for humans to be innovative, saying all this about traps and about especially in a loving these cinematic treatments of traps, because because what our traps, ultimately very, broadly speaking, their pleasure, tactical end or technological innovations that level the playing field. Predators against pray and even against fellow humans traps are the sort of things humans have been up to since pre history. So, of course we love traps and, of course we admire things like traps, that we find another species rights. Today, we're. Gonna be focusing on some allegations of insects with the ability to build traps, specifically at that do things that may in fact be biological evolutions that allow them to trap, pray,

Now there are some other animals that I think we could say more more clearly in and famously create traps. I think the obvious example here would be spiders yeah. yeah spiders, either trap builders par excellence in their no finer trap. Builders in the animal kingdom- maybe you could make a case for human beings that, personally, I am am in favour of that. I think even well. Building spiders, especially are just such high. We evolve trap masters the detail of their anatomy and behavior enhances their trapping ability, and the trap is very much extension of their own bodies in so many ways, and we we've covered this and we've covered spiders in general, numerous times in the show before and will likely keep coming back to them, but yet spider despite or use the trap maker? There's nothing else that the spider really dies in anything else it does the web spider is going to do in close proximity to the well that it has built. Yeah

another example that come up before. I think in our sorrow, lack episodes was the ant lion. Yes YAP. This is where we have predatory larvae that in some species of ant lion anyway, set up at the of sand pits that they dig ready last shouted anything that disturbs their brains and new venture to down into the trap I can not all aunt lion. Species dig trap pits about some of the most famous ones. Do I remember one of the great things we learned about the ant lion. Was that, like you say the it is the ones that make traps. It is the laurel period of their lifespan, their lifecycle that they make the traps than they later metamorphosed into into another form. while there in that larval stage, I think at least some of them never poop. Yeah. He kept catching

some eating them and just like waiting- and it's like he. If you had to wait until you turned eighteen poop, we'll go legumes internet, starlike episode. If you'd like to hear more about the am lion, there's also a species of greece, It is known as the worm lion, and this is this is unrelated. To ban lion is just a matter of working Urgent evolution is up utilizing, largely the exact same method. Again when it's a larva, though the pit itself in this This is generated recital a slightly different method, so it takes its pit in a slightly different method, but it still consumes its prey in the same manner. But for me, east. If you asked me to make a list of non human animals that make traps, I could obviously yo spiders. I would have thought of the ant lion. by association, the worm lion, but there before I was reading up for this episode, I think I would have drawn a blank. I wouldn't know what to go to next,

yeah and part of It- comes Just how are you going to do to going to define a trap for it? ample. Here's a whose an interesting potential example we can discuss I read across read it read about when I was reading, gilbert walled bowers how not to be eaten. It is largely about insects, but there's a part where the author is discussing the hurling owl. So these the small birds native to the great plains in southern florida. I think they're about the sites for robin and understanding of their small little little guys but they are they. They make their home in boroughs that they did themselves and one of the interesting so they do in addition to this, if this wasn't I think I've already is the burrowing owl will scatter horse or cow dung around the entrance to their burrows, and you know times before european contact. This would have probably been bison dung, and

the dung does seem to be important, because if you, searchers remove the down from the vicinity. The birds were just good. The burden, go out and obtain more dung and place it in the vicinity. So its day seems to be doing this intentionally. The theory is that they place the dung to bait dung beetles, so but the dung out, dung beetles come and indeed of, surgeons have been able to tell that the owl, ten times more dung beetles than usual when the dung is out. I will this will in fact mirror one of the two examples of potential aunt trap. Making that I want to talk about later I mean it did. It But this is a great example, certainly clever, I like it, but it kind of forces us to ask the question the trap like what is a trap is merely baiting a trap,

that that is a good question yeah, because and how much does the trap structure have to be separate from your body in order? I, as onus, is a constructed trap and how much does it have to emma work. Does it have to do for you yeah and at what point? Does and animals behaviour stop being wrap and just become sneaky behaviour, sneaky tactics or or simply ambush predation because obviously there are plenty of, samples of ambush predators on landed in the sea, and these include everything from while the trap door spider for one, which I It is definitely a case of of trap building because it is an ambush predator. But it builds, a silk hinge, trap door to aid in those ambushes, rights of the trap door hides it. I think you could count that is infrastructure necessary to constitute a trap, yeah yeah having day definitely with the trap door spider. But then you also have just various camouflage.

