ants Archives - DOES GOD EXIST? TODAY

March 7, 2023February 28, 2023

The Largest Insect Family

Many people fear insects, but those little critters are essential for life on Earth. Although they can be pests, insects perform valuable services, from pollinating the plants that supply our food to removing dead animal carcasses and waste. Yesterday, we looked at mosquitoes and ants. Today we consider the largest insect family – beetles.

We said that even though an estimated 20,000 ant species live almost everywhere on Earth, they are not the largest insect family. Beetle species make up more than one-third of the nearly one million scientifically identified species of insects worldwide. Here are some of the things we have written about beetles.

BEETLES THAT RECYCLE CARCASSES
BEETLES THAT DISPOSE OF ANIMAL WASTE
FIRE CHASING BEETLES
BEETLES THAT WALK UPSIDE DOWN UNDERWATER
JAWBREAKER BEETLES
STINKY BEETLES

Someone said God must love beetles because He made so many of them. Although we might think that beetles such as stink bugs are ugly, many are known for their beauty. However, the most beautiful insects are the ones we will examine tomorrow.

March 6, 2023February 28, 2023

Fear of Insects – Entomophobia

The fear of insects is called entomophobia. It’s a phobia affecting nineteen million Americans, making it one of the top fears people have. The insects people most commonly fear are ants, beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and even moths and butterflies. If I selected the insects I dislike the most, they would probably be mosquitoes – at least the female ones. However, we must realize that insects of all varieties are essential for human life, and even mosquitoes serve a useful purpose.

On this website, we have written about insects many times. Instead of having a fear of insects, we would do well to study and learn from them. The following links to some of the insect articles we have posted can help you see that our six-legged friends are fascinating. Let’s start with those dreaded mosquitoes.

WHY DO WE HAVE MOSQUITOES?
SOLUTIONS TO MOSQUITO PROBLEMS
DANGEROUS ANIMALS THAT WE FEAR

Ants are another family of insects we can’t ignore.

ANTS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR LIFE ON EARTH
ANT ARMOR
ANTS USING TOOLS
ANTS USING VIBRATING SAWS
ANTS USING SEALED DOORWAYS
ANTS OF THE SAHARA DESERT

Ants and mosquitoes live on every continent except Antarctica. Entomologists estimate there are 20,000 species of ants, but only 13,800 have so far been studied and classified. However, ants don’t hold the record for the largest number of insect species. That honor belongs to another insect family, which we will look at tomorrow.

November 1, 2022October 31, 2022

Ants Are Essential for Life on Earth

“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider her ways and be wise.” That biblical injunction from Proverbs 6:6 was written to motivate the lazy and idle person to get busy. The fact is that ants are among the most important life forms God created, and scientists are finding more evidence that ants are essential for life on Earth.

Over 20 quadrillion ants are living on this planet. That’s 20, followed by 15 zeroes. When you add up the total weight of the carbon in those 20 quadrillion ants, you get about 12 million tons. That is more than the combined mass of wild birds and mammals, or about 20% of the total weight of all humans.

Scientists have studied and named more than 15,700 species and subspecies of ants, and their research is adding more to that number each year. Ant chemistry is vital to the existence of all kinds of life. For example, in my army survival training, they taught us to eat ants.

Many people think of ants as pests that serve no purpose but to irritate us and bring problems into our homes. By contrast, research has shown that ants provide a massive service to humans, and we could not survive on planet Earth without them. For example, consider these roles that ants play:

Ants aerate the soil, disperse the seeds of many plants, and break down organic material, enriching the soil and enhancing plant growth.
Ants create a habitat for other animals and provide an essential part of the food chain for mammals and birds. Also, many birds rely on ants to flush out their prey.
Ants are predators that keep populations of other insects in check. They are more effective than pesticides in helping farmers produce food. Ants eat many worms, caterpillars, and insects that eat our crops and leave no destructive chemicals as pesticides do.

Like much of what God created for our benefit, ants help us in many ways we overlook. Managing God’s gifts requires protecting life forms, including ants. Ants are essential for life on Earth. Remembering the verse from Proverbs, we need to “consider the ant” in more ways than one.

Our thanks to David Harrington who brought us this research report from “The Conversation”

January 4, 2022January 3, 2022

Edward O Wilson Was an Authority on Ants

You may recognize the name Edward O. Wilson whom evolutionists associate with sociobiology. However, the Harvard biologist who passed away in December at the age of 92 was actually more famous for his detailed study of ants. There are currently over 15,000 known species of ants, with probably thousands more, and Edward O Wilson was an authority on ants.

Wilson’s studies included ants that can walk under water to find dead insects or glide from one tree to another or join together to make a raft to carry their queen and eggs to safety away from a flooded nest. Wilson pointed out the complex social organization of an ant colony. He wrote that “Karl Marx was right, socialism works, it is just that he had the wrong species.”

Wilson summarized his work by saying, “Our sense of wonder grows exponentially: the greater the knowledge, the deeper the mystery and the more we seek knowledge to create new mystery.” Proverbs 6:6 gives a similar message: “Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways and be wise.” We have considered the ways of ants many times on this website and in our printed journal. You can find links to some of those articles below.

