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(gentle music)
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The Jura Mountains on the French/Swiss border
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are in the grip of winter.
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The ground has been frozen solid for months.
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This is a tough place in which to live.
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I'm told that clearings like these
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could be the home of a real giant.
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At this time of the year, it'll be in hiding.
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But evidence of its existence,
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these strange mounds, is everywhere.
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Inside here, deep down and protected from the cold,
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the giant is asleep.
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Beneath the thatch of spruce needles lies a maze
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of tunnels and chambers,
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the home of hibernating wood ants.
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Individually they are tiny, but they're members
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of a giant super colony.
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When temperatures rise, over half a billion of them
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will emerge and dominate this landscape.
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(intense music)
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Scientists are only just working out how ants
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manage to survive up here.
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But in fact, there's a much greater and more profound
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mystery that has brought me up this mountain.
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Among ants, cooperation between colonies is very rare.
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Warfare is common.
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Yet these nests over a great area
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live at peace with one another.
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This may sound like an epic tale of war and peace,
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but does it also contain an echo of human nature?
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These ants in some extraordinary way
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have exchanged war for peace.
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It's not recognized as one of the largest
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of all insect super societies.
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And its very existence conflicts
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with some of the laws of evolution
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as we presently understand them.
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(grandiose orchestral music)
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It's been a long, cold winter
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here in the Swiss Jura Mountains.
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It's hard to believe that any insect
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could survive in this frozen landscape.
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But now change is in the air.
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Soon ant nests all over this mountain will come to life.
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Some of these mounds are independent colonies,
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but others are part of one huge super colony.
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Over the coming months, I'll be looking at the differences
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between these two wood ant societies,
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one that wages war with all its neighbors,
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and the other, which welcomes them and lives at peace.
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(gentle music)
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As the grip of winter eases,
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sentries emerge from the mounds to check on conditions.
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They detect the sign that they've been waiting for.
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The temperatures are rising.
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Spring is on the way.
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The ants survive the winter
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thanks to their own central heating system,
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warmth given off by the slow decomposition
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of the dead vegetation in the nest's fabric.
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And that prevents them all from freezing.
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Now by swarming all over the surface of the nest,
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they're recharging their batteries, absorbing heat
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directly from the sun's rays.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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This behavior only happens over one or two days
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in the early spring.
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The worker ants have emerged into the sunshine
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and are now clumping together.
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And they're not just sunbathing, it could well be
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that the ultraviolet rays of the sun
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cure them of any infections from viruses or fungi
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that may have happened during their long sleep underground.
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You can almost feel the enthusiasm with which
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these little creatures are enjoying their sunbathe.
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(gentle piano music)
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This is unusual enough, but now here is something
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truly extraordinary, there is a queen.
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She's almost twice the size of her subjects.
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She's also the most important member of her family.
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And what's more, there's another.
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To see a queen exposed and vulnerable outside the nest
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is very rare indeed.
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There's one.
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And there's another.
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Shining wonderfully in the sunshine.
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A normal wood ant nest usually has just a single queen
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who lays all the eggs, but clearly,
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this is not so here.
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There's another, there's another, several of them.
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Amazing.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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After a few moments in the sunshine,
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the only time they see daylight in the whole year,
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the queens disappear and make their way
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back to the brood chambers deep in the nest.
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(slow orchestral music)
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Those unwilling to go are dragged back.
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We may call them queens, but there's no sovereign rule here.
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The workers govern by consensus, and they decide
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when and where the queens will go.
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There may be hundreds of queens in this single nest.
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And there are over a thousand such mounds
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as this all interconnected.
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So across the super colony,
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there may be as many as a million queens.
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(gentle music)
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It's now only April.
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The queens, returned below to prepare for the egg-laying,
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started a race against the clock.
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They must complete their most important work below
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in the next two months.
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(gentle piano music)
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Using infrared light, which is invisible to the ants,
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we can watch them inside their nest without disturbing them.
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Most of the first eggs to be laid will produce
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the next generation of breeding individuals,
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the queens and the males, both of whom will have wings.
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Inside the thousand nests of the super colony,
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over half a billion mostly unrelated worker ants
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cooperate to ensure that the queens and the males
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will be ready for their mating flights in mid-June.
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(birds chirping)
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With all these developments on the way,
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it's imperative that the workers collect more food
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as soon as possible.
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But many of the mounds are still surrounded by snow,
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so the workers can't reach their feeding grounds.
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But there's something they can collect.
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Heat.
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The nest needs more heat than that which comes
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from the rotting vegetation
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if the eggs are to hatch in time for their June appointment.
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Now, however, the ants have another source of warmth.
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(playful orchestral music)
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Using their bodies as solar panels,
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the ants harvest the sunlight.
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We have a heat-sensitive camera
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that detects differences in temperature.
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The nest appears black because it's hotter
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than the surrounding environment.
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It shows a similar difference in the ants.
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Those going down into the nest are black
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because they've been heated by the sun,
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whereas those coming out are white
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because they're cold, having transferred their body heat
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to their charges in the brood chambers below.