predators, including things like frog, fish, praying mantis, chameleon and more, which are not building anything there now altering their environment, but they ve evolved to look like a part of their environment have. They know often tremendous a bill if camouflage than enabled him to quickly ambush something that they want to eat. Ok, that, probably doesn't that doesn't really seem like a trap to me, because they're just evolve to look that way and they they do the actual hunting themselves, right and inequality of various birds and cats and big cats, even that are just very stealthy just very good, at not being observed by the things they want to Oh so I was reading a little bit about this in Douglas J england's excellent book, animal weapons that have referenced on the show before, and he points out that creatures such as this generally depend on quote a

strike weapon that immediately incapacitates its victim and, of course, these by weapons might be enhanced by special features such as in various deep sea ambush predators, a bio luminescence lure, which again is not something they have created or engineered out of their environment, but is a part of their body. So when we matter this idea, they will need to be something it's built and need to be something that's engineer at or just a whole dug in the in the ground. Even when we come back to that same question, why don't we find more of this actually found that interesting paper title out there? Why are pitfall? Try so rare in the natural world. By he d rustin and in h, hansel, and it appeared evolutionary ecology in two thousand and nine hmm interesting question: the authors here point out that, in order to lay a trap, you generally needy their advanced cognitive powers as with humans? Obviously, or you need specialists, self, secreted materials, as with spiders in caddis fly

Our vey thing it would show the catastrophic kurdistan fly larva use that their their secretions to create a net like even meshed trap like a silk trap in order to filter at their prey. That makes sense. So humans can create all kinds of traps, because we have in a cognitive powers that allow us to imagine what could be done. How you know materials in the environment, could be re purposed too, to pay civilian ensnare or kill pray animals ends, eaters and stuff, that's just the trap, you could almost say is a part of their body. Even though the web is built thing, they are evolved to sick beat the silk for the web. Out of their bodies- and they have very in think driven behaviors for how they extract, that silk. Where and in what patterns right so oxygen and hansel here ultimately point out that ok that we have the ant lion, though, and of course, then, that the worm lion these are except.

Pins to the rule? They make use of a pitfall trap, and so the authors ask: why is this basic tactic? Not more then in the animal were on how hard as it, after all, to dig a hole, their easy, their cheap. And yet you don't see this technique used by virtually anything outside of some aunt lions and worm. Lions apparently, the lack of more pitfall. Traps in nature was something of a mystery or in remain something of a mystery yeah. That is interesting. Ok, so I it took me a second to get the distinction they're making, but their say that, the ant lion, the worm line would be kind of an outlier because they they dont, have complex intelligence in imagination like humans. Are there not inventing traps with cognitive powers, but they also don't to create a material that constitutes the basis of the trap like a spider, their literally just bill being a trap out of the dead environment around of them by digging a chronically shaped hole in.

Your pattern that that ants get stuck in it when they fall down side wrote an and wise. that's so rare because it would seem like that that should be a strategy that law of animals could easily employ right. Yet again, pole are ultimately easy to make. low energy, wind, Why why why? Why is this cat not making a hole and using that as part of its hunting tactics? So what? What? What are there? thoughts on this like? Why would why? Wouldn't we see this more often well They propose to speculative reasons for the lack of pitfall traps in nature. The first one is pitfall. Traps may require a specialist micro. but tat. In other words, you can't do this just anywhere conditions have to be just right, such as you know, we can look to the end. I am. They have to be kind of sandy conditions. You know you have to have that kind of granular environment It's the kind of tactic that potential trap builder.

would not necessarily be able to employ all over the place. You have to depend on us again on a specialist micro habitat. I think I Call from her sorrow, lack episode where we had a segment about the ant lion that they needed. The grains of soil to be of particular size linked to the sea de grains above or below. certain diameter threshold would not work very well for for making the traps yeah yeah. Now there Second point is that with the ant lion, in particular the trap target, small pray and since then, maybe more functionally tied to their trap and spiders are traps of this nature could serve as a legal basis a major bowles I for potential predators, and indeed the main predators and aunt lions and worm lions are birds who know what to look for that's a really good points.

Building a trap and then sitting in it and waiting for your prey to fall in. You are also usually going to be making a structure that that makes it easy for things that want to eat you to have to find. Where you are, you know they don't have to look too hard, because you've made a big hole in the ground. right and in spiders does have a little more leeway with the situation now should point out here, so also wrote an entire book which I'm in frontier in a minute. He spent a lot of I'm in that book. Talking about spiders and how you know sometimes spiderwebs are very visible the times they are not, and how that plays into that he also kind of complex relationship between spiders and end the creatures that would eat spiders, but by distance thinking about this as the trap being so conspicuous thing this. We actually see this in a lot of our fantastic trap fiction. You know that moment when target of the clever cinematic trap, especially if laid by the protagonists.

the enemy almost sets it off. Right, like the predator, You're almost triggers the trip line you ve prepared, but then something happens right there monster deduce that the trap is there or suspects that something is a little off our maybe even that the presence of a trap is how the hero knows that they have stumbled across the bad guys hideout yeah yeah yet even reminds me a bit of our recent weird how selection the lift this was the killer. Elevator movie the kid elevator in their sources. I guess you or more specifically, the weird AL brain that's been installed in the elevator shaft power he's elevators, he's kind of an obligate trap predator, but it's oh tied to that environment that it it's a little tricky like it. It's not able to pull off every kill and its, usually destroyed by pray that is too clever for it. Brill the international analogy this. This is true the killer,