Edward O Wilson was an authority on ants, and although we disagree with his agnosticism and materialistic Darwinism, we applaud him for giving us information about the world of ants. His work reinforces the message of Romans 1:20 that “we can know there is a God through the things He has made.”

Reference: Columnist Rich Lowry in the Herald Bulletin for December 23, 2021.

Here are links to some of our previous articles on ants:

Ants and survival rafts.

Ants with prism cooling.

Armor for leafcutter ants.

Ants and tool use.

Ants as farmers.

Ant leaf-cutting tool.

Ant doorways.

Ants in the Sahara Desert.

Ants working together.

November 20, 2021November 17, 2021

Ant Program in Action

You might call it intelligence in numbers. One ant by itself would be dysfunctional without any ability to survive. However, as part of a colony, everything changes. Ant colonies display an incredible amount of “intelligence” because of what we might call the “ant program.”

No ant, not even the queen, tells the individual ants what to do, yet they work together in an amazing way. Each ant reacts to chemical smells from other ants, food, waste, larva, and even intruders. They each leave chemical trails to which other ants respond. Each ant acts autonomously according to the environmental factors and the genetically encoded “ant program” built into them.

The result is an intelligent and efficiently functioning colony working together in complex behavior and problem-solving. Computers use programs to solve problems, and complex computer programs don’t write themselves. So the question we have to ask is, “Who wrote the genetically encoded ant program?” Every ant colony is evidence for a Master Programmer.

August 11, 2021August 15, 2021

Missile Defense Systems and Dragonfly Brains

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have been studying the brains of insects to learn how to build computers that can intercept incoming missiles. Dragonflies successfully capture up to 95% of the prey they pursue – which is usually mosquitoes. The dragonfly doesn’t just aim its body at the mosquito, but rather it points its body at where the mosquito is going to be. You can see the connection between missile defense systems and dragonfly brains.

Dragonflies have specialized eyes that send data to their brains at the equivalent of 200 frames per second, which is several times faster than the human eye. The human brain has many more neurons than the dragonfly–86 billion as opposed to the 250,000. The larger number of neurons in human brains allows us to have cognition and do many things. However, dragonflies are designed to do one thing—to catch their food—and do it fast.

Dragonflies respond to a maneuver by their prey in 50 milliseconds (ms). That requires the eye to detect and transmit information to the brain in 10 ms. The brain has to calculate the dragonfly’s counter-maneuver in 35 ms to leave 5 ms for flight muscles to activate and take the dragonfly to where the mosquito will be. In-flight, the dragonfly must continually monitor the mosquito’s path and recalculate the trajectory. The speed of the process means there is time for only three or four neuron layers to act. Missile defense systems and dragonfly brains must act quickly.

Other insects have neurons designed for specific functions. For example, monarch butterflies have a navigational system that depends on the position of the Sun. Since the Sun’s position changes from morning to afternoon, the butterflies must have a designed system that allows them to always travel in the right direction. In addition to that, they need an instinct that tells them when to start their journey. Ants and bees also have neuron structures that allow them to return to their nest or hive no matter how far they get from it in their search for food.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories and Janelia Research Campus are studying these insect brains with the idea of building computers that will allow interception of missiles, prevent cars from colliding, and serve other practical purposes that require focus and speed. Proverbs 6:6 tells us to “go to the ant … consider its ways and be wise.” The design we see in even the simplest of God’s creatures radiates purpose and intelligence beyond that of mechanical chance.

Reference: IEEE Spectrum

January 5, 2021January 4, 2021

Ant Armor for Leafcutter Ants

The study of insects continues to find design features that enable them to survive when it seems their enemies should wipe them out. The numerous ant species have a variety of defense mechanisms. Entomologists at the University of Wisconsin have discovered ant armor for leafcutter ants.

Leafcutter ants are small and must protect themselves from larger predatory ants. Researchers found that they have a tough coat of mineral armor. Entomologists studying Acromyrmex echinatior worker ants found that their exoskeleton has a thin white protective coating. After trying various methods to remove that mysterious layer, researchers discovered that it is calcite with high magnesium levels.

The thin protective layer, only 7% of the exoskeleton’s thickness, more than doubles the leafcutter ant’s hardness. When larger soldier ants of another species attacked, they were not able to kill the leaf cutterants.

Ant armor for leafcutter ants is similar to the mineral protection that crabs and other crustaceans have, but scientists had not discovered it in ants before. How did these ants get this protection? Researchers theorize that external microbes the ants carry are responsible. That means this is another example of symbiosis between species–another evidence of design. The scientist leading this study said that learning how this tough coating forms could help technicians develop protective coatings for various products.

It seems that God has given every species of life on this planet protection against their natural enemies. Not only must all lifeforms have a ready supply of food and adequate water, but they must have physical protection. Ant armor for leafcutter ants is only one example of God’s intricate design for life.

Reference: Science News, December 19, 2020.

