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Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by pmichaud on Thursday July 02, 2009 @09:44AM (#684367)
This story is really misleading. It's not a "megacolony" -- it's several distinct colonies from around the world that don't connect in any way.

The meat of the article is that researchers collected specimens from around the world, and some of the ants from different colonies didn't try to kill each other on sight.

Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by Retric on Thursday July 02, 2009 @09:51AM (#684376)
Their point is the colony's are connected by people continously transporting ant's between each giant colony. So even if there is not a fixed land bridge there is continous mixing between the colony's.

What's even more interesting is people probably help to create and maintain the giant colony's in the same geographic area in the same way.

Edit: Not to complain, but what's up with the -2?

Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by michaelawill on Thursday July 02, 2009 @11:21AM (#684524)
I was a little confused at that too. I didn't downmod you but your original post had some pretty mangled grammar. Looks better now though.
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by noodle on Thursday July 02, 2009 @10:15AM (#684415)
well, i believe they're using the term "megacolony" in reference to the fact that ants from different colonies are usually aggressive to ants from other colonies. but in this case, several giant colonies from different continents aren't aggressive towards one another and are genetically linked, so they're referring to the group of familial and non-aggressive colonies as a megacolony.
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by michaelawill on Thursday July 02, 2009 @10:05AM (#684400)
You sound unimpressed. But do you really feel you could take humans from all around the world and put them together without them trying to kill one another?
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by aswanson on Thursday July 02, 2009 @01:03PM (#684715)
AFAIK, no one in my college killed any other student while we were there, whether they were citizens or on student visa.
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by rw on Thursday July 02, 2009 @10:23AM (#684426)
At age 2 or 3, absolutely!

What happens when they're older is anyone's guess.

Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by gcheong on Thursday July 02, 2009 @11:24AM (#684534)
Maybe as long as there aren't any toys in the room.
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by kragen on Thursday July 02, 2009 @10:36PM (#685539)
Yes. I lived in San Francisco for years. The murder rate there is about 7 per 100 000 population per year. Does that qualify as "not trying to kill one another" in your book?
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by gurtwo on Friday July 03, 2009 @05:58AM (#685864)
A "metacolony" would be better suited? But that will miss the size notion that "mega" brings
Re:Ant mega-colony takes over world by DougWebb on Thursday July 02, 2009 @03:19PM (#684976)
Like StreetFighter, without the action.