Mother Nature has a knack for fashioning beasts beyond our wildest imagination, great and
small, cute and scary.
But she also has a dark and twisted side.
What you're about see and learn in this video will surely shock you, because the new beasts
that are about to move into this peculiar contraption are some of the most ancient and
almost mythological social animals I've ever introduced on this channel.
Ladies and gents, gather round and have a seat and witness the dark side of the Antiverse.
Welcome to the AntsCanada ant channel.
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Welcome to the AC Family.
Enjoy.
AC Family, let's get to it.
Yes, we've got yet another new colony of ants joining us this week, but I guarantee, these
ants are unlike anything you've ever seen before!
I quite literally have only heard about these ants in books, ironically, but when the opportunity
to keep a real colony of these oh so fabled ants came to me, I could not pass up the chance.
But what you will learn and witness in this video is shocking and to the best of my knowledge,
has never been documented in science before, especially not on video!
This will also be one of those videos, AC Family, where we make some new scientific
discoveries valuable to ant science!
Yes, we the AC Family, once again will be the first in the world to see and discover
some biological and behavioural things about these incredible and savage ants.
So, as always, keep on watching until the end.
What you see before you is a new piece of ant technology, something we at AntsCanada
have been working on, our newest of ant inventions.
We call it the Ant Tower.
To be able to truly appreciate the beasts of this video, we would be needing this Ant
Tower to film them, which would also become their home.
Yes, it's an ant farm, but don't be fooled by its simplistic design.
We've souped it up with some awesome ant keeping engineering!
But first, we need to make this empty Ant Tower more inhabitable for our new beasts,
so I added in some soil.
And now to create the start of the subterranean lair in which our beasts shall reside and
roost.
I plunged a q-tip through the earth and fashioned them a cavern fit for a monster, no, fit for
a family of monsters.
Hmmm...
Next, I added some faux blades of grass, some stones, some sphagnum moss, and a twig.
Now to add a few drops of water to moisten the soil, and ah, much better now.
I think our beasts will love their new territories, wouldn't you say?
AC Family, I name this new ant territory The Blood Tower.
Let me show you around!
In case you were wondering what this red layer is all about, our beasts love nesting in darkness
and hate the light in areas they retreat to rest, and like many ants, they also happen
to be blind to red light, so this red transparent layer will fool our beasts into thinking they
are cloaked in darkness just as they like it, but giving us a bit of visibility.
I move to the lower levels of the Ant Tower to inject some life-giving water, which would
evaporate and hydrate the beasts' living quarters above through tiny microholes in the hydration
chamber's roof.
Alright, there.
And now AC Family, the time has come to meet and move in our beasts!
The Blood Tower was ready!
At the back of the Ant Tower, were three ports.
Two entrance ports, one at the back there, which is plugged up with an AC plug to keep
our beasts from escaping, and this second port through which our beasts will be entering
the Blood Tower.
That smaller top port is for adding wind if needed via a fish tank air pump, but we won't
be needing that for this colony.
We need the air in this Ant Tower to be misty and still.
So here we go, guys.
Let's unleash our beasts into the newly created Blood Tower!
I fastened their containment test tube to the back of the Ant Tower, and immediately
the beasts spilled out into the territories.
AC Family, I am pleased to present to you, the infamous and frightening Dracula Ants,
of the genus Stigmatomma!
These beasts are just insane!
The colony is now filing in, and take a look at those crazy mandibles!
They're like two long fangs sticking out of their face, but each of those mandibles has
a row of sharp teeth.
Look at them swarming and surveying the Blood Tower's grounds, and it looks like they've
found our cavern!
Now let me explain why these Dracula ants are super unique and oh so dark.
Dracula ants are an ancient group of predacious ants that are actually found worldwide.
They get their name not from their long fang-like mandibles, but from their very unique feeding
habits.
So AC Family, get this.
Dracula ants allegedly are not capable of consuming solid foods, nor are they capable
of trophallaxis, i.e. the transfer food socially from mouth to mouth, a process common to nearly
all social insects.
But what's crazy is that the way adult Dracula worker ants eat, is they feed solid food to
their larvae, and then believe it or not, proceed to practice a non-lethal version of
cannibalism!
AC Family, you won't believe this, but Dracula ants actually bite and drink the blood of
their own larvae!
Isn't that crazy?
They create an incision in the skin of the larvae and drink up the hemolymph, the technical
term for insect blood, that bleeds out of these wounds, and that is how adult Dracula
ants feed, and how the species got their name.
They are well-known blood-feeders in the ant world.
Isn't that just crazy!
That's sister adult ants feeding from the blood of their younger sibling larvae.
As for who's laying the eggs, some species of Dracula ants have queens but I believe
this species to be one that has gamergates, i.e. a mated dominant worker ant who assumes
the role of egg layer, like our Black Panthers.
