Hardbopjazz Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 (edited) What a great script for a sci-fi B movie. Giant mutant ant colony found in Australia Thu Aug 12, 4:55 AM ET Add Science - AFP to My Yahoo! MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) - A huge ant colony measuring 100 kilometres (62 miles) across has been found under the southern Australian city of Melbourne, scientists said. Missed Tech Tuesday? The best gadgets to help students through the year, from new phones to gizmos for locking down your stuff. Monash University researcher Elissa Suhr said the supercolony of Argentine ants was threatening native biodiversity in Australia's second largest city. Suhr said the introduced pest's natural aggression kept numbers under control in its native country but the genetic make-up of the ants found in Australia had mutated allowing them to cooperate to build the supercolony. "In Argentina, their native homeland, ant colonies span tens of metres, are genetically diverse and highly aggressive towards one another," Suhr said. "So population numbers never explode and they are no threat to other plants and animals. "When they arrived in Australia, a change in their structure occurred, changing their behaviour so that they are not aggressive towards one another. This has resulted in the colonies becoming one supercolony." Suhr said the Argentine ants killed native ants and the insect life they normally preyed upon, posing a major threat to biodiversity. She said Argentine ants were ranked among the world's 100 worst animal invaders and had found an ideal habitat in the Mediterranean Edited August 12, 2004 by Hardbopjazz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RainyDay Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Killer Bees, Act II. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Killer Bees, Act II. Yep. The only thing missing is the prediction that they will reach the US by 2009. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7/4 Posted August 12, 2004 Report Share Posted August 12, 2004 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris olivarez Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Sounds like fodder for a lot of future B movies. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chris Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Sounds like fodder from a lot of PAST B movies Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenny weir Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Hey, it's hell down here ... the bastards helped themselves to our in-fridge beer last night and then took all my box sets when they left. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Laugh all you want, but if those buggers are anything like the fire ants that are slowly but surely taking over here, it ain't funny! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noj Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 At least they're not these bad boys: http://www.sasionline.org/antsfiles/pages/.../bulletbio.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Meloy Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Laugh all you want, but if those buggers are anything like the fire ants that are slowly but surely taking over here, it ain't funny! Looks like they're there too Jim. The invasion of the fire ants The World Today Archive - Thursday, 21 June , 2001 00:00:00 Reporter: Ian Townsend JOHN HIGHFIELD: Let's go to that story on the fire ant now. Three American scientists are packing their bags today, heading homewards after spending 10 days in Brisbane, Australia - looking at ants. This morning they issued a final, chilling warning about an introduced pest that they describe as a monster. The fire ant spreads quickly, its sting kills, it smothers crops and destroys native animals. And as Ian Townsend reports for The World Today, it could be about to break out of the Brisbane valley and overrun the country. IAN TOWNSEND: You've probably heard about the fire ant. Someone mowing the lawn noticed unusual ants at the port of Brisbane, four months ago. Nests have since been found around the city's south and west. But imagine this. You're at a backyard barbecue in Melbourne or Sydney or Perth or Adelaide, and hundreds of ants swarm all over your legs. You jump, and they all sting you, in unison. That's the fire ant. It could be in your backyard in a few years time. And it can kill. BART DREES: The individuals that are at highest risk are very elderly people and very young children. The one per cent of the population that's hypersensitive, where one sting can cause anaphylactic shock and death, they're rare but they do happen. IAN TOWNSEND: Professor Bart Drees has been battling the fire ant in the United States, where the damage bill is a billion US dollars a year. He's been looking at Brisbane's outbreak, already covering 200 square kilometres, and says disaster looms. BART DREES: The projections that have been made with computer models indicate that most of the continent will be infested eventually. This is not a Queensland problem, this is not a Brisbane problem. It's really not a neighbourhood by neighbourhood problem. This is really the continent's problem and, really, the southern hemisphere's problem because of the trade occurring in this area. This is a critical point in time. And decisions need to be made. But once decisions are made, total support and commitment and understanding that this is a serious treatment to a serious infection, if you will, on this part of the continent. IAN TOWNSEND: The Queensland Department of Primary Industry says it'll cost more than $100 million, over the next five years, to try to crush the ant. Queensland wants the rest of the country to chip in. Manager of Plant