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It's this kind of selfless collaboration
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that is the key to success of any ant colony.
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In normal ant colonies,
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all the workers are related to one another and the queen.
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And the theory is that that is why they all cooperate.
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But that is not the case here.
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There are hundreds of queens here.
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Over a thousand have been counted in a single nest.
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So all the workers can't have the same parents
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and genetics have confirmed that this is so.
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It's this cooperation between unrelated ants
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in a single colony that appears to be rewriting
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the rules of insect evolution.
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But we still don't really know how this has come about.
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(mellow piano music)
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Spring is now well on the way.
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The snow has disappeared and color comes to the meadows.
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(mellow piano music)
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By late April, there are piles of eggs in the nest,
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and the first larvae are hatching.
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The workers labor unceasingly to ensure
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that the growing brood will be ready to emerge
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in six weeks' time at the peak of the short Jura summer.
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(gentle orchestral music)
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But not every ant nest on this mountain can be so focused.
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Some will soon have to deal with threats
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to their very survival.
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Just a short distance away on the borders
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of the super colony's woodland territory,
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there are other wood ants.
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The mounds here on this side of the mountain
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look exactly the same as those of the super colony.
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And so do the ants themselves.
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The inhabitants of each nest here
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are all the offspring of its single queen.
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And the colonists compete aggressively with one another.
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After the winter hibernation, the territories between
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that nest over there and this one here
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have become blurred, and the frontier
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has to be reestablished.
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And in order to do that, workers from both nests
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are now scouring the ground.
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And that brings neighboring ants into contact
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for the first time this season.
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(intense music)
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When foragers from the different nests meet,
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they immediately recognize that they're from rival families.
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They then dash back to their nests, and within minutes,
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both colonies know that territory on their frontier
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is being disputed.
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Armies assemble.
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(intense orchestral music)
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This is war.
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And the weapons being used are chemical.
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Formic acid.
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(sniffs)
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I can smell it in the air.
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They're squirting it from the ends of their abdomen.
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And if they can bite their opponents
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so that the formic acids gets beneath the outer shell
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of an ant, it will dissolve its internal organs.
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(intense orchestral music)
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As they grapple, each tries to restrain its opponent
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by clamping its jaws around a leg or an antenna.
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(intense orchestral music)
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Soldiers from both sides tug at their opponents' limbs.
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It could take seven ants to subdue a single enemy.
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One holds each leg,
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and the seventh uses its mandibles
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to cut open sections of their opponent's
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exoskeleton, exposing the insides.
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An attacker brings forward its abdomen under its body
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and squirts acid onto its victim.
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Battles are going on everywhere.
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Each colony carries its own chemical badge.
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Invisible to our eyes, but clear
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to the ants' sensitive antennae.
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Fighters touch each other to confirm whose side they're on.
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Here and there, individuals clamber up the vegetation.
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Are they having a rest?
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Or are they surveying progress to see where help is needed?
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(intense orchestral music)
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The smell of formic acid reaches the colony
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and more ants from both sides run to join the battle.
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(slow percussion music)
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These wars can continue for over a week.
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At their peak, many thousands are fighting
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and thousands are killed.
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(intense orchestral music)
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The victors will certainly have enlarged their territory.
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But some say they have also gained other rewards.
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They're taking off the bodies of their victims
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and carrying them back to the nest over there
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to feast upon them.
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Both sides have suffered heavy losses.
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For the ants in the meadow,
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it has been a costly start to the year.
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(somber music)
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Higher up the mountain in the territory of the super colony,
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the inhabitants of different nests are also meeting.
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But here, things are very different.
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These ants come from a mound about half a mile away.
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If that mound was a separate independent colony,
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then these, when they land there,
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will be savagely attacked.
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But let's see what happens.
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At first the resident ant makes an aggressive gesture.
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But then the other strokes the first's antennae.
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That gesture is a request for food,
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and the other obligingly feeds her.
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This behavior, known as trophallaxis,
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is in itself not unusual.
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Most ants do it at times.
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What is unique is that these ants
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are almost certainly unrelated, yet they treat each other
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as if they were from the same nest.
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They do this because they share the super colony's scent,
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the chemical signature that is transferred
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together with the food.
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In one experiment, scientists fed a distinctive chemical
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00:20:32,410 --> 00:20:35,063
to a nest on one side of the super colony,
269
00:20:35,063 --> 00:20:38,940
and eight weeks later, that same chemical appeared
270
00:20:38,940 --> 00:20:40,740
far away on the other side.
271
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It's this sharing of food between over
272
00:20:49,050 --> 00:20:51,630
half a billion individuals that makes
273
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this super society so truly remarkable.
274
00:20:54,492 --> 00:20:57,992
(gentle orchestral music)
275
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Because of this, super colony ants
276
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can move freely between mounds.
277
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And they have as a result created over a hundred kilometers
278
00:21:13,690 --> 00:21:16,770
of trails that link over a thousand nests.
