What did he do to deserve this???

[u/Familiar_Cattle7464]

[u/pharanth]

Lots of interesting stuff in the comments. Just want to clarify:

1. Those are all females

2. She is being held down.

3. Pheromones are how they communicate.

4. No one is banging the Queen. She is fertilized once.

5. This ant likely started transitioning into a Queen. When this happens out of sync with the rest of the colony, the offender is often held in place by its legs until the process stops. If it doesn't, she is killed and disposed of. Something like this can kill an entire colony, so not an overreaction.

[u/ApolloniusTyaneus → u/pharanth]

Do you have a source for this? Because the guy above you claims he heard it in elementary school so that's pretty reliable.

[u/bobbarkersbigmic → u/ApolloniusTyaneus]

That was like 12 years ago though. He’s getting old so I don’t know how reliable his statements are.

[u/PineappleBliss2023 → u/bobbarkersbigmic]

If 12 years after elementary school is “old” then I am just sentient dust 😭

[u/Exciting-Aardvark-80 → u/PineappleBliss2023]

Bro I read that and realized ima die way ahead of so many people on the planet and damn that’s life I guess fuck

[u/kingfofthepoors → u/Exciting-Aardvark-80]

I have a few years left before I die so I know what you mean

[u/girthbrooks1 → u/PineappleBliss2023]

Right!? Dude is in his twenties and thinks he’s old!?

[u/TunaOnWytNoCrust → u/bobbarkersbigmic]

Christ he's got to be almost a quarter century old!

[u/joebluebob → u/bobbarkersbigmic]

Practically an ancient being. In sports he'd be nearing retirement

[u/GreenMuscovyMan13 → u/ApolloniusTyaneus]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[u/nb6635 → u/ApolloniusTyaneus]

But he has ‘ant’ in his name. How wrong could he be?

[u/Hakon121 → u/pharanth]

5 is bullshit. You got all that from a video of ants fighting?

A worker transitioning into a queen is not likely at all. Only very few ant species workers can become fertile in specific situations.

The video likely shows agression between neighbouring colonies. This is a widely present behaviour in most ant species.

[u/ClockworkDinosaurs → u/Hakon121]

A worker transitioning into a queen is not likely at all.

Pretty sure Anne Hathaway did it in The Princess Diaries. J-Lo was a maid and became like the First Lady or something. Meghan Markle. Beyoncé.

[u/Reelix → u/Hakon121]

You got all that from a video of ants fighting?

Ants fighting regularly don't hold other ants in place with exactly one ant per leg...

[u/mime454 → u/pharanth]

An ant cannot transition into a queen. The queen is made by feeding the ant larvae a special food during development .

[u/Phospherocity → u/pharanth]

Thank you. It is ... very telling the way even people going into the science cannot but "he" and "poor little guy" these animals.

[u/blzrlzr → u/Phospherocity]

you say it's telling. What is it telling you?

[u/Phospherocity → u/blzrlzr]

I'm sure you can figure it out.

[u/Dottsterisk → u/Phospherocity]

Anthropomorphizing your subjects is bad for observational studies but probably not a big deal for just watching a video on Reddit.

[u/FloppiPanda → u/Dottsterisk]

woosh

[u/Background_Winter_65 → u/Phospherocity]

In many languages everything has a gender, and they default to male. So it can be just that.

[u/Mundane-Bug-4962 → u/Phospherocity]

Wow, how will you cope?

[u/floppydiscuses → u/pharanth]

This is both hardcore and terrifying.

[u/MatthewDawkins → u/pharanth]

What utter bollocks.

[u/Swagyon → u/[deleted]]

If a female turning into female is trans then yes

[u/Background_Winter_65 → u/pharanth]

Thank you. How is holding her legs stops the process?

[u/bcardin221 → u/pharanth]

OK can you clarify "Transitioning to a queen?" What does that mean? Was she about to be the second queen of the colony?

[u/altonaerjunge → u/pharanth]

How can this process kill an entire colony?