The Largest Civilization in The World — Transcript

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1. 0:01[Music]
2. 0:11[Music]
3. 0:16imagine a civilization that outnumbers
4. 0:18humanity by six orders of magnitude
5. 0:22by one and a half million times
6. 0:27and it's not some bacteria
7. 0:30these creatures have created a fully
8. 0:32functional social order
9. 0:34they have a clear hierarchy professions
10. 0:37and career ladders
11. 0:40they are long past the hunting and
12. 0:41gathering stage and have successfully
13. 0:43transitioned to agriculture and animal
14. 0:46husbandry
15. 0:48they teach the youth take care of the
16. 0:51elderly and the disabled
17. 0:53and bury their dead
18. 0:55they can even reproduce by cloning
19. 0:59they've easily outlived every single
20. 1:01species that prevailed on their planet
21. 1:03in the last 100 million years
22. 1:05but at the same time
23. 1:07a simple infection can turn them into
24. 1:10real zombies
25. 1:12does it seem like some post-apocalyptic
26. 1:15science fiction to you
27. 1:17and yet
28. 1:19it's not
29. 1:20it's all about ants
30. 1:24in this video you'll find out how many
31. 1:26ants there are on earth
32. 1:28how much they weigh
33. 1:30when they emerge
34. 1:32how they live
35. 1:33how they practice agriculture
36. 1:36why their society resembles human
37. 1:38civilization and much more that will
38. 1:40surprise and even shock you
39. 1:55ants
40. 2:07we've all seen ants and may have a vague
41. 2:09idea of how many ants there are on the
42. 2:11planet
43. 2:12but few people are even approximately
44. 2:14close in their estimation because the
45. 2:16real numbers are somewhat mind-blowing
46. 2:22today there are 14
47. 2:24218 species of ants alone
48. 2:27and this is not considering the
49. 2:28additional 1758
50. 2:31subspecies
51. 2:33nobody really knows the total number of
52. 2:35these creatures
53. 2:38most commonly the ant population is
54. 2:40estimated to be at about 10 quadrillions
55. 2:44that is 10 000 trillion individuals
56. 2:49yes i know it's hard to wrap your head
57. 2:51around this figure
58. 2:54in total this giant biomass weighs
59. 2:56approximately tens of billions of
60. 2:58kilograms
61. 3:00what's interesting is that this figure
62. 3:03exceeds the total weight of humanity as
63. 3:05far back as 2 000 years ago
64. 3:10ants inhabit all corners of the planet
65. 3:12in all continents except antarctica
66. 3:16they emerged about 110 to 130 million
67. 3:20years ago
68. 3:21probably in the lorasia supercontinent
69. 3:25historically they come from ancient
70. 3:27wasps
71. 3:28but scientists haven't yet identified
72. 3:30any specific wasp species as their
73. 3:32ancestors
74. 3:37and despite ant's close resemblance to
75. 3:39termites the two shouldn't be confused
76. 3:42termites aren't even related to them and
77. 3:45are closer to cockroaches based on their
78. 3:47family tree
79. 3:50ants can vary in size by an order of
80. 3:52magnitude
81. 3:54the smallest is about two millimeters
82. 3:56long and the largest species can reach
83. 3:58several centimeters
84. 4:00the largest fossil ants in history
85. 4:02belong to the genus formicum
86. 4:05their females reach 7 centimeters long
87. 4:08with a wingspan of up to 15 centimeters
88. 4:15yes ants have wings and we aren't
89. 4:18talking about different species
90. 4:20in general all ants belong to the
91. 4:22hymenoptera order which might give it
92. 4:24away
93. 4:25as terra means a wing in latin
94. 4:30but for the most part
95. 4:32only females and males have wings and
96. 4:35worker ants are wingless
97. 4:38hold on what
98. 4:40does it mean that workers are neither
99. 4:42females nor males
100. 4:45that's not a mistake as we deliberately
101. 4:47distinguish between worker ants males
102. 4:50and females
103. 4:52in fact worker ants are technically
104. 4:54females but they have an underdeveloped
105. 4:56reproductive system which effectively
106. 4:58renders them asexual how do they
107. 5:01reproduce then
108. 5:03well they don't
109. 5:04in the ad community reproduction is a
110. 5:07privilege an honor and a great
111. 5:09responsibility
112. 5:11having this privilege doesn't have to do
113. 5:12with being the fittest or strongest one
114. 5:15but comes by birth
115. 5:18being a highly diverse species ants have
116. 5:20many reproductive strategies
117. 5:23the most common one is the usual mating
118. 5:25of a male with a female
119. 5:28but this seems ordinary only at first
