Late Night Musings
by Jo Rebeka on 07/16/11
|
A reader comments: Can ants even see color? Let's look that up. I don't know how anyone would know without asking the ants themselves, but mosquitoes are attracted to blue and killer bees to black, so who knows? "According to Jurgen Ziesmann who cites Heinz Penzlin, and Gustav Fischer, ants can indeed see color. Apparently, ants have 4 different light absorbing pigments while humans only have 3. Scientists feel they can probably see UV light as a color, which is pretty interesting. They figure ants can see the different directions of polarization of light as different colors. |
Thanks for finding that info, very interesting!
Day 5 ~ July 16, 2011
by Jo Rebeka on 07/16/11
This morning, there is an almost sombre hush over the sugar ants hill. The small workers hasten to and fro in a dutiful fashion, but there is none of the mad melee of yesterday with gang violence in the air. Interestingly, the two large chunks of Z-99 which were here yesterday are gone. A few very tiny bits of frit cling to the periphery of their hill, ones they obviously could have gathered themselves.
Further down the sidewalk at "Ant-ioch" (more about my realization of their cities name tomorrow), the fire ants are busily gathering the fragile seeds of the elm trees and hustling them into the nest. Not a single eye turns toward the frit depot. Today my tiny pals are all business. I have my own errands to run, so I decide to give the ants the day off to regroup after the stressful events of yesterday.
More Ant-ics tomorrow!
Day 4 ~ July 15, 2011
by Jo Rebeka on 07/16/11
Yesterday I spread a small amount of Arielle's Odyssey blend in the spot where the ants have been picking up the spilled frits, and this morning the frit is mostly gone. I will try to get some photos as the sun moves to a better position. I'm not sure how clearly you'll be able to see it in photos, but they gathered up more than half of what I put out and carried it to their nest already. One Fritzen was heard to comment: "Ah, so that's how big size #1 is... I always wondered!" Looks like they are showing a preference for deeper colors first, but they may gather it all eventually. Everybody has their favorite colors, after all! Also, last night I noticed a new sugar ant hill about halfway between the fire ants and the frit depot, still pretty small, and they had gathered up a couple pieces of Z-99 also. Interestingly, when I was trying to photograph the small hill, the little guys had a fire ant that they were dragging around as well. Strange sight, 15 or more tiny sugar ants with a big fire ant they were tearing apart. Could this be a crime of passion? Was the fire ant basically mugged for his Z-99? The two pieces that were on the sugar ant hill looked too large to be carried by the sugar ants. The plot begins to thicken! While actual crime scene images have not been released, this is an artist's conception of what may have happened. Suspect names have not been released pending notification. You can see here that the fire ants are definitely bringing home the Arielle's Odyssey. By the end of the day they had pretty much harvested all that I put out for them. You can also see in this photo a strong directionality in how they are placing the frit. Their path from the "frit depot" is coming in from the upper right, so it could just be coincidence, but they are laying the frit almost exclusively along the western slope of their hill where it catches the afternoon light and sparkles nicely. Here's the Arielle's Odyssey mix if you want to see it... 
Lastly, somebody asked to see a map of their path. From the fire ant nest (lower left) to the frit depot area (top middle) is almost exactly 20 feet. I haven't timed them, but I'm guessing it's about a five minute walk for them, and as you can see they are bypassing a lovely flower garden full of things to snack on. Strange, huh?
Day 2 ~ July 13, 2011
by Jo Rebeka on 07/16/11
For anyone who missed the thread yesterday, some enterprising ants in my backyard scavenged up a tiny bit of spilled Z-99 frit and carried it back to their nest for whatever prupose ants have in collecting beautiful glass.
In the interest of science, (and because I could not resist) ...... I went out and dribbled a little more Z-99 in the same spot where it got spilled yesterday, and look what happened!
Not only did they go get the new glass, but they moved everything they had already gathered in closer to their nest. Before you panic, this is still a very tiny amount of glass, it just looks like a lot because the photo is so extremely magnified!
I wanted to get a little closer, and this is what I saw:
Then, as I was looking around, I saw this!!!!!
Yes, a tiny stringer log, which they must have gotten from the same area. My old studio is right off this patio, so apparently I missed this little bit of stringer when I was sweeping, but the ants sure didn't!
And finally, for a little bit of scale:
I couldn't really tell whether or not this guy in the lower left is actually moving that bit of frit, but it's a pretty amazing shot either way. You can also see that they are not only collecting the Z-99, they are carrying it down inside their nest.
Stay tuned, next I am going to experiment with different colors of frit and see how they respond....... this is really fascinating!
Day 1 ~ July 12, 2011
by Jo Rebeka on 07/16/11
I was walking to my studio this afternoon, and something on the ground caught my eye......
I did a double-take.... gee, that color looks awfully familiar... so I bent down closer and what do I see?
Yes, apparently even ANTS know when a color is really special. I had spilled about a teaspoon of Z-99 frit when I was sifting the different sizes of frit the other day, and these guys found it and carried it ALL back to their nest, which is almost 20 feet from where it got spilled. That just kind of blew my mind!
I had heard of ants "mining" pyrope garnets before but these ants were not bringing the z-99 up out of the ground (oh, if only they could!) they were carrying it home and 'decorating' their anthill with it. Interestingly, I went back a little while later and the chunks near the opening had been carried down into the nest. I wonder if there is a little tiny lampworking ant underground somewhere dancing a jig??
** For any readers who do not know what Z-99 frit is:
FRIT: Granulated glass used by glass artist to add texture, pattern and color to any base glass. Frit is used by flameworkers (also called lampworkers), fused glass artists, and glass blowers.
Z-99 FRIT: Z-99 is a rare and very beautiful reactive purple glass produced by a German glass manufacturer Zimmerman Glassworks. Sadly, this company went out of business in 2008 and their beautiful glass is no longer being produced. If you would like to see examples of Z-99 frit (or maybe get a little bit for yourself!) please click here.
