Get Rid of Carpenter Ants

A wonderful example of chimpanzee tool usage, by taking and modifying twigs to fish for termites within their hard nests. Also illustrates that the understanding that tools having different properties are useful for different applications. This behaviour was first discovered by Jane Goodall in 1960, and was the first known example of tool making and usage outside of humans, causing archaeologist Louis Leakey to declare: “Now we must redefine tool, redefine Man, or accept chimpanzees as humans.” From the Ape segment (part 3) of the BBC documentary “Cousins”. More Information: www.janegoodall.org www.bbc.co.uk

Technorati Tags: amazing, animal, ape, being, child, childhood, children, chimp, chimpanzee, comparison, critical, culture, development, difference, documentary, early, evolution, fishing, genius, goodall, great, human, jane, learn, learning, logic, memory, modification, primate, reason, science, simian, specialization, teach, teaching, termite, thinking, thought, tool, usage, use

10 Comments »

A flood hits a fire ant colony in the Amazon jungle. An amazing chance to see footage on how the species has adapted to water to protect their queen. From the BBC.

Technorati Tags: amazing, amazon, animals, Ants, BBC, in, jungle, nature, photography, rainforest, river, the

25 Comments »

DVD this is pulled from only available from the UK: bit.ly This bit about termites is so amazing, that it completely altered my understanding of the social order and man’s supposed dominance of it. This termite colony’s complex and unlikely construction is truly a testament to the incredible power of natural selection. The structure has air conditioning, a sewage system, food storage, fungus cultivation, and would be over a mile high if built to human scale. Truly astounding. Watch for the creepy shots of the termite queen near the end to see James Cameron’s obvious inspiration for the queen at the end of Aliens.

Technorati Tags: amazing, architecture, behavior, colony, documentaries, documentary, emergence, hive, insects, nature, science, termite, termites

25 Comments »