elevator is an obligate trap. Predator I've ass left Point out speaking the sar lack is the recent mantle orient. Episodes have also done in a sort of played with this idea. yet he had the mighty sorrow like this alex pretty impressive, but they make it clear, that even these great trap predators can be consumed by the mighty crate dragon that lives in the deserts of tat away, So not knowing your there being now this identifiable organism in the sand- and I can have a huge downside to it now, trying to think of counter points to the idea that ok, so it sitting the bottom of a pitfall, trap and waiting for prayed, a fallen to you and then eating that that makes you vote herbal too, depredators that want to find you well what? If just make pitfall traps, and then you go away and then you Lena leave them there and then come back like a human hunter might do you know, leave a trap out in the woods and then come and see what it collected lobster traps or something

but, but I can see downsides to that as well, because of its just a pit trap. You could imagine that well something I fall in there, but then something else might eat it before you get to it right or it might If you have to make these all over the place, you might spend a lot of energy going around from one to the other. So is that really all that much better than just hunting well and then kind of comes back to this idea that it did the trap play by an animal, especially still requires the lethal mechanism I can only ant the legal level mechanism is itself. It is still essentially bush predator like MIKE. Like Emmeline says, quote a quick strike weapon that emilia incapacitates its victim that the other. I can't believe I didn't thinking of that. That's, of course, a good point. You have to find a way to kill the prey, so I mention that that hansel has as a whole book the deals with with with some this a little bit but just sort of the broader picture of animals building things it's time,

animal architecture, and through this a bit. He contends that were not looking at traps when we're looking at cases of of an animal baiting, another animal because traps or a kind subset of animal architecture, an engineered space that aids and capture? Ok. So by his, trick here. What the bird wing owl does by by leaving dung out around its nest in having this attract insects to it. That would not count as a trap because it is not a structure that in any way, aides in capturing just attracts prey to a site. oh by the way, I want to also sticking speaking at the berlin out again, I want to throw in that they want some borrowing outdo build their own boroughs. There also burrowing owls that to acquire the bureau's of other creatures, anyway. I read this quote from Hansel here. I think he puts it rather. Well god. Concerning the animal architecture, hand, traps quote

as the house can just be a barrier between the builder and the outside world. A trap has a dynamic relations between itself and the prey. The prey needs to approach the trap and a particular orientation to it and then needs to be restrained by it. Traps are therefore more complex than homes and, to be more precisely engineered and then you go and to point out the quote: among the vertebrates trap, builders were apparently absent until the recent history of man now he's its human mental capacity once more for the construction of such traps, noting quote, truly all non human trap. Builders, you self secreted materials and the capture principle they adopt is the net. the exceptions are simple and design in operation as well as rare, and then he goes on to specifically mentioned amp lions up worm, lions

and dot larval dip, Tirana, hey everybody! This episode has brought you buy disney, plus this month on disney plus, no matter where you go, whether its around the corner or around the world. You'll feel right at home. Here, I'm disney, plus with disney's night at the museum, commune raw arises again diary of a wimpy kid roderick rules and national treasure edge of history. Just felons whalers life is turned upside down when in enigmatic stranger gives her a clue to a centuries old treasure. It might be connected to her long dead, father, just as a knack for solving puzzles and her skills are put to the test, and she and her friends follow a series of clues hidden in american artifacts landmarks, bucking Jes outsmart, a black market antiquities dealer in a race to find histories greatest lost, treasure and unfair.

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very specialised animals, especially some invertebrates that use traps made of materials that they secrete from their own bodies, generally trap building is not a very widespread hunting strategy among animals, a planet earth, in which case it would be very interesting to find examples of animals such as ants that make traps in order to get their nutrition, and I guess that's good- A way to what I will add to those are the main focus of today's episode, which was a couple of examples. I came across of ants that do something that could be interpreted as building traps as a hunting strategy. yeah, and I mean it would make sense that we might find something like this in the arab world, because ants are masters of construction there they alter their environment, now they're capable of of practising agriculture the holidays we discussed in previous after the show

engage in complex conflict that we made might well care to warfare. They can solve pre once they have neither the list goes on and on. Ants are amazing, as of course is The now lady wilson will boost and of reminding us you know. Any answer are incredible creatures that we We ve covered them numerous times and the show before recovering today, and I am sure, will cover them again exactly so. The first example I want to talk about eight. I found so interesting in this. One also has some interesting differences in interpretations I came across, but just to to start with the basic report I was reading about this in a paper published in nature in the year two thousand five by a land dijon, pascal jean solano, Julie. I relate bruno corpse an Jerome orville called arboreal ants, build traps to capture pray

and also as a supplement to the paper in nature. I was reading a summary feature that was also in nature by narelle towie, published in April. Two thousand and five called a amazonian ants ambush prey. So here's the deal there's a plant in the amazon called her tele, phys offeror or maybe fizzle for a p h Y S, o p h, o r, a I'm going to try to say fizz offer. So these It here tell a plants. Plants in this genus are woody trees or shrubs of seeing them called both trees and shrubs, but there, if you're, trying to picture them as a tree should be imagining a small trees. Woody stems but not like you know, sky high apply in this genus are found in the tropics across multiple continents, but their diversity is concentrated around the amazon and they typically have fun. Hours that are pollinated by butterflies and