279
00:21:21,820 --> 00:21:25,510
These trails not only allow the ants to make new nests
280
00:21:25,510 --> 00:21:28,470
deep in the forest, they also give all the members
281
00:21:28,470 --> 00:21:31,540
of the super colony access to resources
282
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of great value to them.
283
00:21:38,370 --> 00:21:41,241
It comes from the spruce trees.
284
00:21:41,241 --> 00:21:44,324
(gentle piano music)
285
00:21:59,670 --> 00:22:03,700
The ants don't feed directly on the spruce trees,
286
00:22:03,700 --> 00:22:06,360
they become farmers, and these
287
00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,810
are their flocks, aphids.
288
00:22:11,353 --> 00:22:15,960
The presence of the ants keeps insect predators at bay
289
00:22:15,960 --> 00:22:18,680
so the aphids can feed unmolested.
290
00:22:19,770 --> 00:22:24,150
They drink the trees' sap and excrete what they don't need
291
00:22:24,150 --> 00:22:26,360
as a sugary liquid called honeydew,
292
00:22:27,280 --> 00:22:29,145
and the ants love it.
293
00:22:29,145 --> 00:22:32,645
(gentle orchestral music)
294
00:22:38,610 --> 00:22:41,480
Just as human farmers milk their cows,
295
00:22:41,480 --> 00:22:44,980
so the ants stroke the aphids with their antennae
296
00:22:44,980 --> 00:22:47,794
to persuade them to release their honeydew.
297
00:22:47,794 --> 00:22:51,294
(bright orchestral music)
298
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Once the aphids have milked and the ants have drunk
299
00:23:00,670 --> 00:23:02,650
as much honeydew as they can carry,
300
00:23:04,310 --> 00:23:07,920
they head down the tree, abdomens bulging,
301
00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,353
and return to the nest.
302
00:23:09,353 --> 00:23:12,853
(bright orchestral music)
303
00:23:17,249 --> 00:23:20,070
The honeydew is not only food with which
304
00:23:20,070 --> 00:23:23,960
to sustain themselves, some use it to raise the heat
305
00:23:23,960 --> 00:23:25,970
of their bodies well above normal,
306
00:23:25,970 --> 00:23:29,110
and as so, warm the atmosphere within the nest.
307
00:23:29,110 --> 00:23:32,270
A valuable ability in the fickle climate of the Jura.
308
00:23:34,260 --> 00:23:37,894
The spruce trees themselves also produce a substance
309
00:23:37,894 --> 00:23:40,600
that the ants can use directly.
310
00:23:45,290 --> 00:23:46,123
These ants
311
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:51,080
have collected little flakes of resin.
312
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:53,300
That's a sort of gum that oozes
313
00:23:53,300 --> 00:23:55,760
from the broken twig of a coniferous tree.
314
00:23:56,860 --> 00:24:00,960
The tree uses it to seal off an injury.
315
00:24:00,960 --> 00:24:03,200
But what are the ants using it for?
316
00:24:07,373 --> 00:24:11,340
Inside the nest, the extra warmth produced by honeydew
317
00:24:11,340 --> 00:24:13,780
helps the queens to keep laying
318
00:24:13,780 --> 00:24:15,800
and the larvae to keep growing.
319
00:24:22,340 --> 00:24:26,390
However, constant warmth can create problems.
320
00:24:26,390 --> 00:24:30,040
Despite regular cleaning, diseases can thrive.
321
00:24:33,530 --> 00:24:37,640
The ants have a remarkable solution to that problem.
322
00:24:42,420 --> 00:24:45,610
They cover the surface of the mounds with tiny nuggets
323
00:24:45,610 --> 00:24:49,390
of resin, and also take it into the chambers below.
324
00:24:50,440 --> 00:24:53,610
One nest contained over four kilos of it.
325
00:24:54,700 --> 00:24:57,600
It is in fact ant medicine.
326
00:25:00,510 --> 00:25:04,350
The ants combine acid from their bodies with the resin
327
00:25:04,350 --> 00:25:08,230
and so produce a very effective antibiotic.
328
00:25:08,230 --> 00:25:10,520
This is one of the most sophisticated
329
00:25:10,520 --> 00:25:13,440
animal pharmacologies known to science.
330
00:25:16,240 --> 00:25:19,230
It's been shown that wood ants living in nests
331
00:25:19,230 --> 00:25:22,360
that contain resin are better able to survive
332
00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:24,870
diseases than those that don't.
333
00:25:24,870 --> 00:25:27,360
And their eggs are far less likely
334
00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:28,660
to be infected by fungi.
335
00:25:31,171 --> 00:25:33,921
(birds chirping)
336
00:25:36,550 --> 00:25:41,110
This immense peaceful super colony has few enemies.
337
00:25:41,110 --> 00:25:46,110
But now at the end of May, a new threat has arrived.
338
00:25:46,291 --> 00:25:49,208
(cowbells ringing)
339
00:25:50,726 --> 00:25:53,226
(cows mooing)
340
00:25:55,840 --> 00:25:58,310
The Jura is famous for producing
341
00:25:58,310 --> 00:26:00,780
some of Europe's finest cheese.