120. 5:30glance
121. 5:31in fact ant reproduction is filled with
122. 5:33such a powerful mix of drama romance and
123. 5:36grotesque that people never dreamed of
124. 5:47it all starts with a nuptial flight
125. 5:50this is a special time for insects when
126. 5:52new colonies appear at all planet
127. 5:54latitudes where comes the spring
128. 5:58wing females and males leave the nest to
129. 6:00mate and form new families
130. 6:03this is the only time in the life of
131. 6:04ants when they use their wings for their
132. 6:06intended purpose
133. 6:08[Music]
134. 6:10ant wings are clumsy and function poorly
135. 6:13females often climb high plant stems and
136. 6:16use them as a launching pad to start
137. 6:18their flight
138. 6:19males are more agile and often take off
139. 6:22directly from the ground
140. 6:24mating itself happens in the air
141. 6:27right in mid-flight
142. 6:29yes nature is sometimes that romantic
143. 6:33that's where the romance ends
144. 6:36after mating the male no longer has any
145. 6:38life purpose and soon dies
146. 6:41what does the female do
147. 6:43she flies away from her former home upon
148. 6:46landing it immediately bites off its own
149. 6:48wings
150. 6:50what for
151. 6:52because she doesn't need them anymore
152. 6:54the female is fertilized only once in
153. 6:56her life
154. 6:58there will never be a second flight
155. 7:01ever
156. 7:06the future queen begins to look for a
157. 7:07place to form a new colony
158. 7:10the genetic material left by the male is
159. 7:12enough for the female to lay fertilized
160. 7:14eggs throughout her life
161. 7:16and queens live for a very long time
162. 7:19up to 12 to 20 years depending on the
163. 7:22species
164. 7:26simple worker ants live no more than
165. 7:28five years
166. 7:30however it's worth noting that such
167. 7:32breeding patterns are typical for most
168. 7:34ant species but not all
169. 7:36in some species workers can also mate
170. 7:39and produce offspring
171. 7:41and in some species hit the other
172. 7:43extreme
173. 7:44and reproduce
174. 7:46by cloning
175. 7:54no no laboratories or test tubes
176. 7:57but the idea is somewhat similar
177. 8:01for example and species called
178. 8:03mycosiporous smithii reproduces by
179. 8:06parthenogenesis
180. 8:08in this type of reproduction females
181. 8:10emerge from unfertilized eggs
182. 8:13and these are not some extra eggs that
183. 8:15the males didn't have time to get to the
184. 8:17thing is that there is no one to
185. 8:19fertilize them
186. 8:20there are simply no males
187. 8:23in the process of evolution the species
188. 8:26deemed them to be non-essential
189. 8:30when colonies of mycocephas smith eye
190. 8:32were discovered in the amazon basin
191. 8:35scientists were amazed at this turn of
192. 8:37natural evolution
193. 8:39all individuals in the discovered colony
194. 8:41were females and all of them were exact
195. 8:44copies of the same queen
196. 8:46and naturally each other
197. 8:49the data was published in a report by
198. 8:51the research team in proceedings of the
199. 8:53royal society
200. 8:57the researchers admitted that they
201. 8:59stumbled upon this amazing fact by
202. 9:01accident
203. 9:02they noticed that the males were missing
204. 9:04while studying other aspects of this
205. 9:06species life
206. 9:08not being able to identify males in the
207. 9:10nest based on external signs
208. 9:13scientists conducted a dna analysis of
209. 9:15the individuals they collected
210. 9:18they found that all of them were indeed
211. 9:20females and that they were all queen
212. 9:23clones
213. 9:27after that scientists found that the
214. 9:29most important reproductive organ in a
215. 9:30queen the copulatory bag
216. 9:33has completely lost its function
217. 9:37however several years later large-scale
218. 9:39research revealed that individual
219. 9:42populations of this species didn't
220. 9:44completely lose sexual reproduction
221. 9:49but this doesn't change anything
222. 9:51since 90 of all selected individuals in
223. 9:53all of south and central america turned
224. 9:56out to be clones
225. 9:59coming from different queens but still
226. 10:01clones
227. 10:03and this means that mycocepharous
228. 10:05smithii finally chews its reproduction
229. 10:07method
230. 10:09but it can be a tragic mistake
231. 10:21because this reproduction method can't
232. 10:23provide sufficient diversity
233. 10:25the species becomes extremely vulnerable