one species in particular. Here tell of his offer is what the authors of the paper call an ant plant. This is a plant species that is known to have a specific biological relationship with a species of at an the these can be found throughout the world there. There are very common mutual isms or very of symbiotic relationships between aunt colonies in the trees or plants they inhabit. Now this plate, in particular as a relationship with the arboreal aunt ilo mirrors decimal, articulate us and they live on the body of the plant forming colony centres, in what the authors of the paper call leaf? Pouches there, these little bowl blocking things that can usually be found at the places where the

branches split into leaves. Now they look like these. That is kind hearted described there. Just these little like a green low, observe orbs and apparently the ants like to get inside those make nests in there now already one of the things it's that I am reminded of is the idea of like a specialist micro habitat and if you have a situation where a plant is this the home to the answer that they have this sub this. This aunt plant relationship in place, in other words, that the plant itself is kind of the environment. It's kind of the micro habitat that the big aunt is them asked rob that's exactly right, but the interesting thing is, of course, ants being builders. Some ants will form complex. You know, dugout colony in the ground or or other types of? interesting engineered environments. They can also engineer the micro habitat of the surface of a plant and that's what we're gonna be talking. In this case? So should say that the column

is there were looked at in this. Two thousand five paper were from french guyana in northern south america, but so what you find in these plants that are occupied by their by their familiar aunt species. Is that allow the stems of the host plant. The ants will build what the authors of this paper call. Gala reed structures are sometimes they just say, galleries, it's gonna hard to describe exactly what this is, but imagine a kind of platform built out over the surface of the stem of the plant and it's a platform that the ants can crawl underneath and then this platform has a kind of spongy texture almost as if it sir honeycomb texture, it's a lie with all these holes in the platform that the ants can crawl in and out through general generally, the

rules are just slightly larger than the diameter of one of the worker ants heads. So through these platform, I was raised above the stem of the plant ants crawl underneath them, but then crawl up and up and down in and out through the holes in the platform yeah. It is kind of difficult to do private, because it is so different from something that that humans would, for the most part, build by virtue of the ants being far more mobile and sort of living in a more three dimensional space than human beings tend to by the way he's a great to look up, probably unless you suffer from trip to phobia, in which case stay far away. You have your if your freaked out by things like lotus, pods and random holes in things you might, you might want to avoid this particular Google image search. Now how the ants build these galleries? Well, they apparently make them by cutting off track

comes from the stems of the plant. Try comes is a word that comes from the greek word for hair These are small little fibre e appendages that poke out from the surface of a planned. You probably seen lots of plants before they have little harry. this all over the stem, more the leaves those retry comes, and they do look a lot like hairs. So the worker ants will move along the stem of a tell of fish offer plant clearing away the tri comes and now just to read from the language used in the paper here quote then using uncut try combs as pillars. They build the galleries vault by binding cut. Try comes together with a compound that they regurgitate. Later this structure is reinforced by the mai celia of a complex of city mould. Species that has been manipulated by the ants

uncle growth starts around the holes and then spread rapidly to the rest of the structure of the I think you you heard that right. So these ants build their galleries. along the stem of the plant by cut, the hairs off of the plant where they live. Using those hairs as building materials along with their own barf as a kind of mortar and then holding everything together by eating it with mould or fungus that they farm, so they there. They have a kind of agricultural project for farming. go rebar that they used to in force, the galleries that they build and in quotes given to them press I've. Seen the authors of the study compare this composite materials, fiberglass well yeah. That does seem like a good comparison. Man, This is so amazing that it's not just like this physical act, but there

shall you have seeding it with with this that this mould, ol man they're kite there of their bills, yet, but there also kind of growing. It is young amazing, and then they tend to it as it grows or wanted to read and other section from stay where they talk about the ever It's that the answer actively tending the the fungus as it reinforces the structures they say quote. We know did the stems of thirty four young seedlings, which had not yet developed leaf. Pouches did not bear fungus nine saplings raised in a greenhouse in the absence of alum eras, that's the ants developed, leaf pouches, but never bore fungus. However, Fifteen saplings, raised in the presence of ants, bore my celia, whose development was limited to the gallery. Freeze when we eliminated the associated ants from five of the fifteen, the fungus on the galleries, grew into a disorganized structure, and now

of the nine new stems. That developed bore any fungus at all the of the fao. This is only showing up on the plant when the end sir there on the plant, and if you take the its away from the plant after they ve been using the fungus to reinforce their their galleries, the funds can it grows out of control in and what they call a disorganized structure, but with the ant still there stays nice and tightly formed around the holes in the galleries other their tending their garden is like a living, and I know it's like the idea of maintenance workers constantly sort of god ning intending to the fungus that held up your skyscrapers, wow but but here's where we start getting to the trapping. So the off of this study say the thing they notice that sometimes larger insects would become immobilized on the surface of the galleries cigarette these these spongy, sir says it's crawling underneath them, and sometimes like

