Oh no!
This is a truly sad, sad sight.
Did you know that ants, like all insects, must deal with a real life “Last Of Us”
fungus?
It’s called Cordyceps, well there are several genera of parasitic fungus that eat the ants
from the inside out, and turns out my weaver ant queen sorority that I was raising and
were so close to welcoming their first set of workers, have fallen victim to this, at
least I believe so.
But, guys, there’s a twist to this story, and I do have a couple of good news to share
with you.
Let’s talk about it.
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AC Family, this won’t be a very long video this week.
There’s been a lot of things going in the Ant Room and even in my personal life, which
I’ll talk about more in this video, and this mass ant death via killer fungus is one
of them.
Lots to tell you so do keep on watching until the end, because there is some light at the
end of this tragic tunnel.
So, for those of you who are new, a few weeks back I caught these queen ants.
They’re weaver ant queens, gorgeous and stunning, and a highly sought after species
in the ant keeping world because instead of creating nests in soil like most ants, these
ants create these really neat hanging leaf basket nests in shrubs and trees.
The ants use silk produced by their larvae to glue leaves together creating these amazing
basket nests, which I think are one of the most epic structures in the insect world!
The workers where I live are an orange-rust colour (in Australia, they’re actually green),
but the queens come in a variety of greens, yellows, and browns.
They’re also very big ants and quite aggressive.
We’ve had a colony of weaver ants in the past, named the Emerald Empire, an OG colony
on this channel that I sadly had to release back into the wild during the pandemic when
I was downsizing due to the lockdown circumstances in my area at the time.
The cool part about weaver ants is they are also known to form multi-queen colonies, which
is why I placed them together in this container, where they began to found cooperatively, a
process known as pleometrosis.
Three of the four queens ended up laying eggs and raising them, while the fourth queen sadly
died, probably due to unfertilization, but looking back now, perhaps it could have actually
been from something else much more sinister…
Because this week when I peeked into their container to remoisten their cotton ball,
I was horrified to see this!
Fungus!
No!
Was this Cordyceps?
If so, this was the very first time I’d ever seen it.
It didn’t quite look like any Cordyceps fungus I’ve seen in photos, but I was shocked
at how quickly it just took over and killed me queen ant sorority.
It was literally 2 days, going from healthy queens to these horrific masses of fungus.
So in case you’re new to Cordyceps, it’s this insane fungus that infects an insect,
takes over the insect’s brain to get it to do certain specific tasks like climb a
leaf or a high location, and then the fungus sends out its fruiting bodies, mushrooms to
sprout out of the body where the fungus then releases spores, which go on to infect other
insects of the same species.
I say same species, because it seems every fungus has its own specific host species,
and if this here is indeed a Cordyceps fungus, then it is a specific Cordyceps fungus that
infect weaver ants.
At least, this is what I think.
Any fungus experts out there know if this fungus can transfer over to my other queen
ants?
Some of you may be asking where the fungus came from and how it was introduced into the
container of founding queens.
Well, most likely the queens, or at least one of the queens, was already infected and
once those Cordyceps fruiting bodies broke out of the ants’ body or bodies, it was
over.
I’m glad I looked into this container before opening it, because the fungus spores were
surely everywhere in there and opening it would have been potentially catastrophic,
if the fungus could jump species, as well as for another reason which you all will see
in a bit.
Anyway, I was really sad to learn about the death of our weaver ant queens.
Rest in peace our beloved weaver ant sorority, and may you enjoy spinning leaves together
in the awesome place all ants go, when they pass the rainbow bridge.
Alright, and now for the two pieces of good news to share with you this week.
This first piece of news is soooooo random and not so related to this video nor channel,
but it’s why my life has been extremely hectic this week in particular.
Now, here me out, AC Family, because I’ll be needing your help.
So in case you guys aren’t following what is happening in the American entertainment
business right now, there is a pretty revolutionary strike between the writer’s union and actor’s
union in the US vs. the association that represents media companies like Disney, Netflix, Universal,
etc.
And as part of this strike actors are not allowed to work nor promote their works, not
even on social media.
This has put a halt to a bunch of major productions, tv shows, and movies like Deadpool 3, etc.
Now, today was supposed to be the day I let you all know about the epic news that I, your
Creator of Worlds, actually am part of a new Hollywood TV series, yup, on your TV screens
for those of you in the US and the UK first, but worldwide later, however, because of this
strike I am unable to promote the series nor give you the details on where to watch.
But, I have posted details of it on my other social media accounts before the strike happened,
and those of you who do follow me there, already know about it, and have been leaving some
awesome comments to me about it.
Nothing prevents you guys to promote and share the news.
So AC Family, if you do a little research perhaps somewhere in the comments, you guys
too can find out details on where to catch me, AntsCanada, who actually also happens
to be a professional actor, playing a character called ‘Mikey’ in the new series, which
I am unable to plug right now, until after this big strike happening in Hollywood is
done.
Go watch and for those of you who have watched - thank you!
Thank you guys for always supporting my work, whether it be ants, or other things…
like this new series I cannot name!
I’m in two episodes, by the way, so look for me in episodes 5 and 10, and let me know
what you think.
Alright, and now for another plot twist and great piece of good news.
Though the loss of our sorority was a total let down, our hopes of achieving a weaver
ant colony is not quite lost.
I have something to show you.
By the window sill, I have a plant growing in a bottle of water, a leaf clipping on which
rest someone of great importance, I have to show you.
Why hello, Queen!
I’m happy I chose to not include you in the sorority!
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