342
00:26:05,940 --> 00:26:08,860
For generations, farmers have made small clearings
343
00:26:08,860 --> 00:26:12,540
in the woods to create meadows where cattle can graze.
344
00:26:17,246 --> 00:26:20,000
Only now is it warm enough for cows
345
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:22,690
to be brought up to these high pastures.
346
00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,650
Somehow, the ants need to make sure that they're left alone
347
00:26:35,210 --> 00:26:37,060
and that nothing damages their nests.
348
00:26:38,690 --> 00:26:41,750
And that's a considerable challenge even for a super colony.
349
00:26:44,351 --> 00:26:47,934
(intense orchestral music)
350
00:26:54,534 --> 00:26:57,460
But these ants are very determined.
351
00:26:57,460 --> 00:27:01,128
When one squirts its acid, others follow suit.
352
00:27:01,128 --> 00:27:04,711
(intense orchestral music)
353
00:27:10,150 --> 00:27:13,496
The result is a coordinated barrage.
354
00:27:13,496 --> 00:27:17,079
(intense orchestral music)
355
00:27:25,620 --> 00:27:28,220
The cows are not harmed, but they do get a dose
356
00:27:28,220 --> 00:27:30,930
of acid in the nose, which they don't like,
357
00:27:30,930 --> 00:27:34,097
and they tend thereafter to avoid these mounds.
358
00:27:34,097 --> 00:27:37,014
(cowbells ringing)
359
00:27:54,840 --> 00:27:59,840
By now, in June, the larvae have become big and greedy.
360
00:28:00,180 --> 00:28:01,681
They must be given special care
361
00:28:01,681 --> 00:28:05,700
because they will produce the next generation of royalty.
362
00:28:05,700 --> 00:28:09,040
So the workers labor hard to meet their demands.
363
00:28:10,540 --> 00:28:13,630
In summer, hundreds of thousands of eggs
364
00:28:13,630 --> 00:28:15,770
are hatching every day,
365
00:28:15,770 --> 00:28:18,810
and honeydew is not enough.
366
00:28:18,810 --> 00:28:22,250
The ants go in search of something else,
367
00:28:22,250 --> 00:28:25,343
a supplement, fresh meat.
368
00:28:25,343 --> 00:28:27,843
(bee buzzing)
369
00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,385
The lush green hills and mountains of the Jura
370
00:28:32,385 --> 00:28:35,450
are now teeming with all sorts of life.
371
00:28:35,450 --> 00:28:38,310
And nearly all of it is potential food.
372
00:28:44,635 --> 00:28:47,218
(gentle music)
373
00:28:57,800 --> 00:29:00,150
The ants spread out from the nest,
374
00:29:00,150 --> 00:29:04,314
scouring every square inch of the ground in search of prey.
375
00:29:04,314 --> 00:29:06,897
(gentle music)
376
00:29:15,294 --> 00:29:19,270
As the hunters approach, those that can, take flight.
377
00:29:31,980 --> 00:29:34,600
The ants' vision is not very acute.
378
00:29:34,600 --> 00:29:37,080
They can only see a target if it moves.
379
00:29:42,180 --> 00:29:46,120
A wolf spider, however, can see the ants clearly.
380
00:29:46,120 --> 00:29:48,920
But as long as she doesn't move,
381
00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,194
they won't know that she's here.
382
00:29:51,194 --> 00:29:54,527
(slow orchestral music)
383
00:30:01,640 --> 00:30:05,043
She's carrying a little sac full of eggs.
384
00:30:05,043 --> 00:30:07,626
(gentle music)
385
00:30:22,350 --> 00:30:24,020
She decides to run for it,
386
00:30:24,020 --> 00:30:26,594
and her sudden movement alerts the hunters.
387
00:30:26,594 --> 00:30:29,344
(dramatic music)
388
00:30:46,840 --> 00:30:51,430
That first freaky touch by an ant left a faint scent mark,
389
00:30:51,430 --> 00:30:55,380
and now fellow hunters can home in on their target.
390
00:30:59,710 --> 00:31:01,700
The spider has a venomous bite,
391
00:31:01,700 --> 00:31:03,750
but that is no use now.
392
00:31:03,750 --> 00:31:06,870
Eight powerful legs are her only hope.
393
00:31:06,870 --> 00:31:08,760
But her speed is the very thing
394
00:31:08,760 --> 00:31:10,560
that enables the ants to follow her.
395
00:31:18,480 --> 00:31:22,170
Slow motion reveals the basic ant-hunting technique,
396
00:31:22,170 --> 00:31:25,462
lunge with jaws open and hope for the best.
397
00:31:25,462 --> 00:31:29,045
(intense orchestral music)
398
00:31:39,260 --> 00:31:41,644
At last an ant manages to grab her.