locust or butterflies and bigger insect lands on the gallery, and then it gets stuck what's going on here. Well, They started to investigate whether the galleries could be functioning as a type of trap. In here's what they say about how the ambush works quote our observations revealed that Alum europe's workers hide in the galleries with their heads just under the holes mandible. so wide open. Seemingly waiting for an insect to land to EL the insect they grasp its free legs antennae or wings and me, if in and out of the holes in opposite directions until the prey is progressively stretched against the gallery and swarms workers can sting it the since then slide the prey over the top of the gallery again moving in and out of the holes, but this too, in the same direction. They it slowly towards a leaf pouch where they carve it up

oh and then, once they get to one of these population centres of the colony and these dismissed state nest sites in the leaf pouches, they they tend to feed it bits of protein from the insect to their young worthy of this is amazing and suitably been brutal for the world of ants ass, others this larger creature lands or walks on to the structure of their reaching out of holes, to pull it astray death, and then they they transfer it to a place where they can carving up right, yeah, there's no sentimentality in the world, vance they're, just like Ok, this is out of all its time to get to butcher and but anyway, these observations reveal this. This fascinating three way: interaction between the plant, the fungus and the ant, all sort of life, together in this this this three way: life cycle, essentially that apparently serves the purpose of creating a trap

to get larger insects. What none of these two, oh, I don't think I mentioned, but the Alan esa, desam articulate his answer very small. It's a it's! A straw Sure that allows these tiny ants, apparently to capture kid when butcher much much larger pray and, of course, that the plant out of all of this gets some slight mutilation from ants. Buddy is protected from larger insects that would otherwise not on it and do more harm to it than just gonna, creating an interesting latticework out of its body, presumably I mean, I think. Often there is such a relationship going on. The insect also provides a benefit to the plant, somehow though in the sources I was reading, it wasn't clear to me exactly if it's known what what the major benefit provided by the ants is, but I would guess that's right that they're probably protecting the plant from from herbivore large herbivore insects that would chew it's

he's down or something, but I dont know for sure. I got it right and then, of course, we also have to to do always realise that in the natural world the lie between paris. It ism in symbiosis is sometimes a bit then these are not. Relationships are governed by strict contracts. Therefore, I urge you might see a little bit of pushing paul the course it ever evolutionary. History we'll take whatever they get right, so serbia, because how about entering into a bargain with with with the ants, but the other side of all this. I wanted to come back on it, because I found a book where the trap interpretation of these structures has been challenged and, in fact this book was by somebody who's come up on the up. I think episodes we did about ants last, the biologist, marked w moffat? Yes, yes, yeah. So he has a book called

adventurers, among adds that was the came out two thousand ten university of california press and in this book I found a section, were Moffat argues that the trap interpretation of these structures- built by Allah mirrors, decimating articulate us is in fact a misinterpretation. Now I'm not sure he's right about this, but I do want to explain what he claims so as a bit of background in in the section of the book directly. proceeding. This Moffit has been talking about His observations of various species of army ants rating parties to forge for food and also on defensive patrols. To protect the colony in the rating column, from threats and one of his observations in this in the preceding section is how difficult it is sometimes to tell the difference between these two behaviors and easily. One bleeds into the other. So, according to

Moffit for most army ants. Their defensive attacks on a creature that is perceived to be threatening the rating column can quickly turn into forging raid in itself. So if the threat is killed, it is pretty much immediately up into pieces and carried away as food, so it's gonna like a few Imagine every monster movie ended with the heroes butchering and eating the monster after they fire faded it we do see that sometimes in fact that occurs in the man delorean that the case of the great dragon bought off the. Yet we should see more more consumption of the driver of the dragons and monsters and so forth use, every part of the monster be responsible, Well, I don't know I mean that's, you know there are. Humans are different, the nancy, answer not gonna. Let anything go to waste humans after you fought a monster you might just one. I have nothing to do with it to each species their own.

But anyway, so from here moffat moves on to describing the ant have been talking about alameda decimal, articulate us, and he said rubbing its living situation, though one distinction he makes a, I couldn't find out what was what was the disconnect here, but he's that a you remember how he said that the ants build these gallery structures out of try comes cut from the plants or plant hairs mixed with their own right, education or vomit, and then and then lined with my celia of the fungus that they cultivate method describes. It say way, but he mentions feces rather than vomit, and I dont know whose right there but anyway, Moffit gives a few reasons that he had doubts about. The generally accepted interpretation of this structure as a trap, specifically as a trap, because he says a trap pleased that, for example, a loop a landing on the ant gallery would not have landed there. If it saw the ants, the trap would be performed

we function of hiding the ants. So you know their hidden beneath the vault of the gallery so that the prey insect feels it safe enough to land, and then they jump out and grab it coca disobedient. Keeping will say of the trap door. Spider was probably a great example of this yet yet I think that's that's comparable that that's how it would function as a trap, but me if it writes that he thinks this is unlikely, because he doubts that grasshoppers really be able to notice the tiny workers of this theses anyway, quote particular billy in mid leap or that they would be able to change course in mid leave after noticing them. So he was little if he on that it's like. I'm not sure that the trap would really serve much purpose. If it's supposed to be hiding the ants from the prey animal be These are these are insects that are much larger than the ants anyway, right, so he say basically saying like this might be. If this was a trap which it