234. 10:27to external threats and may face rapid
235. 10:30extinction
236. 10:33however the disappearance of one species
237. 10:36doesn't affect the stability of the ant
238. 10:38kingdom as a whole
239. 10:40these guys easily outlive the dinosaurs
240. 10:43so they're unlikely to be seriously
241. 10:45endangered
242. 10:47and given how ant society works it's
243. 10:49time to think that these guys may well
244. 10:51build some kind of alternative
245. 10:53civilization
246. 10:56in terms of social structure ants are
247. 10:59the closest to humans on earth
248. 11:02each new discovery in mirmicology the
249. 11:05science of ants
250. 11:06proves this once and again
251. 11:10the ant hill has a strict hierarchy and
252. 11:13distribution of roles
253. 11:16the nest is managed by the queen the
254. 11:18founder of the colony who lays eggs
255. 11:22the queen is surrounded by a retinue of
256. 11:2410 to 12 worker ants who serve her by
257. 11:27feeding and taking care of her in every
258. 11:29possible way
259. 11:31as a rule mostly young ants do this
260. 11:34this is literally a kind of social
261. 11:36practice that all nest inhabitants go
262. 11:39through for about a month
263. 11:41the task of such trainees is to take
264. 11:43care of the queen eggs or larvae
265. 11:51mature individuals go to the farthest
266. 11:53part of the anthill patrolling area
267. 11:55where they engage in foraging
268. 11:58the ant brings the food it is found to
269. 12:01the authorities who decide how it gets
270. 12:04distributed throughout the ant hill
271. 12:06in addition to food the ant hill is also
272. 12:09fed with a special pheromone
273. 12:11an odorous substance secreted by the
274. 12:14queen
275. 12:15it contains information about her health
276. 12:18ants from the retinue lick this
277. 12:20substance from the queen
278. 12:22carry it in a special goiter and pass it
279. 12:24on to each other one by one
280. 12:27thus all individuals of the ant society
281. 12:29are connected to one information space
282. 12:32a small town social network of ants if
283. 12:35you will
284. 12:42what's interesting about ant's life is
285. 12:44how they bring up their offspring
286. 12:46ants can learn interactively that is
287. 12:49acquire knowledge based on someone
288. 12:50else's experience rather than their own
289. 12:53mistakes
290. 12:54this is generally something
291. 12:55extraordinary for insects
292. 13:00the most experienced and tough forager
293. 13:02hunter is the first to attack the prey
294. 13:05it shows the young its skills on how to
295. 13:07attack sting and kill
296. 13:10that's how it teaches the younger
297. 13:11generation hunting skills
298. 13:16but in order to learn successfully one
299. 13:18needs to have a good memory
300. 13:20and the ants can't complain
301. 13:23active foragers who look for food on
302. 13:24their own can perfectly know their
303. 13:26hunting area and remember how to get
304. 13:28home
305. 13:30if the ant path is blocked by an
306. 13:32intricate labyrinth the foragers will
307. 13:34eventually find a passage after
308. 13:36wandering through some nooks and
309. 13:37crannies
310. 13:39and then they remember the labyrinth
311. 13:41path for at least four days even if they
312. 13:44have to stay put due to bad weather
313. 13:46during this time
314. 13:50ants have a good sense of time and
315. 13:52effectively use it
316. 13:54if a feeder is placed strictly at a
317. 13:56certain time near the ant path
318. 13:58the foragers will quickly remember the
319. 14:00time when the food appears and will
320. 14:02gather at this site just in time
321. 14:05if the feeding stops the ants will still
322. 14:08come to this place for another five days
323. 14:10at the very same
324. 14:13[Music]
325. 14:14time phytol ants are very well organized
326. 14:19at the first warning signal they only
327. 14:21prepare the family property for moving
328. 14:24they bring the larvae and pupae to the
329. 14:26exit and only a small part to the
330. 14:28surface
331. 14:29as if hoping for a false alarm the ants
332. 14:32don't actually start fleeing until the
333. 14:34danger is confirmed
334. 14:40given such a complex interaction how do
335. 14:43thousands of ants manage to communicate
336. 14:45effectively
337. 14:47how do they know where to go what to do
338. 14:49and how do they remember all this data
339. 14:54in fact they don't have to remember
340. 14:56anything
341. 14:57and their communication methods are much
342. 14:59richer than they seem