399
00:31:41,644 --> 00:31:45,227
(intense orchestral music)
400
00:31:46,320 --> 00:31:48,980
Like a pride of lions taking down a buffalo,
401
00:31:48,980 --> 00:31:50,950
the ants surround her.
402
00:31:50,950 --> 00:31:52,700
Two restrain their catch
403
00:31:52,700 --> 00:31:55,944
while another delivers the fresh dissolving acid.
404
00:31:55,944 --> 00:31:59,527
(intense orchestral music)
405
00:32:10,543 --> 00:32:13,810
The wolf spider is just one of many victims.
406
00:32:15,579 --> 00:32:18,912
(slow percussion music)
407
00:32:26,340 --> 00:32:30,460
Alone, an ant can take only the smallest prey.
408
00:32:30,460 --> 00:32:32,320
But by working as a team,
409
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:35,473
they can capture creatures many times their size.
410
00:32:35,473 --> 00:32:38,806
(slow percussion music)
411
00:32:53,020 --> 00:32:55,950
A super colony can make hundreds of millions
412
00:32:55,950 --> 00:32:57,940
of kills every year.
413
00:33:00,845 --> 00:33:04,020
Beetles, caterpillars, worms, flies.
414
00:33:04,020 --> 00:33:06,566
They will tackle almost any living thing.
415
00:33:06,566 --> 00:33:10,233
(dramatic orchestral music)
416
00:33:27,907 --> 00:33:30,940
Whatever the prey, it's first cut up
417
00:33:30,940 --> 00:33:33,906
and eaten by the workers, who then regurgitate it
418
00:33:33,906 --> 00:33:35,710
to feed to the larvae.
419
00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:48,370
Once they have grown to full size,
420
00:33:48,370 --> 00:33:51,870
the larvae spin silk cocoons for themselves.
421
00:34:00,360 --> 00:34:05,360
Inside each, a featureless larva is changing into an adult.
422
00:34:05,940 --> 00:34:09,260
Their time in the sun is approaching.
423
00:34:16,593 --> 00:34:19,343
(birds chirping)
424
00:34:25,884 --> 00:34:29,190
Wood ants live in one of the most highly organized
425
00:34:29,190 --> 00:34:32,870
and complex of insect societies.
426
00:34:32,870 --> 00:34:35,170
They fight wars over territory,
427
00:34:35,170 --> 00:34:39,030
they hunt in packs, and farm other species.
428
00:34:39,030 --> 00:34:42,250
They build complex homes with central heating.
429
00:34:42,250 --> 00:34:43,850
They produce their own medicine.
430
00:34:44,820 --> 00:34:47,100
And one group of them we now know
431
00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:50,450
has made another advance.
432
00:34:50,450 --> 00:34:53,582
The super colony has extended this collaboration
433
00:34:53,582 --> 00:34:56,118
beyond the frontiers of the family
434
00:34:56,118 --> 00:35:00,519
to form a super society of such dimensions
435
00:35:00,519 --> 00:35:03,330
that we can perhaps begin to compare it
436
00:35:03,330 --> 00:35:06,180
with that other great social creature
437
00:35:06,180 --> 00:35:09,360
on this planet, ourselves.
438
00:35:09,360 --> 00:35:11,927
People studying the origins of human culture
439
00:35:11,927 --> 00:35:15,264
suggest that shared myths were one of the factors
440
00:35:15,264 --> 00:35:18,670
that bound early human societies together.
441
00:35:18,670 --> 00:35:20,250
But what about ants?
442
00:35:21,430 --> 00:35:24,439
Well, in many species, it is certainly the case
443
00:35:24,439 --> 00:35:28,250
that all the individuals are very closely related
444
00:35:28,250 --> 00:35:31,540
to one another, but that is not so
445
00:35:31,540 --> 00:35:33,300
in the super colony.
446
00:35:34,270 --> 00:35:37,050
And in some days in June,
447
00:35:37,050 --> 00:35:39,912
such colonies continue to break the rules.
448
00:35:39,912 --> 00:35:43,412
(gentle orchestral music)
449
00:35:46,290 --> 00:35:50,070
As midsummer approaches, the Jura briefly becomes
450
00:35:50,070 --> 00:35:52,900
a paradise of wildflowers.
451
00:35:56,530 --> 00:36:01,100
And something new appears inside each of the nests.
452
00:36:02,030 --> 00:36:03,000
Wings.
453
00:36:07,260 --> 00:36:10,180
The royal generation, male and female,
454
00:36:10,180 --> 00:36:14,620
has finally hatched, and both will be able to fly.
455
00:36:16,830 --> 00:36:19,430
Winged individuals are the only ones
456
00:36:19,430 --> 00:36:21,537
that are capable of breeding.
457
00:36:21,537 --> 00:36:25,810
The males are little more than animated insemination devices
458
00:36:25,810 --> 00:36:29,050
and they will soon achieve their purpose and die.
459
00:36:29,050 --> 00:36:32,900
But the females, which are emerging just now,
460
00:36:32,900 --> 00:36:37,198
this is the beginning of a long life of servitude.