and they get as it would be, a preposterous trap, an unnecessary trap and while again, we love unnecessarily complex and preposterous traps. Our cinema, we're not talk, about cinema. Here, we're talking about evolution, and was efficiency. Things need to be ruthlessly efficient and, if its not ruthlessly efficient, it is going to andrew go away, but those are his suspicions, so he decided to put them to the test, as so, he tells a story of that that he was studying colonies of this aunt in the wild and ecuador, and he put together a test to interrogate the trap, interpretation soda aid from the section of off its where, where describes this test, he says quote, I hung scioto net over a plant with a thriving allow mirrors colony added one hundred

grasshoppers and katydids, and sat inside for the next five mornings, an unusual case of using a mosquito nets to keep insects in instead of out, even after that grasshopper settled down. They were indiscriminate in their movements hopping from. Where ants hid under the structures to wear aunt strolled in full view too, where there were no answer at all, when they landed among the ants, even on the structures they got away on hurt. Certainly, if structures served as traps. They were inefficient ones, so he sang in his observations here, he seemed very little correlation between structures and the hunting behaviors of the ants or the behaviors of the prey insects. So what purpose does he believe the galleries are serving while he points out that galleries tin to run along the stems of the tree, connecting each asked pouch too, to another nest vouch and they quote: can

in a highway of workers, commuting from nest nest, and then he point but that other insects, including other aunt species, do sometimes build various types of physical covers over there, too ills, which are generally interpreted to be defensive in nature example, some marauder and driver ants have been observed to build soil covers over their trails, so? Could that be? What's going on in this case? Could these galleries that the ants build actually be defensive in nature? Another strike here, according them off it observe that the workers at his study site did not actually sit and wait at the holes in these galleries, as you might expect them to do if they were planning an ambush. He says that when conditions were normal so like if the colony is not in an agitated state, things are just sir going along normally most the gap in the gallery, structures were unoccupied, but he said

This changed when there appeared to be some kind of threat to the colony quote after a day of pulling ass hoppers from my hair, I noticed interlopers of another at a species fight, dolly or big, headed aunt, climbing the plant pinned down a wounded grasshopper missed by the l. A mere us, upon the arrival of the fight only ants the ala mirrors workers began to guard each of the several dozen entrances to their arcade, and that's the arcade is what he's calling the things that the other others called the calories, the several dozen trances to their arcade nearest the commotion caused by the intruders. These guards aided by nest, mates roaming, the arcade surface also caught and kill the one fight ali and carried off so based on these observations, moffat argues that the galleries are more likely defensive to protect trails of workers. Moving from one leaf pouch to the other, but that when sir

thing attacks or threatens the colony the workers quickly shit. to their behaviour from travel to defence, and then they occupied, holes and start biting violently at anything that comes near and, of course, if they able to mobilise an attacker or not necessarily an attacker, they were able to mobilise whatever it is, that put them on the defence, they immediately shift roles again and turn that threat into food and begin butchering it for the colony again, due to cook the monsters, speak means a win win devalue better to think of these as defensive fortifications, kind of like it is like a medieval castle. Whore were first scenario. It's kind of like the various regulations and murder holes and dine an arrow slits, except with e with it, with the added point that in this case, the occupants of the castle or fortress would eat those that they killed, defending it

right that that's what moffat argues and so too, to finish up his section. He says in the end quote in this way, the organization of a super organism is referring ants there, because I think you can make the argument that an ant colony might be best understood as one organism rather than many. It is a super organism composed of many different bodies he says it quote- can be more responsive than the tissues in a body trail bow workers can shift seamlessly in their behaviour from transport to protection to predation its. If ones liver, could change function when the heart is incapacitated and pump blood. So, Obviously I dont know whose right here Moffit spoke is more than ten years old. At this point, and most of the things I read about this answer, she's Ellemus decimal articulated still described the galleries as ambush traps. and I'm not sure which interpretation is correct, but I do think either way MA

That makes a very interesting point about the fluidity of function when it comes to aunt behaviour, how you no one, moments, enemies. The next moments lunch right, yeah like this ant colony is not just trying to do one thing: It has a lot of objectives and it has again this fluidity of function where it's it's far easier to look at letter when building spider and know. What's up, you know that within the well, because it sir, is its purpose. The web is kind of its soul. I knew their shopping question about why constructed the web. I guess also that this raises another question about what counts as a quote trap, because assuming for a second them off its interpretation is correct. I don't know it is, but if he's that these structures are primarily to defend the ant trails, but then win some a threat presents itself. They turn out and use the holes in the galleries as murder, holes and then eat whatever they can mobilise. Does that car it's a trap like how

a specialised does a structure have to be for the purpose of catching pray in order to be thought of, as trap, because you can imagine other examples where an animal builds, a structure that is primarily defensive in some way. It's more like the home. From the example he talked about the beginning in that book. You know it's a bear here between you and the outside world, it has some kind of feature that, like another animal or something get stuck on nurse on you, it somehow allows you to sometimes opportunistic lee harvest from structure and then eat from it, and does that count as a team Now I haven't seen this movie in a very long time, but I think there might be something comparable and home alone. To am I right? asked in new york, the one with tim curry outcome reason, though, and think you play He placed snooty bell, hoppers so get that sounds very, but I think the age

