Gerry in reply to Glen's post on "hive minds" wrote
> It seems to me that the hive mentality is present not only in ants
and
> bees who live in hives but among other insects, mammals, non-mammals,
> etc. who live in caves, nests, oceans, etc. And these creatures with
> hive mentalities don't wage nuclear or chemical warfare and are able
to
> proceed with life. We humans are the ones who have figured out the
> trick of instant destruction of life. Why apologize and state that
> you're an egalitarian at heart; egalitarians still destroy their
> brothers! I'd prefer being a hive-mentality person able to exist in
> peace with my fellow man. But it's OK if you wish your eqalitarian
> peace. When you finish with that mission, I think I might be able to
> scootch over and make room for you in my hive.
Research with ants in fact show that they do wages chemical and even
biological warfare against each other. Some rainforest species of ants
are shown to raise fungi which are species specific biological agents
against other, more agressive species of ants. Other ants have evolved
special soldier casts with glands that squirt jets of hydrochloric acid
against possible invaders.
Other special varieties of trees have evolved special ant-attracting
secretions, as the presence of an active ant hive living in the tree is
a very good preventative measure against leave and wood eating borer
catapillars.
Chemical and biological warfare is nothing new, it may be as old as the
Cretaceous Period - 100 million years ago! The language of ants is
also a very sophisticated biochemical one, based on modulating
different secretions from different parts of the antenae, head and
thorax segments. Ants are capable of responding to concentrations of
these chemicals mixed to a dilution of one part to a billion! This is
a nose that makes ours look "sightless" by comparison, and runs rings
around even the most scent sensitive bloddhound.
The biological world is not only stranger than we imagine, it is
probably stranger than we are capable of imagining.
John