Health, with the Queensland DPI, Ken Priestly, says the rest of Australia doesn't seem to realise the terrible threat of a fire ant plague. KEN PRIESTLY: The absolute devastation that this pest can wreak on the environment, the lifestyle and of course agriculture. And I think that message needs to get to the rest of Australia, given that the modelling that's been done indicates that the pest could very well populate by far the majority of the Australian continent. IAN TOWNSEND: So what happens now? What do you need to do to persuade other states and the federal Government to chip in for this? KEN PRIESTLY: What we've got is, we've got an assessment that's been made for the National Consultative Committee which has basically outlined the technical feasibility of an eradication program, and put on the table the likely economic viability of such a program. IAN TOWNSEND: Sounds like a bit of a bureaucratic process though. And you need this to be done as quickly as possible. KEN PRIESTLY: Certainly do need to be done as quickly as possible. The longer we delay, and the longer a decision is delayed, obviously means the greater the chance the pest has to spread from its existing base. And that obviously increases the cost of eradication. IAN TOWNSEND: Texas fire ant expert, Bart Drees, agrees. A massive poisoning campaign now, and possibly aerial baiting around Brisbane, might be the only way to stop the ants. BART DREES: The time element is working against the possibility of succeeding right now. If these decisions, and the support, doesn't come almost immediately so that the Department can tool up for applications that really need to go out this coming Spring, the horse may have bolted already. JOHN HIGHFIELD: Bart Drees is a Professor of Entomology in the State of Texas, in the United States, and a specialist on the American fire ant. He was speaking with Ian Townsend in Brisbane. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Well, fire ants don't just sneak up on you and stage a gang attack, you have to be fairly close to their mound, which is easily visible. But they are vicious when they do bite (and there's no such thing as "just one" fire ant bite - when one comes, there's plenty more right there with it, so when the biting begins, you want to move away ASAP or sooner), they will come all up in your house by any and all means, and they do wreck havoc with wildlife. Poke a fire ant mound with a stick, and in less than a second, the ground is nearly solid with the phukkers, looking for the first available thing to gang up on. They're in a frenzy. Fire ants SUCK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gould Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 At least they're not these bad boys: http://www.sasionline.org/antsfiles/pages/.../bulletbio.html Yeah, those are pretty nasty sounding, but at least they're not aggressive unless disturbed. Jim's Fire Ants will sting you at the drop of a hat. And they're pretty painful, too, which makes me wonder just how bad this ant is, if "Their stings are the most painful and debilitating known for any insect". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Oh yeah, a fire ant bite will leave a welt that comes to a pus-filled head. Not a BIG one, mind you, but them badboys are packin' venom, for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BruceH Posted August 14, 2004 Report Share Posted August 14, 2004 YUCK!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mgraham333 Posted August 14, 2004 Report Share Posted August 14, 2004 Sounds like fodder from a lot of PAST B movies Chris has it right: THEM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catesta Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 Laugh all you want, but if those buggers are anything like the fire ants that are slowly but surely taking over here, it ain't funny! Get you some! They carry it to the queen, she eats, and it kills her ass dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 Yeah, right. Just like Keith Richards can get high on aspirin and a Coke. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDK Posted August 16, 2004 Report Share Posted August 16, 2004 Why's it always gotta be killer ants? Why not an invasion of roly-polies? Then I can just send my girls out to curl them all up with their slightest touch... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 10, 2005 Report Share Posted December 10, 2005 Sounds like fodder from a lot of PAST B movies Chris has it right: THEM im in texas and i have delt with these ants for years,heres some advice dont make them mad you can swuish them between your fingers and the best home remedy for those ants is to hose the nest and demolishish it but that may just make them madder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted December 10, 2005 Report Share Posted December 10, 2005 I've hatched a plan... Get NASA to aim the Hubble telescope toward Austrlia and we'll cook those little jokers!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost of miles Posted December 10, 2005 Report Share Posted December 10, 2005 Sounds like fodder from a lot of PAST B movies Chris has it right: THEM Yep, that's the one that came to my mind too--one of my favorite sci-fi flicks as a kid, right up there with THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted December 11, 2005 Report Share Posted December 11, 2005 Me too.......that intro with the helicopter hovering above the entrance when the ant comes out and drops the ribcage, which then rolls down the mound & comes to rest up against the cops gunbelt (or something like that...been awhile) just gave me the heebee jeebees as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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