461
00:36:37,198 --> 00:36:39,781
(gentle music)
462
00:36:44,350 --> 00:36:46,220
When the weather is just right,
463
00:36:46,220 --> 00:36:48,360
sunny and not too windy,
464
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,750
the nests suddenly become covered with winged ants.
465
00:36:52,750 --> 00:36:54,703
There's an excitement in the air.
466
00:36:54,703 --> 00:36:57,286
(gentle music)
467
00:37:06,724 --> 00:37:10,080
The males, which have matte black bodies,
468
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,920
are incapable of feeding themselves.
469
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:14,580
So once they leave the nest,
470
00:37:14,580 --> 00:37:16,630
they only have a short time to live.
471
00:37:16,630 --> 00:37:18,280
There's no time to waste.
472
00:37:21,360 --> 00:37:23,870
The virgin queens who are also black
473
00:37:23,870 --> 00:37:26,530
but splendidly shiny, have a rather clumsy
474
00:37:26,530 --> 00:37:28,150
beginning to their lives.
475
00:37:29,730 --> 00:37:33,020
They're heavy with fat reserves and swollen ovaries
476
00:37:35,640 --> 00:37:38,280
so that getting airborne is not easy for them.
477
00:37:41,640 --> 00:37:44,430
This is the most important flight of their lives,
478
00:37:44,430 --> 00:37:45,760
but it's also their first.
479
00:37:50,410 --> 00:37:53,180
Many test their wings before takeoff.
480
00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:58,730
They may need several attempts before they achieve
481
00:37:58,730 --> 00:38:00,422
complete flight control.
482
00:38:00,422 --> 00:38:03,922
(bright orchestral music)
483
00:38:14,749 --> 00:38:18,050
Over a few days, half a million winged ants
484
00:38:18,050 --> 00:38:20,207
of both sexes take to the air
485
00:38:20,207 --> 00:38:22,744
and head off for new territory.
486
00:38:22,744 --> 00:38:26,244
(bright orchestral music)
487
00:38:39,830 --> 00:38:42,540
They then all assemble here
488
00:38:42,540 --> 00:38:44,690
in the heart of the super colony.
489
00:38:47,130 --> 00:38:50,867
It's not clear how they find this meadow.
490
00:38:50,867 --> 00:38:55,720
But year after year, virgin males and females
491
00:38:55,720 --> 00:38:59,402
from across the super colony are drawn here
492
00:38:59,402 --> 00:39:01,500
for their nuptial flight.
493
00:39:01,500 --> 00:39:05,000
(bright orchestral music)
494
00:39:15,126 --> 00:39:19,320
The queens congregate in small patches of taller plants
495
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,920
and begin to release sex pheromones,
496
00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:24,530
airborne chemicals that attract males.
497
00:39:24,530 --> 00:39:28,030
(bright orchestral music)
498
00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:38,170
Detecting this scent on the wind,
499
00:39:38,170 --> 00:39:40,440
the males home in on the females.
500
00:39:40,440 --> 00:39:43,940
(bright orchestral music)
501
00:39:53,006 --> 00:39:57,440
The virgin queens may only get the chance to mate once,
502
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,820
and they need to obtain enough sperm to fertilize
503
00:40:00,820 --> 00:40:04,190
the eggs they will be producing for years to come.
504
00:40:07,087 --> 00:40:09,515
But with plenty of males in the meadow,
505
00:40:09,515 --> 00:40:11,490
they can afford to be choosy.
506
00:40:15,256 --> 00:40:18,486
The males are so driven, they even try to mate with females
507
00:40:18,486 --> 00:40:20,306
who are already doing so.
508
00:40:20,306 --> 00:40:23,806
(bright orchestral music)
509
00:40:39,610 --> 00:40:42,780
Those males fortunate enough to couple quickly
510
00:40:42,780 --> 00:40:45,920
make the most of their few remaining hours of life.
511
00:40:51,460 --> 00:40:54,596
Once they've mated, their service to the colony is over
512
00:40:54,596 --> 00:40:57,188
and they die of exhaustion.
513
00:40:57,188 --> 00:41:00,521
(slow orchestral music)
514
00:41:08,090 --> 00:41:11,621
The queens now have no further use for their wings
515
00:41:11,621 --> 00:41:13,610
and they try to get rid of them.
516
00:41:16,677 --> 00:41:21,249
But they are necessarily rather firmly fixed.
517
00:41:21,249 --> 00:41:24,832
(playful orchestral music)
518
00:41:29,183 --> 00:41:31,930
Trying to remove a backpack with your feet,
519
00:41:31,930 --> 00:41:33,610
even if you have six of them,
520
00:41:33,610 --> 00:41:36,405
is clearly a frustrating process.
521
00:41:36,405 --> 00:41:39,905
(bright orchestral music)
522
00:42:02,290 --> 00:42:06,380
Eventually the meadow is marked with little drifts
523
00:42:06,380 --> 00:42:08,180
of discarded wings.