343. 15:05ants don't have ears as humans do
344. 15:08they hear by measuring
345. 15:10vibrations special knee and leg sensors
346. 15:13help them pick up the vibrations around
347. 15:16some ants make sounds by stridulation
348. 15:19a characteristic chirping produced with
349. 15:21the stomach and jaw segments
350. 15:24sounds can be used to communicate with
351. 15:26the colony members or even with other
352. 15:28species
353. 15:30but perhaps the main communication
354. 15:32method is the smell
355. 15:35ants leave pheromone traces on the soil
356. 15:38surface which are easily picked up by
357. 15:40other individuals
358. 15:42in species that feed in groups the
359. 15:44foraging ants mark the trail on its way
360. 15:46back to the colony after finding
361. 15:48something tasty
362. 15:50other ants follow this trail and
363. 15:52reinforce it with their pheromones when
364. 15:54they go back to the colony with food
365. 15:57when the food source runs out the
366. 15:59returning ants leave no new trails and
367. 16:02the smell slowly dissipates
368. 16:07this behavior helps the ants cope with
369. 16:09environmental changes
370. 16:11for example when an established path to
371. 16:13a food source is blocked by an obstacle
372. 16:16foragers leave that path to explore new
373. 16:18roots
374. 16:20if successful the ant leaves a new trail
375. 16:22indicating the shortest path on its
376. 16:24return
377. 16:25[Music]
378. 16:27successful trails are followed by more
379. 16:29ants who reinforce the best roots
380. 16:32this is how ants form their famous
381. 16:34trails
382. 16:36ants use pheromones for more than just
383. 16:38trails a squashed ant emits an alarm
384. 16:41pheromone that drives nearby ants into
385. 16:43an attack frenzy and attracts ants from
386. 16:46afar
387. 16:47some ant species even use misleading
388. 16:50pheromones to confuse enemy ants and
389. 16:52cause them to attack each other
390. 16:56pheromones are produced by many
391. 16:58structures in the ants bodies
392. 17:01due force glands venom glands as well as
393. 17:04the glands in the hind gut
394. 17:06coccyx rectum sternum and hind leg
395. 17:10are all used for pheromone communication
396. 17:14ants also exchange pheromones with each
397. 17:16other mixing them with food
398. 17:18thereby transmitting information within
399. 17:20the colony
400. 17:22this allows other ants to determine
401. 17:23which task group other family members
402. 17:26belong to
403. 17:29also some ant types have more than one
404. 17:31queen in the colony but a whole cast of
405. 17:34queens
406. 17:35and when the dominant queen stops
407. 17:37producing a specific pheromone it
408. 17:39signals a change in power
409. 17:42the workers begin to take care of
410. 17:44another queen who becomes the dominant
411. 17:46one
412. 17:47the variety of communication modes
413. 17:49combined with tiny but extremely
414. 17:51rational brains
415. 17:53give ants an amazing advantage in
416. 17:55building a civilization like society
417. 17:58being infinitely far from higher mammals
418. 18:01and especially people
419. 18:03ants nonetheless turn out to be capable
420. 18:05of
421. 18:06agriculture and animal breeding
422. 18:09in the most real sense of the word
423. 18:16most ants are generic predators
424. 18:18scavengers and herbivores
425. 18:21many herbivorous ant species rely on a
426. 18:24unique symbiosis with their own gut
427. 18:26microbes to enhance the nutritional
428. 18:28value of the plant food they harvest
429. 18:31but many ant species have achieved some
430. 18:33remarkable results by following the path
431. 18:35that was once chosen by humans
432. 18:38specifically ants have developed their
433. 18:41own brand of agriculture
434. 18:43[Music]
435. 18:45this practice has spread so widely that
436. 18:48ant farming can now be clearly
437. 18:50classified
438. 18:52the most primitive lower agriculture was
439. 18:54mastered by 80 ant species
440. 18:57[Music]
441. 18:5834 species of ants grow coral mushrooms
442. 19:01for their needs
443. 19:04and 18 species practice yeast breeding
444. 19:08finally 63 ant species have mastered
445. 19:10higher agriculture
446. 19:12they learn to grow mushrooms and create
447. 19:14entire mushroom gardens
448. 19:17what's even more surprising some special
449. 19:19mushroom varieties have emerged that
450. 19:21were literally domesticated by
451. 19:23generations of ants
452. 19:26these mushrooms can no longer survive in