Actually, we were trying to figure what the south of what this was and Seth just chimed in to let us know when he he was right up the house. Where the he builds the traps in home alone to his house, that's like under renovation, so it already has featured like all the traps, don't have to be imagined from scratch there already feet

ears of the house. I don't remember exactly what they are, but there are things that are dangerous about it. Already: okay, yeah yeah, hey everybody! This episode is brought to you by disney plus this month on disney plus, no matter where you go, whether it's around the corner or around the world. You'll feel right at home here on disney plus with disney's night at the museum, commune RA rises again diary of a wimpy kid rodrick rules and national treasure edge of history. Just Valenzuela his life is turned upside down when an enigmatic stranger gives her a clue to his centuries old treasure that might be connected to her long dead father, just as a knack for solving puzzles and her skills are put to the test, as she and her friends follow a series of clues hidden in american artifacts and landmarks buck and jess outsmart, a black market antiquities dealer in a race to find history's greatest lost treasure and

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this one also involves using foreign materials around the nest, so the second example was described in a paper that I was reading published in twenty nineteen in the journal- the into entomology, by in our seo, gomes, diego santiago ricardo campos and her aldo Vasconcelos. It was called why do fight only oxy ops, ants place feathers around their nests and I also got some additional information from a reading, an article about the study published in scientific american by joshua rap, learn in november, twenty nineteen. But here's the deal so there is this species of ad called a fight ali oxy ops. We were already talking about some finally ants in the last example, because the former finally ants invaded the tree, and then they got kind of butchered by the bye, thou, Amira stance, but finally answer a genius known as the big head ants and add this species

in particular, finally oxy ops is native to south american savannas sees vienna grasslands ants. Sometimes they appear to do something pretty weird: they collect others and place them around the entrance of their nests. So if you I join the nest. Is buried the entrances? Basically, all in the ground and then you might just find feathers all around the whole scattered around on the ground outside the whole. That's here it it might make it look like the ants aid alone. Of chicken or something. But that is not what happened. They appear to collect the feathers and put them there. yeah a kind of looks like theirs, when the ground and, like I have a bird, was sucked down that hole. This is the is the cartoonish remnants of that incident. I thought the same thing yeah. It was like pop and then just Half of feathers they settle around. But no that is what has happened? The ants put the feathers their strange, so this

paper published on twenty nineteen in in ecological entomology. It claims, these feathers function as bait to attract pray, animals which then tumble in to the nest entrance as if it were a pit trap. And these scientific american article actually report submitted the background and the paper. It says that these these first author ignacio gomes An ecologist at the federal university, a visa in Brazil and while walking around city parks in his college campuses, he noticed examples of these aunt nest. Entrances with feathers all around him If this had been observed before and also I I was looking at another paper about this ant species, but only oxy ops. This one was by diego a cease at all from twenty twenty one, and this paper said that in a day the feathers there also,

be other objects around these nest inch entrances, including shells, flower, petals and seeds- This study, in particular, was was focusing on the feathers and I saw so you ve- noticed these feathers around the entrances and he wondered what was the deal with this? Apparently had been observed before, and there are already a couple of untested hypotheses and the scientific literature about what the feathers were doing there. One idea was that the feathers could collect do in arid regions, so they would help provide the ants with water in the mornings and Other idea was that some other feathers could serve as lures attracting prey to the nest and so the two nineteen study tested both ideas in one experiment. The researchers supplied the ant colony he's with water soaked. Cotton balsam sure they had access to plenty of water, but the ants

in these cases preferred to collect feathers anyway. It did not seem like access to water played any role in in their their desire to collect feathers. And this could be evidence that the feathers were not primarily for collecting water, but enough test was designed to see if feathers scattered on the ground would attract pray. So they tested this with artificial traps that were made to resemble the the nest entrances. his aunts and the team found that if you put out a trap and scatter feathers around it, for some reason it will tend to trap a more just sort of wanderers. Arthropods that are out on the ground, then traps without feathers and is so interesting question. Why would they do that? Why would a hole in the ground surrounded by feathers, get more bugs to fall into it? It's not own, but gomes suggests that maybe something about the smell of feathers, something about the visual appearance. Maybe a quote! He gives

