A Catastrophe Causes Ants to Change Their Diet opus 487
| 22 December 2024 1420 Hours | | Entomology, Botany, Climate, Diet, Evolution |
When we imagine ants seeking food, we probably think first of sugar or crumbs.
But because of a catastrophe on the earth which occurred 66 million years ago,
Not only did dinosaurs disappear, but ants also were affected.
Large creatures on the earth's surface were incinerated away,
While smaller, fossorial creatures were often spared.
Of course I am talking about the crash of the meteor into our earth.
It greatly changed things on terrestrial earth, but also in the seas.
The survival of small fossorial mammals gave rise to creatures like us!
There are many stories to be told, but I shall focus on ants right now.
Most food sources for ants, including plants were burned to a crisp--
This major food for ants was, indeed, plants--so what to do?
Interestingly, masses of dead plant material became a major food for fungi
Hungry ants jumped right in and evolved to collect and eat fungus.
Thus today we behold our harvester ants common in many places.
So, a catastrophe and death knell for a major group of animals,
Created, through adaptation, a new food source for another.
The evolution of tenacious life on our planet
Continually strives to maintain the flow of protoplasm
At all costs and beyond the capacity of 'normal' thought.