453. 19:28the wild but only at ant farms under the
454. 19:31watchful care of these amazing creatures
455. 19:37a colony of leaf cutting ants represents
456. 19:39a good example of such agriculture
457. 19:42they arrange entire mushroom plantations
458. 19:45and use finely chopped leaves as a
459. 19:47substrate
460. 19:48yes you heard that right the ants bring
461. 19:51the leaves to the colony and cut them
462. 19:53into small pieces to use as fertilizer
463. 19:57and even in agriculture ants retain a
464. 19:59clear specialization and a set of
465. 20:01professions
466. 20:03basically an ants job depends on the
467. 20:05size of the individual
468. 20:07the larger workers cut the stems
469. 20:09smaller individuals gnaw the leaves into
470. 20:12pieces
471. 20:13and the smallest tend to the plantation
472. 20:17they even protect mushrooms from harmful
473. 20:20bacteria
474. 20:21the bacteria that produce substances
475. 20:24that act as an antibiotic against other
476. 20:26bacteria that are dangerous to fungi
477. 20:28live on the outer surface of the ant's
478. 20:30body
479. 20:32leafcutter ants are sensitive enough to
480. 20:34recognize the fungus's reaction to
481. 20:36various plant materials by picking up
482. 20:39mushrooms chemical signals
483. 20:42if a certain type of leaf is found to be
484. 20:44toxic to fungi
485. 20:45the colony will remember it and won't
486. 20:47pick it again
487. 20:49such a high level of self-organization
488. 20:52of ant communities can shock almost
489. 20:54anyone
490. 20:55as if this wasn't enough the ants went
491. 20:58one step further
492. 21:00how do you like the fact that ants have
493. 21:02also managed to master animal husbandry
494. 21:08part of being active and formidable
495. 21:10predators especially considering their
496. 21:12size
497. 21:13ants have learned to keep livestock
498. 21:17but instead of cattle they breed aphids
499. 21:20who secrete special nectar called
500. 21:22honeydew which is a valuable high energy
501. 21:25food
502. 21:26ants graze aphids on nearby plants and
503. 21:29take care of them protecting them from
504. 21:31other predators
505. 21:34they learn not only to collect the
506. 21:35nectar secreted by aphids
507. 21:38but also to literally milk these tiny
508. 21:40insects
509. 21:42to milk an aphid the ant tickles its
510. 21:45abdomen with its antennae
511. 21:47and the aphid obediently releases excess
512. 21:49nectar at the ants first request
513. 21:54interestingly this doesn't even come
514. 21:56close to parasitism since without ant's
515. 21:59care
516. 22:00aphids die much sooner from other
517. 22:02predators
518. 22:04when migrating to another area many ant
519. 22:07colonies take aphid herds with them
520. 22:10the parallels with our animal farming
521. 22:12are quite obvious here
522. 22:14looking at all these achievements one
523. 22:16might think that ants represent some
524. 22:18kind of flawless life form
525. 22:21they have an invincible incredibly
526. 22:23precise and rational collective
527. 22:25consciousness
528. 22:27however their way of life only seems to
529. 22:29be flawless at first sight as it has
530. 22:31some major downsides
531. 22:34and when taken collectively these
532. 22:36downsides may sometimes lead to a
533. 22:38full-blown tragedy
534. 22:45look at this
535. 22:47what's this
536. 22:48are the ants celebrating something
537. 22:50wedding or perhaps a ritual dance
538. 22:54no this is the so-called death circle
539. 22:59almost all of these ants will soon die
540. 23:02they will continuously spin in this
541. 23:04deadly circle to the point of complete
542. 23:06exhaustion
543. 23:10but what for
544. 23:11and why
545. 23:13in reality this phenomenon occurs due to
546. 23:17a system error
547. 23:19remember we've mentioned how well
548. 23:21pheromone trail marking works for ants
549. 23:24but even though developed through
550. 23:26millions of years of evolution
551. 23:28this system might play a cruel joke on
552. 23:30ants
553. 23:34if a group of ants make several turns in
554. 23:36the same direction along the route may
555. 23:38stumble upon its own odor trail left
556. 23:41just a minute ago
557. 23:43after walking along the path the insect
558. 23:46makes the same turns again going back to
559. 23:48the same point and the cycle repeats
560. 23:51over and over again
561. 23:55the most annoying thing is that when
562. 23:57following their own footsteps many times
563. 23:59the ants keep on secreting pheromones