scientific american article he's has just in general, soil. Insects are quote very curious, so maybe, putting an unusual item around the entrance to the nest, we'll just tend to get a wandering bugs to walk up to it and see if it's something of use to them. But I think this would not count just as baiting the way, to the way the burrowing alex owl example would, with the the cow donor, the bison dung, and because this case. It's not just to get the insects close to the nest. In this case, the actual nest entrances. Basically holes in the ground function quite well as pit traps, because once the prey insect falls in. They have difficulty climbing back out the answer will rather quickly grab and butcher them now. This is too clearly not the only way. This ant species has to acquire pray, finally, oxy ops do leave the nest to acquire pray. They forage like other ants species bud is possible. That

using the nest as a pit trap and surrounding it, with feathers as some kind of evolve. easier for luring more insects into the whole that helps the colonies parliament, their diet during especially times of the year, such as the dry season in this region. When prey is more scarce harder to come by, so they wouldn't be obligate trap builders they would, they would be sort of They would have like a trap business on the side. I guess he would say. Yes, it is if the tree interpretation is correct. It seems like this would be a supplemental role in getting extra food to them extra diet, kirsty, especially in times when they're they're going to be getting less. in their foraging or maybe when they're doing less foraging kayak as there. again there altering their immediate environment. Anyway, and then again a whole like this is not a huge energy investment.

I hope it is already part of the nest. Amelia report, the death. I guess that the question is coming back Those are the reasons that were put forth it earlier We don't see more pit traps. Does this? Would this make the the ant population more visible to potential predators? yeah we made, maybe so, maybe not, maybe maybe the animals. That would be enough. Sit in eating the ants already- would be able to check their presence and then again also the ants have more capable What is it then that one little larva at the bottom of a small tat? You know we're not dealing with one organism we're dealing with this sum, this entire colony of organisms better It cannot behave as a single organism, yeah, obviously I dont know what all that you know, the cost benefit analysis of this evolutionary calculus would be, but There must be some reason why, by having

aunt nest, as it is a pit trap in this environment, for this aunt is, is not such a it's not such a danger that it outweighs the benefit of getting some bugs to fall in his free meals. But I also like this- it's like by house analogy: it's like it Your entire house was just like that oh the ground, and the entrance to the house was a spike pit travelling attired. Perhaps he has waited things to fall in and be like bonus. Here's dinner! and you are away- and you had the lures- he had the feathers all around. I dunno what that would be in the human example. I you put just cotton candy around the around the trap that you can through, but this is certainly another fascinating example yet, and I love how both present the possibility of ants building traps, but since they are ass like it's, it's not that cut and dried I like, like have a complexity all their own

You can't really look at them. In the same way, he would look at a single, solitary spider. Or or certainly even the you know, the the human example like what we do with traps and how we think about traps is a rather different scenario compared to anything anything that we're seeing in several of these animal examples yeah. Well I I guess that does it for we're ant traps on my end, but the that was one who knows what the future will hold. Perhaps it'll be more exciting studies coming out. There, though, the world of aunt research I mean, is that it's highly possible I mean we're still was you're, making a significant discoveries about about aunt species and what the rupture There are frontiers of ants. You couldn't even dream of their ant traps that We don't even know about yet because they haven't been sprung on us when you fall into them. You go through the two thousand and one stargate and up in the in the room with the what's the french furniture.

You know we ve never watched and aunt movie for we how cinema? I wonder if we should at some point. Oh, I have for years been looking at. the cover of a blu ray at video drome called phase four as a picture of a hand with some ants. I know it involves ants. I don't know anything else. I guess the the question I would have, especially after talking about ants like this again is are. We looking thinking about movies that that does that have a giant aunt in them and have encounters with various giant ants. Is it truly about the ants as this kind of super organism? I, like the latter ia, though maybe having a giant sized aunt is kind of a way through our bad vand aspect, fiction that we think about super organisms, so it's kind of like yes, an answer small, but they, but they work together and they able to do great things. So we just think of, like a giant had as I just one way of love of contemplating what your cable

So the next time aunt movies come back if you're out there thinking about resurrecting the giant aunt movie, consider having them like tear people apart. It is that you know falling out of windows, pulling people torrent against the size of a building and then transferring them up to the rooftop and tearing into pieces. Nice final processing, yes, All right, we're gonna, go and close out this episode here, but we love to hear from everybody out there about traps, trap, movies traps in the human world traps in the animal world eyes. There is theirs, corner of this topic, you'd like first to explore more in the future. Let us know we would love to hear from you. We would like to list another episode of stuff to blow your mind. You will find them in the stuff blow your mind. Pot gets the core episodes on tuesdays and thursdays. Lister mail on mondays short form, fact on wednesdays. On friday, we do with our cinema. That's her time to set aside most serious concerns and just look at a strange film.

As always, you can also get to rather quickly by going to stuff to blow your mind, dot com use thanks, as always to our excellent audio producer, said Nicholas Johnson, if you will to get in touch with us with feedback on this episode or any other, to suggest a topic for the future, just to say hello, you can email us at contact and stuff to blow your mind the stuff. To blow your mind, it's production of iheart radio for more podcasts, my heart, radio, Iheart, radio, app apple podcasts or wherever you're listening to your favorite shows the for imagine

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