524
00:42:12,600 --> 00:42:16,910
Such breeding swarms are fairly typical of ants generally,
525
00:42:16,910 --> 00:42:20,100
but now the queens of the super colony
526
00:42:20,100 --> 00:42:22,590
do something much less common.
527
00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:30,670
To understand why they behave so differently,
528
00:42:30,670 --> 00:42:33,005
we must first return to the spring battlefields
529
00:42:33,005 --> 00:42:36,600
of the ordinary wood ants outside the empire
530
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:37,600
of the super colony.
531
00:42:45,300 --> 00:42:48,260
The warring colonies on this side of the mountain
532
00:42:48,260 --> 00:42:50,880
have now accepted their frontiers,
533
00:42:50,880 --> 00:42:55,670
and summer brings a brief pause in their battles.
534
00:42:55,670 --> 00:43:00,010
The mating system they use may seem at first sight
535
00:43:00,010 --> 00:43:02,770
to be the same as that of the super colony,
536
00:43:02,770 --> 00:43:06,330
but in fact, it's fundamentally different.
537
00:43:06,330 --> 00:43:09,528
Every decision taken by a mated female
538
00:43:09,528 --> 00:43:11,810
is fraught with danger.
539
00:43:17,640 --> 00:43:20,173
The colony this queen comes from
540
00:43:20,173 --> 00:43:23,320
is at war with all its neighbors.
541
00:43:23,320 --> 00:43:27,160
So if she meets any of them, they will try to kill her.
542
00:43:27,160 --> 00:43:31,060
She needs a home, but she can't build it without help.
543
00:43:33,790 --> 00:43:38,550
Her solution to the problem is extraordinary and radical.
544
00:43:47,340 --> 00:43:52,170
Under this rock, a different species, field ants,
545
00:43:52,170 --> 00:43:53,480
have built a nest.
546
00:43:55,810 --> 00:43:59,400
These small ants, less than a third of her size,
547
00:43:59,400 --> 00:44:03,180
are common and live in meadows on the edge of the forest.
548
00:44:05,410 --> 00:44:09,160
The only way this wood ant queen can get her own nest
549
00:44:09,160 --> 00:44:11,580
is by taking over one of theirs.
550
00:44:16,070 --> 00:44:18,950
She will become a parasitic queen.
551
00:44:21,780 --> 00:44:24,261
She lurks near the nest,
552
00:44:24,261 --> 00:44:27,010
trying to pick up the scent of the field ants.
553
00:44:29,200 --> 00:44:32,980
She avoids groups of them because they could overpower her.
554
00:44:34,380 --> 00:44:37,684
Instead, she tackles individuals.
555
00:44:37,684 --> 00:44:40,950
There's a brief duel, and then she retreats.
556
00:44:43,140 --> 00:44:46,640
But each time she's left with a trace of their scent
557
00:44:46,640 --> 00:44:50,410
so that she slowly begins to build up a chemical disguise.
558
00:44:54,150 --> 00:44:57,160
These contests go on for several days.
559
00:45:00,180 --> 00:45:04,290
Gradually her disguise becomes more and more convincing.
560
00:45:12,680 --> 00:45:16,130
The entrance to the field ants' nest is unguarded.
561
00:45:18,400 --> 00:45:20,580
Cautiously she enters.
562
00:45:26,820 --> 00:45:29,780
Inside, she is vastly outnumbered.
563
00:45:32,160 --> 00:45:34,870
Wood ant behavior inside a field ant nest
564
00:45:34,870 --> 00:45:37,000
has never been observed in detail before,
565
00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,713
let alone filmed, so what happens next
566
00:45:39,713 --> 00:45:42,354
must be interpreted with caution.
567
00:45:42,354 --> 00:45:45,021
(intense music)
568
00:45:52,950 --> 00:45:55,300
There are fights, and most wood ant queens
569
00:45:55,300 --> 00:45:58,160
are in fact killed at this stage.
570
00:46:02,703 --> 00:46:06,340
But after she has endured repeated attacks,
571
00:46:06,340 --> 00:46:09,710
some of the field ants become less aggressive towards her.
572
00:46:13,430 --> 00:46:16,940
Eventually a confused field ant worker
573
00:46:16,940 --> 00:46:19,390
feeds the wood ant queen.
574
00:46:19,390 --> 00:46:23,430
And when it does that, the fate of the nest is sealed.
575
00:46:25,750 --> 00:46:30,110
The wood ant queen has now acquired the colony's scent.
576
00:46:30,110 --> 00:46:33,540
She oozes queenly pheromones, and the field ants
577
00:46:33,540 --> 00:46:36,930
seem entranced by their new foreign queen.
578
00:46:40,170 --> 00:46:43,310
The gamble has paid off, and she has a fully functioning
579
00:46:43,310 --> 00:46:47,090
nest ready to receive her first batch of eggs.
580
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:57,130
Taking over a nest of field ants is the way
581
00:46:57,130 --> 00:47:00,160
typical wood ants start a new family.