They were moving in the last of the larvae now.
It seems the ants were planning on moving in the pupae last.
The ants were clearly settling into the Blood Tower, their new home, as planned.
I was so happy about this, and look, some of the stones looked like teeth, which I found
to be rather fitting for a Dracula ant home.
They were also busy beginning their excavation and expansion of the tunnel we made for them.
Our plans were working out perfectly.
Now one thing that concerned me though was that these ants are known to specialize on
preying on centipedes, but only thing is, I don't have any centipedes to feed them,
and I wasn't about to go hunting for centipedes in the jungle every day to feed them either.
But one thing I did have, were superworms!
I wonder if they would eat them, or rather bring the superworm to the babies and then
suck their blood!
Oh, the idea was blood-curdling and exciting!
Let's try it!
I opened the food shoot at the top of the Ant Tower, and placed in a split superworm.
The Dracula ants came to inspect the sudden foreign meat that had fallen from the sky.
They looked so careful and curious about it.
Personally, I was expecting them to ferociously pounce on it immediately, but to my surprise,
they seemed super cautious around it and lightly touched the superworm with their antennae
to smell it.
A few minutes later one ant finally decided to sting it with her stinger, and later, the
ants began to bury the superworm, but seeing all this, to me it did seem the ants weren't
super thrilled about superworms as a prey item.
Maybe they would have a taste for roaches?
I tossed in half a roach nymph and watched.
An ant took some baby lunges at, but then what I saw next completely shocked me.
The ant began to feed on the roach.
It looked to me like the worker was drinking the roach's splattered haemolymph!
More ants began to join in drinking the juices spilling from the roach, and one ant even
came to lick the surface of the superworm!
Here we were AC Family, witnessing first hand, evidence that these Dracula ants actually
do eat other insects and not just their own larvae's blood.
It was still unclear whether or not the ants were eating the gooey guts of the prey, too,
but whatever the case, we just made a neat scientific discovery, AC Family!
High five!
Mark the date, we saw it first!
And just when I thought that was the epitome of our scientific discoveries, little did
I know, we were about to film and witness yet another new fact about these Dracula ants.
AC Family, have a look at this cocoon.
This species of ant is the cocoon-spinning type, which means when the larvae are ready
to pupate, they spin these cocoon cases to protect them through the pupal stage, as they
develop into adult ants.
But then, I noticed this worker tearing open a hole in one of the cocoons.
And oh my, there was even a developing pupa inside.
The worker continued to tear a larger hole into the cocoon and it did seem that the pupa
wasn't even fully developed, and then suddenly, the worker went in to drink from the exposed
pupa.
When I realized what was happening, my jaw hit the floor.
OMG!
AC Family, these Dracula ants were actually drinking the blood of the pupae, too, and
not just their larvae as indicated by past research!
Isn't that just incredible?
AC Family, we made yet another valuable discovery on the biology of these Dracula ants!
Mark the date!
We saw it first!
Dracula ants also feed from the blood of their pupae!
I watched as several workers came to lap up and feed from the pupal blood wound.
The ants then proceeded to carry this bleeding cocoon into the nest, where I assume it would
continue to nourish its sisters.
Just insane!
But AC Family, that's not all.
A third discovery!
I placed some hard-boiled egg yolk into the Blood Tower, and to my surprise the ants began
to feed from it!
What?
For sure there was no trace of blood in this yolk, insect or otherwise, so this suggested
then that the ants actually can eat solids!
They've got the tools to process even solid food!
AC Family, mark the date!
We saw it first!
I decided to leave the ants alone for a few hours while they continued to move in the
remaining cocoons, and check up on them later.
A few hours later, I came back to check on the Dracula ants, but little did I know, we
were in for a mind-blowing sight!
The ants seemed to be droning over the roach and superworm, but upon closer inspection
I saw larvae!
Wow!
The ants had brought the larvae to the surface to feed on the prey carcasses!
Wow!
Now we know why the ants were burying the prey!
They had every intention of placing the larvae around it to feed, and the soil walls acted
like blankets to cradle and protect the feeding young.
I was in awe.
The larvae were so mobile and very maggot-like in demeanor.
And it did look like the larvae were not just drinking the gooey, liquidy parts.
It seemed the larvae could get at the solid parts, as well.
It made perfect sense that the ants decided to bring the larvae to the prey item because
again these ants can't transfer food mouth to mouth via a social stomach like most ordinary
ants, so the prey either needed to be dragged into the nest to the young, or in this case,
because there probably wasn't a lot of space in their nest which was undergoing construction,
the ants had to bring the larvae to the prey.
And when one of the larvae was full, an adult worker came along to pluck it from its place
and carry it back into the nest, where it assumingly would be wounded and its blood
drank up by its older sisters.
