Good post mate. Ants are fascinating animals. My favourite animals yet I know very little about them. I've two questions:
- Do you know of any 24/7 livestream of an ant-colony?
- You mentioned that ants "will bring back some water inside the nest if the air is getting a little too dry for the fungus". How do they do that? Is the surface tension of a drop of water big enough for ants to be able to move 1 drop of water? Or do they do that through transpiration or something?
They drink the water. Some work ants find water resource and drink. It is not the same ant, but it can give you a clue about how they do that: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2011/08/translucent-ants-photographed-eating-colored-liquids/
I am not aware of any 24/7 livestream available (although it would be a great idea). That makes me wonder if I can set something up myself. It would need quite a lot of planning though. I have seen some livestream videos on some YouTube channels such as the one maintained by AntsCanada.
I have not come across a description of attine ants that carry water droplets although there are some other ants that actually do that. "1 drop" is not a standard size, so they are simply carrying a tiny little droplet. At this scale, the surface tension of the tiny water droplet seems to be large enough for the ants to carry it as a "ball". The surface of the ant body that touches these droplets is also covered in viscous oily substance so that the surface of the water droplet is not disturbed. In case of the attine ants, they seem to regulate humidity by moving around the nest. So if a certain part of the nest is low in humidity, ants will move to that part so that their metabolic process can produce enough water vapor to adjust it. If a large amount of water is required, they will go out and get hydrated, which is like carrying water into the nest. The nest architecture is of course very important in all the climate regulation that goes on in the ant nest.
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I am always glad to meet a fellow ant admirer. I do not know a lot about them either, but I am trying to learn and at the same time I have been sharing the fascinating things I come across.
Thanks for the response @tatk0!
Thanks for answering!