How Ants Make Our Cities Healthier
175,318
Published 2024-05-08
Our host and museum curator, Jessica Ware, Ph.D. joins Amy in a search for some tiny neighbors. They're managing surprisingly well in New York and other cities by adapting to human food. But without the access to easy protein (e.g., other insects to prey on), they're doing things a bit differently in street medians than they would in a more rural setting.
#ants #cities #nyc #ecology #insects
Image: Julian F, CC BY-NC, iNaturalist
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All Comments (21)
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Urban ecology is so cool. More please!
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Pavement Ants when humans invent cities: Eff yeah! About time.
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I'm actively training my 2.5 million ants.
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A couple of years ago we watched one of those ant wars between two nests in front of our house. They are intense 😲
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PBS is such a net positive for the world. Thank you for everything y’all do 💜💜💜
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In my backyard there are at least 6 species of ants. Leaf cutters, black crazy ants, fire ants, Cardiocondyla sp., Pseudomyrmex pallidus and Brachymyrmex obscurior so far. I'm still gatheing more information but yay ants!
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We got ants in our home, and my wife was freaking out. But I told her ants are probably the best pest you can have out of any pest. Glad this video confirms it!
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I have been distracted by city ants for decades. they are the ultimate gleaners. leave anything where they can get to it? it'll be gone, sometimes (I should say, usually), within 24 hours.
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I remember as a kid in Texas not realizing that I was standing on a fire ant mound...I paid a lot more attention to where I was standing after that...
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Ants are amazing for sure.
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You know it!!!!
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Love ants, currently studying 3 species in the lab I'm in for PhD work! My favorite are our Atta Cephalotes, the (best) Leaf Cutters!
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I have honeypot ants. It’s a new hive so it’s still small, but I have a couple pots hanging around now. Ants are great.
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Ants so damn interesting
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Nature continues to care for us even when we don't return the favor.
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I thought that this would be interesting, but I sure am impressed with how much relevant information you managed to share with us ! Thanks for all the work everyone involved in bringing this video to us, well done !
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luckily for the US Prenolepis Imparis...winter ants are one of the few native species that are absolutely beating the crap out of the invasive argentine ants and even going head to head with fire ant colonies.
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That vision of walking through a city like a forest!
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The leaf cutter ant tank at the museum was so ambitious when it first started. It’s been reduced to pale imitation of its intention. Millions of ants perished, the Dyson air fan inside is the final nail in the coffin for me lol. No mention of the Honeypot Ants about 100 feet away from the leaf cutters? Miss the Gilder Center so much, spent thousands of hours there building those very exhibits.
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To bad we dont have more green spaces. Hell hyways and freeways off ramps with there dirt sides fill em with native plants and trees flowers. Just get a seed cannon and seeds that wont fit aka bigger then 2 or 3 mm just throw some seeds out before the use of the seed cannon. Why well it will clean the airvand ground but most importantly it will reduce air ground and noise pollution.