Just incredible, right AC Family?
I watched for hours as they one by one removed the larvae who had had their fill from the
roach, to take them into the depths of the nest to assumingly proceed to feed the workers
their freshly nourished blood.
I feel the workers of this particular species of Dracula ant, do eat semi-solid foods, but
perhaps their main source of food is blood, either their own young's or that of freshly
killed insects.
The next morning, the Dracula ants had all settled in.
I noticed they had created an ant hill from their excavations, and had nest openings in
several locations.
They were starting to wake up now to start their day.
I removed the red film to see if we could see any of the action inside the nest.
Right away I saw some tunnels with cocoons and workers inside.
There was also a tunnel here under these stones, and a tunnel here under these stones, but
these tunnels seemed to all branch out from the main cavern we created for them before
they moved in.
As the colony grows, the tunnels and chambers will be become larger and more defined, so
we'll be able to see the ants better in their nest.
Sadly, in just the three short days I've had them, I wasn't able to film the adult Dracula
ants bleeding and drinking the larvae's blood, but what we had seen so far, was, in my mind,
already pretty ground-breaking in the world of myrmecology!
I resolved to continue feeding roaches, completely split open so the workers could feed from
their gooey insides and blood.
Overall, I find these Dracula ants pretty remarkable!
They're truly unlike any other ant I've ever kept.
And the fact that we made some pretty amazing ant discoveries today, filled my heart with
joy!
We're all myrmecologists on the brink of ant discovery!
We discovered these Dracula ants feed from the blood of not only their larvae but also
that of other insects, as well as their own pupae.
We found that these ants actually can eat solids, and that the ants are willing to bring
their young up to the surface to feed on prey cradled in beds of soil.
I promise to keep a close lens to these Dracula ants, to see if I can shoot them drinking
larval blood, and hopefully catch some more scientific Dracula ant discoveries!
Alright AC Family, you know what's next!
What should we name this epic colony of Dracula ants?
Leave your name suggestions in the comments, and I will choose my favourites for us to
vote on in a future video.
I have some epic plans for this Dracula ant colony, which currently doesn't take up too
much space.
The ants have already begun to show signs of wanting an expansion, so I'm planning on
connecting more Ant Towers, and change their territory name from the Blood Tower to the
Blood Castle, perhaps even add a grand Draculean courtyard designed like a scary forest.
What do you guys think?
Overall, I loved watching the ants and decided that these quote unquote beasts, weren't the
blood-thirsty and shadowy monster ants I thought they would be.
They were just unique ants with a unique lifestyle and feeding bahaviour.
Actually, looking at them much more carefully, I found them to be kinda cute.
Watching them move around in an almost stealthy, slithering manner, and feeding within the
Blood Tower was super satisfying.
I do plan on showing this video to my myrmecologist friends to get their take on the neat things
we discovered together this week.
The week, we discovered that these vampires were not monsters, but unique and cool friends.
Mark the date, AC Family.
It's ant love forever.
And now about those termites...
Haha!
AC Family, did you enjoy today's episode?
Now, I cannot count how many of you have been asking, no, demanding for an update on the
termite pair we caught a few months ago in our previous video Ants vs. Termites, and
well, I've finally got an update for you, so hit that Subscribe button and Bell icon
now, so you don't miss out on the termite craziness ahead, and hit the like button every
single time, including now.
And if you're new to the channel and want to catch up on all your AntsCanada Lore, feel
free to binge watch this complete story line playlist here, which traces the origins of
all the ant colonies of the ant room, so you can follow their stories and better appreciate
how these ant kingdoms came to be, and why we love them so much!
AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie for you here, if you would just like to watch
some extended play footage of the Dracula ants living in their new home, the Blood Tower!
Watching these gorgeous ants is pretty amazing and super satisfying to watch!
And before we proceed to the AC Question of the Week, I'd like to plug my daily vlogging
channel, daily vlogs which have become a full out bird dad channel, as I am now raising
a baby African Grey parrot!
If you love birds, I'd love for you to meet my new cute little bird!
She's a handful, but I love her and I think you would, too!
And now it's time for the AC Question of the Week!
Last week we asked:
What are the pit organs for on the lips of some snakes?
Congratulations to Dominic the Rat and Animal Guy who correctly answered:
The pit organs on the lips of some snakes are for sensing heat from prey animals.
Congratulations, Dominic, you just won a free e-book handbook from our shop!
In this week's AC Question of the Week, we ask:
What do these Dracula ants have in common with
our Black Panthers, i.e.
Diacamma ants?
Leave your answer in the comments section and you could also win a free e-book handbook
from our shop!
Hope you can subscribe to the channel as we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST.
Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video to help
us keep making more.
It's ant love forever!