The sun is scorching, the air is scorching, and the whole world seems to be in a microwave oven.
For the pavement ants that rush to transport fruits, this is not their preferred temperature, which is relatively cool, let alone a comfortable working environment.
Even though they are known for their hard work, these ants have to sacrifice efficiency when transporting fruits and try to choose shady routes. The entire transportation line looks crooked.
Generally speaking, the favorite temperature of most ants is 25-35 degrees Celsius, which is similar to the preferences of warm-blooded animals like humans. Outside this comfortable temperature, the ants' vitality will decrease. If it is too hot or too cold, exceeding the range of 0-40 degrees Celsius, then the ants will easily die, or they will stay in a relatively safe and comfortable nest and refuse to go out.
But there are no absolutes. Some ants can adapt to extreme temperatures.
For example, Camponotus vitiosus, also known as Tokyo Camponotus ant, Latin scientific name Camponotus vitiosus, is an arboreal ant species with a wide distribution range. This kind of ant nests in trees, but in the cold winter, the insulation of tree holes is far less than that of underground nests, and it can be said that it is not much warmer than the outdoors.
But even in an environment of several degrees below zero, these ants can still lay eggs and grow, and even continue to expand their nests. They are truly not afraid of the cold.
What’s more interesting is that the reason why the blemish-bearing ant got its name was not because of the namer’s prank, nor because the ant really has any natural flaws. Its Latin name does not mean blemish, but instead means vicious. It seems that the namer does not have a good impression of this kind of ant. Could it be that he has been bitten? Instead, its common name, Tokyo ant, is more neutral.
Another similar example of strange naming is the deceptive ant, whose Latin scientific name is Camponotus decipiens. The species nickname "decipiens" originally means "deceptive, deceptive".
Why is there such a strange name? In fact, when it was first discovered, it was recorded as another ant variant with the scientific name Camponotus marginatus. At that time, there were as many as five varieties of this species, and now they are all proven to be different ant species. But at that time, they were all considered to be the same kind of ants, but they were very different in body color. The C. deceptive ant looks similar to one of the so-called variants, but the color is very different. From the point of view of an antologist, he would think, "Boy, I won't recognize you if you paint it red?" "You can't fool me, who is very discerning." That's why we got such a name. He thought the difference in body color was a "deception," but in fact, they were two different species of ants. The reason why I finally chose "Deception Campoback Ant" instead of "Deception Campoback Ant" as the Chinese name is because the latter is more like a verb here, and when combined, it seems that "Chonotus Ant" has been "cheated", and "Fraud" is relatively better, so I finally chose the former as the Chinese name.
There is also a species called the sacred ant, whose Latin scientific name is Camponotus sanctus. The species nickname "sanctus" means "holy" and is directly translated into Chinese as "sacred ant".
This species of ant is originally found in Jerusalem, Israel. Jerusalem, as the holy land of Christianity, Judaism, and Christianity, is a new ant species discovered here by antologists, so it was named with the word "holy".
In addition to those that are not afraid of cold, there are also ants that are not afraid of heat. There is a kind of Saharan silver ant in the African Sahara Desert, whose Latin scientific name is Cataglyphisbombycina. They feed on insects and other dead arthropods. They can survive in desert environments with surface temperatures as high as 70°C. They are one of the most heat-resistant insects known. It is morphologically and physiologically adapted to dry and hot environments.
This ant will only go out to forage when the external temperature reaches above 46 degrees Celsius, and can endure the hot external environment until its body temperature reaches the tolerance limit of 53 degrees Celsius. This adaptive change allows it to avoid some natural enemies with poor heat tolerance.
Saharan silver ants are not only heat-resistant, they are also very fast crawlers. If silver ants are converted to human size, they can reach a speed of 280 miles per hour, which is 450 kilometers per hour. After all, if you walk on gravel that is as hot as a heated pan every day, you can easily get burned to death if you don't run faster.
Closer to home, although pavement ants are also cold-tolerant and can even go out on sunny winter days, they are more afraid of heat.
Now is the hottest time of the year, which is called a monsoon in human terms, but the recent climate has been abnormal, there has been no heavy rain, and the sporadic showers are not enough to cool down the thirsty and scorching earth.
The powerful sun is releasing heat to its fullest, and even the protection of the clouds in the sky has been lost. The entire land is roasted like a furnace. The surface temperature is estimated to be close to 50 degrees. An egg can be cooked on a stone. Degree.
Under this temperature, even flying knights must reduce their attendance, so only species such as mysterious ants or Saharan silver ants don't care.
If it weren't for the damn food, the pavement ants would never go to such a far place to forage. Even now, they can only work in the shade of trees and do not dare to provoke the harsh sunshine.
Carrying these fruits is not as easy as imagined. Whether it is plums, peaches, or grapes, they are not big enough for ants to move.
They can only cut open the peel and check the condition of the fruit. If it is a fruit that has just fallen to the ground and still has a lot of water content, the pavement ants will drink a full meal of juice to replenish the lost water, and at the same time eat some sugar to replenish the energy needed for work.
Although in the ant nest, sweet dried fruits are almost exclusively reserved for male ants and the queen, on this occasion, the leading male ants will not interfere with the eating of the worker ants.
Only for fruits that have been naturally sun-dried or air-dried to a slightly lower moisture content, the pavement ants will use their mandibles to cut the non-corrupted parts into small pieces and then carry them back to the nest.
The fruit slices are dried on rocks near the main nest, guarded by specialized worker ants to prevent bugs from eating them. Finally, the dried fruit entered the granary and became a luxury food in the nest. When you need to enjoy it, just add some water to soak it.
The large group of working pavement ants did not attract the mysterious ants in [Purple Leaf Licheng] not too far away. The mysterious ants were still searching for something, but they did not enter this fruit forest.
While Mystery Ants are able to find nearby Pavement Ant troops without the need for scouts, this ability is limited by distance.
The pavement ants harvested a batch of food in this relatively safe environment.