582
00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,490
But how about the queens from a super colony
583
00:47:04,490 --> 00:47:07,470
with their multifamily communal nests?
584
00:47:07,470 --> 00:47:09,760
Have they found a more peaceful strategy?
585
00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:16,650
Each mated female has to set out on her own journey.
586
00:47:16,650 --> 00:47:18,389
If she's to become a true queen,
587
00:47:18,389 --> 00:47:22,230
she has to find a nest that will accept her.
588
00:47:22,230 --> 00:47:25,260
And that is where the tolerance of the members
589
00:47:25,260 --> 00:47:28,500
of the super colony is tested once again.
590
00:47:31,350 --> 00:47:34,000
Being already in the heart of a super colony,
591
00:47:34,000 --> 00:47:36,826
these newly mated queens don't have to walk far
592
00:47:36,826 --> 00:47:39,100
before encountering their own kind.
593
00:47:43,188 --> 00:47:45,964
But even for a super colony queen,
594
00:47:45,964 --> 00:47:49,910
walking straight up to a busy trail is risky.
595
00:47:49,910 --> 00:47:52,890
If the workers she meets are not in a welcoming mood,
596
00:47:52,890 --> 00:47:54,739
they will tear her to pieces.
597
00:47:54,739 --> 00:47:58,072
(deep orchestral music)
598
00:48:19,210 --> 00:48:23,670
Slowly, one by one, workers come to investigate her.
599
00:48:29,850 --> 00:48:33,560
Some seem uncertain whether to attack or not.
600
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:35,941
But others lick and clean her.
601
00:48:35,941 --> 00:48:39,274
(slow orchestral music)
602
00:48:46,950 --> 00:48:50,680
After a few tense moments, a worker starts to drag her
603
00:48:50,680 --> 00:48:52,020
towards the nest.
604
00:48:54,820 --> 00:48:58,110
This is a sign that she will be adopted.
605
00:49:03,730 --> 00:49:07,850
And now scientists have made a further discovery.
606
00:49:07,850 --> 00:49:11,590
Many nests in the super colony shortcut the whole process.
607
00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:16,400
The winged males and the queen ants
608
00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:19,680
don't even bother to leave the nest.
609
00:49:19,680 --> 00:49:21,475
Many different families live here,
610
00:49:21,475 --> 00:49:25,490
so there's no need to fly away to avoid inbreeding.
611
00:49:31,220 --> 00:49:33,620
The winged queens can simply mate
612
00:49:33,620 --> 00:49:35,870
with one of the males that hatched here.
613
00:49:37,980 --> 00:49:41,530
Perhaps this unusual behavior is the next stage
614
00:49:41,530 --> 00:49:43,990
in the evolution of the super colony.
615
00:49:51,530 --> 00:49:54,320
With these innovative mating systems,
616
00:49:54,320 --> 00:49:57,676
the super colony queens don't take the same risks
617
00:49:57,676 --> 00:50:00,530
as normal wood ant queens.
618
00:50:00,530 --> 00:50:02,870
They don't need to infiltrate the nest
619
00:50:02,870 --> 00:50:04,880
of field ants to start a family.
620
00:50:07,150 --> 00:50:10,680
The workers just build new nests when needed,
621
00:50:10,680 --> 00:50:14,179
enabling the super colony to extend deep into the forest
622
00:50:14,179 --> 00:50:16,820
where there are no field ants.
623
00:50:19,240 --> 00:50:21,181
It's changes in behavior like this
624
00:50:21,181 --> 00:50:24,190
that most likely gave rise to the super colony
625
00:50:24,190 --> 00:50:27,131
in the first place and colonized this new habitat
626
00:50:27,131 --> 00:50:28,807
with all its riches.
627
00:50:28,807 --> 00:50:32,557
(grandiose orchestral music)
628
00:50:34,670 --> 00:50:37,131
It's possible that this kind of cooperation
629
00:50:37,131 --> 00:50:42,131
between different nests is becoming more common among ants.
630
00:50:42,460 --> 00:50:45,380
New super colonies are still being discovered
631
00:50:45,380 --> 00:50:48,600
in different species across the world.
632
00:50:48,600 --> 00:50:51,480
Are we perhaps witnessing the next stage
633
00:50:51,480 --> 00:50:54,330
of the social conquest of the Earth?
634
00:50:57,280 --> 00:51:00,780
The super colony consists of literally thousands
635
00:51:00,780 --> 00:51:05,200
of different families all working in cooperation.
636
00:51:05,200 --> 00:51:08,280
It's a development that mankind achieved
637
00:51:08,280 --> 00:51:10,602
a very long time ago and could be seen
638
00:51:10,602 --> 00:51:13,750
as one of the reasons why we have come to dominate
639
00:51:13,750 --> 00:51:16,466
so many parts of the planet.
640
00:51:16,466 --> 00:51:20,170
Could it be that peace is the winning strategy
641
00:51:20,170 --> 00:51:22,647
on this ant mountain, too?
642
00:51:22,647 --> 00:51:26,397
(grandiose orchestral music)
50122
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