November 2, 2020November 1, 2020

Ants Adapting Tool Use

Scientists are always studying the methods animals use to obtain food. Foraging often involves more than finding food in the open or running it down. Sometimes it requires the use of tools and adapting the way they use tools. Crows can use a tool to pry the lid off a milk bottle, and seagulls can crack open clam shells by dropping them on rocks from high elevations. In a recent study, biologists observed ants adapting tool use to obtain food.

Researchers found that black imported fire ants (Solenopsis richteri) can use sand to adapt their method of reaching a food source. Researchers filled small containers with sugar water, a favorite food for the ants. This species of ants have hydrophobic exoskeletons, which allow them to float on the water to reach the food. However, when the scientists added a surfactant to reduce the surface tension, the ants sank and drowned.

That was the point where the scientists saw the ants adapting tool use. The researchers provided the ants with sand in various grain sizes. They allowed the ants to choose a way to reduce their drowning risk. One of the study authors, Dr. Aiming Zhou, said, “We found the ants used sand to build a structure that could effectively draw sugar water out of the container to then be collected.” Dr. Jian Chen, another author of the research, said, “We knew some ant species are able to use tools, particularly in collecting liquid food; however, we were surprised by such remarkable tool use displayed by black imported fire ants.”

It is difficult to believe that the ants have a brain that could reason this out, and they did not display trial and error behavior. The response was immediate and indicated that built into the ant’s DNA is something that enables them to secure food. Entomologist Jian Chen wrote, “Our findings suggest that ants and other social insects may have considerable high cognitive capabilities for unique foraging strategies.” Previously cognitive sophistication has been observed in primates and birds, but scientists had thought the behavior was “hard wired” in invertebrates. These ants adapting tool use seems to defy that understanding. According to Dr. Chen, “Our study is the first to touch on this interesting topic.”

We would suggest that the ants’ Creator designed them to live in a wide variety of environments and built the tools into their genetics that would allow them to do that.

Reference: britishecologicalsociety.org

July 29, 2020July 28, 2020

Social Distancing in Animals

It is interesting how difficult it seems to be for humans to practice social distancing to control disease. Scientific American published an article about social distancing in animals. Disease control is a basic need for all animals, but only humans create vaccines. So how do animals in the wild prevent the spread of disease?

Research on spiny lobsters shows that lobsters infected with a virus called Panulirus argus give off a smell in their urine that causes other lobsters to leave the area. Because of the economic value of lobster populations, much research has gone into understanding how this social distancing works.

A particular fungus spreads its spores by physical contact between ants. Other ants keep infected ants away from the colony and especially away from the queen and the nurse ants that take care of the brood to protect the ant population from the threat. Researchers have discovered social distancing in animals such as finches, guppies, mandrills, and mongooses. They all have procedures to isolate infected individuals and prevent the spread of disease.

Interestingly, God’s design for life includes social distancing in animals to stop viruses and fungi from spreading among their populations. Humans should not only be concerned about distancing from infected humans, but also from those animals that can spread diseases that affect humans. Trying to have animal pets that can carry diseases that threaten humans seems to be something we should all reconsider.

Data from the August 2020 issue of Scientific American (page 37).

May 20, 2020May 19, 2020

Evidence for Design in Symbiosis

The natural world is full of examples of two species living together in a way that each benefits the other. This mutualistic relationship is known as symbiosis. In some cases, the species are totally dependent on the relationship for their survival. In many plant/animal relationships, the animal depends on a plant for food, and the plant depends on the animal for pollination or the spreading of seeds. We see evidence for design in symbiosis.

One of the most interesting symbiotic relationships is between ants and butterflies. Scientists refer to the caterpillar in this relationship as being myrmecophilous, which means “ant-loving.” Dr. Philip Devries has written several articles in scientific journals about the caterpillars of certain butterfly species and their symbiosis with ants. The caterpillars feed on the nectar of croton trees, but they have a mortal enemy in the form of wasps. The wasp will find a caterpillar, kill it by stinging and then eat it. If ants are present, they will drive off the wasp and protect the caterpillar. Devries has covered some croton trees with ants, and they will have many caterpillars, but trees without ants will have very few caterpillars.

So the ants benefit the caterpillars, but what do the ants gain from this relationship? The caterpillars have organs on their posterior which extrude a clear liquid containing amino acids but virtually no sugar. The croton tree has a secretion that is 33% sugar but has very little nutritional value. The ants get vital nutrition from the caterpillar even though what they get is not sweet.

The caterpillar has other ways of attracting ants, including an organ on its back that secretes an ant pheromone that chemically attracts them. The caterpillar also has an organ that attracts ants by sending sound vibrations through the wood of the tree. Because of this feature, Dr. Devries coined the term “singing caterpillars.”

One of the great challenges to evolutionists is explaining how such a complex system of symbiosis happened by chance mutations. The more we study such relationships, the more different systems of design we see in the natural world. The more relationships we see, the more difficult it is not to recognize evidence for design in symbiosis. It speaks to us about God’s wisdom and design that allows the biological world to exist.

An article by Dr. Devries appeared in Scientific American, October 1992, pages 76-82.