564. 24:03in doing so they reinforce this vicious
565. 24:05circle and their own confidence that
566. 24:07they're going in the right direction
567. 24:10these cheerful and unsuspecting ants are
568. 24:13joined by their friends who have
569. 24:14absolutely no idea as to what caused
570. 24:17this massive procession
571. 24:20the result of this march is easily
572. 24:22predictable
573. 24:23thousands of individuals die from
574. 24:25exhaustion in this deadly dance
575. 24:28only an accidental external intervention
576. 24:30can save them
577. 24:33the largest death circle was observed by
578. 24:35the u.s traveler william bibi in 1921 in
579. 24:39diana
580. 24:40he claimed that eastern hands created a
581. 24:43365 meter wide circle
582. 24:46and their self-destructive march lasted
583. 24:49two days
584. 24:51by the way such whirlwinds aren't that
585. 24:53rare and almost all types of ants can be
586. 24:56sucked into the death circle
587. 24:58unfortunately ants do this as a part of
588. 25:01ingrained behavior patterns
589. 25:04such accidents happen all the time
590. 25:06wherever there are several ant trails
591. 25:08nearby
592. 25:09however we simply walk by most of them
593. 25:12and often only a few individuals fall
594. 25:14into the trap
595. 25:15on open and flat terrains such circles
596. 25:18may reach truly gigantic proportions
597. 25:22and it looks creepy
598. 25:24the ants behave like some kind of
599. 25:26zombie but did you know that ants can
600. 25:29actually become zombies
601. 25:32no kidding
602. 25:39a typical zombie apocalypse scenario we
603. 25:42see in movies is an infection that turns
604. 25:44people into creepy mindless creatures
605. 25:50but nature has a similar eerie scenario
606. 25:55this is cordyceps lopsided
607. 25:59it seems to be a harmless fungus
608. 26:02but if ants had dreams this fungus would
609. 26:04surely be their worst nightmare
610. 26:07being infected with the spores of this
611. 26:09fungus is the most terrible thing that
612. 26:11can happen to an ant
613. 26:14what's even worse the parasite affects
614. 26:16the victim's sense of smell its main
615. 26:18communication channel
616. 26:22as a result the infected individual
617. 26:24loses contact with its friends
618. 26:27strays far away and doesn't get back to
619. 26:30the colony
620. 26:32at this stage the fungus already
621. 26:33controls its behavior
622. 26:36looking for optimal conditions to fully
623. 26:38mature
624. 26:40eventually the fungus causes the ant to
625. 26:42find a cool damp spot and bite down on
626. 26:44the bottom of the leaf on the branch
627. 26:47once the ant bites the leaf it can no
628. 26:49longer let it go
629. 26:51as the fungus blocks muscle function
630. 26:54the fungus keeps on growing inside the
631. 26:56ant's body until it eventually pierces
632. 26:58its head and releases new spores
633. 27:02this whole process takes about 10
634. 27:04painful days
635. 27:05and most of the time the insect is alive
636. 27:11a real nightmare isn't it
637. 27:14science is long known of this phenomenon
638. 27:17but until now scientists have been
639. 27:19unable to understand exactly how the
640. 27:21parasitic fungus can control the ants
641. 27:24mind
642. 27:25it has often been called a brain
643. 27:27parasite but a study from february 2021
644. 27:31published in the proceedings of the
645. 27:33national academy of sciences disproves
646. 27:36this theory
647. 27:40it turns out that the insects brain
648. 27:42remains intact
649. 27:44and the ant is being controlled by
650. 27:46introducing the mycelium
651. 27:48into the muscle fibers throughout the
652. 27:50body
653. 27:51in fact an affected ant becomes an
654. 27:53exoskeleton and a means of fungus
655. 27:56transportation while ant tissue cells
656. 27:58are partially replaced by fungi
657. 28:02that is the ant effectively becomes one
658. 28:05with the fungus
659. 28:07like a real puppeteer
660. 28:09fungus pulls the strings
661. 28:11forcing the ant to perform this terrible
662. 28:14scenario
663. 28:15having no chance to get rid of this
664. 28:17zombie influence
665. 28:21nonetheless despite all their weaknesses
666. 28:25ants firmly occupy their niche in the
667. 28:27earth's biosphere
668. 28:30and the structure of their society and
669. 28:32how closely it resembles human
670. 28:34civilization
671. 28:35is even a little shocking
672. 28:38who knows what kind of civilization leap
673. 28:40they might make in the future
674. 28:46you