Ants - Animal Kingdom Month

As we continue marching along with this month's Animal Kingdom theme, we're pulling out our magnifying glasses to take a close look at ants! Quizmaster Sups dug up four facts about different ant species. But one of the facts doesn't match the ant! Are you knowledgable about our micro-sized friends? Hop in line and follow the trail behind hosts Andi and Tanner as they try to guess which ant-fact is specifically about the wrong species! 

Transcript

Andi 0:01

I would say put a pin in it, isn't that what entomologists do? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Alright. What the

Tanner 0:10

would you eat that? From your

Andi 0:14

That's, like one of the weirdest things I've ever heard, I thought fire ants were the worst that we could get, but then we got cannibal ant

Sups 0:21

No, there's a lot more than just red and

Andi 0:25

kidding. Hello and welcome to this episode of I Should Have Known, the trivia game show that can't be trusted. Each week, one of our Quizmasters will present you with four facts about a topic, but one of those facts is a lie. And we are exploring the animal kingdom this month, and this week, our Quizmaster is Supes.

Sups 0:44

Hello!

Andi 0:44

Supes is going to be telling us four facts about the Mighty Mighty Ant. But remember one of his facts is a lie. So join me, Andy, and our other host Tanner in figuring out which one it is.

Sups 0:56

We're going to find out a lot of things about ants today. But before we Yeah. Get going. Let's do the PQQ of the week. How many identified species of ants are there in the world?

Andi 1:10

I mean,

Tanner 1:14

because you think about like, ants are so small.

Andi 1:17

yeah. because you think about like, ants are so small, so like you can have one ant colony, and then like, you know, ten feet away, you have another ant colony, and they're technically different species because they've been separated from each other, because to an ant, that is, that distance is like insurmountable.

Tanner 1:31

think it's

Sups 1:32

me a number. 100? Yeah. Okay.

Andi 1:35

One thousand. Wow.

Sups 1:37

So there are about 12, 000 to 13, 000 identified

Tanner 1:41

kidding me?

Sups 1:42

But that, of course, is not the real number. The real number can be actually

Andi 1:45

It's probably way

Sups 1:46

way higher, right? so what are we going to do? Of course, we don't have enough time to go through all 12, 13, 000 of them.

Andi 1:52

them. No, no, no.

Sups 1:54

I've picked for species. And I'm going to give you a fact about that, but one of the fact like does not match up with the species. Right. So it's like

Andi 2:03

so it's a fifth species. Right,

Sups 2:05

Right.

Tanner 2:05

Okay. This is on hard mode. Oh

Andi 2:07

boy, this seems very difficult. It was already quite difficult because they're

Sups 2:11

going to be because like ants, I will leave pheromones and trails so that you can follow. And all heavy already. there you go.

Tanner 2:19

peanuts.

Sups 2:20

All right. So ant number one, Odorous. Odorous ants emit a distinct blue cheese smell when crushed.

Tanner 2:33

They live up to their name.

Sups 2:35

they're the house ants. Scientific name is Tapinoma sessile. They're tiny brown ants and they can range from 1 16th to 1 8th of an inch.

Tanner 2:45

an inch.

Sups 2:46

And if you're thinking, are these the ants who like sweets? Yes, definitely they

Andi 2:51

Oh,

Tanner 2:51

So they're at your

Andi 2:52

they're like the picnic

Tanner 2:53

and in your

Andi 2:54

Okay.

Sups 2:54

So especially honey. The big fans of honey, They're one of the most common types of and of course they love colonizing. Each colony has more than about 50, 000 ants and they can build colonies in any environment. And the smell of odorous is similar to blue cheese because the major component releasing the odor a type of methyl ketone. Like some organic chemical compound, which actually is found in blue cheese,

Andi 3:25

Okay.

Tanner 3:26

when do they secrete this? Only when they're crushed? Only when they die?

Andi 3:29

So they just have this like in their bodies and it gets crushed and

Sups 3:33

Yeah.

Tanner 3:34

It's not a pheromone. It's just when they

Sups 3:36

they

Andi 3:36

what they smell like

Sups 3:38

like. When you crush them and then you try to smell.

Andi 3:41

Yeah. Well it's kind of like, garlic doesn't smell when you slice it,

Tanner 3:45

Only when you

Andi 3:46

but when you crush it, then it smells. So I guess these ants are like

Sups 3:49

garlic. Oh, wow. That's the quote of the

Tanner 3:52

It's one

Andi 3:54

Odorous ants. Okay, well the name works. So, The fact is simply,

Tanner 4:01

They smell like blue cheese.

Andi 4:02

if this is a lie, the lie is that it's a different kind of ant that smells like blue cheese and odorous ants smell like something

Tanner 4:08

Yes.

Andi 4:09

They're odorous,

Tanner 4:10

Or maybe they aren't. Maybe they aren't. But

Andi 4:13

but they smell like something else. I'm a little because if these are like common household ants, like picnic ants, I've squished these and I can't. I don't recall there being a particularly blue cheese smell,

Tanner 4:28

smell.

Andi 4:29

maybe the blue cheese ant is a more lesser known ant, and Supes is lying and saying, yeah, like, yeah, the common picnic ant. Or maybe I was just eating blue cheese at my picnic and didn't notice?

Tanner 4:39

I'm a

Andi 4:40

know.

Tanner 4:40

type ant. Or maybe I eating this and I started getting ants. So so I don't have much to go off of except the name matches, you know, odorous blue cheese, I guess.

Andi 4:53

Yeah, And I mean we, we know that other bugs stink when you squish'em. So lady

Tanner 4:58

I hate that smell. Oh, I hate that smell.

Andi 5:00

well that's not really the trick of this episode, right? It's not that. It's definitely there is some ant in the world that smells like blue cheese when you crush it. Yeah. Is that ant the odor ant.

Tanner 5:10

it's tricky.

Andi 5:11

Hmm. I would say put a pin in it, isn't that what entomologists do? Yes. Yeah. Okay. Alright.

Sups 5:18

Okay. let's move to ant number two, which is Bulldog

Tanner 5:23

bulldog. ant.

Andi 5:24

ant.

Sups 5:25

If you cut the Bulldog ant into two, the head and the tail fight till one of them dies.

Tanner 5:32

Oh I think it already died. You cut it in half.

Andi 5:35

them dies. Oh, I think it

Tanner 5:40

the head

Andi 5:42

How does the butt fight the speciality of one dog. I like to think that very systematic and they're like, I'm gonna

Tanner 6:04

ant, ooh, look! Ant does weird things I'm glad you're

Sups 6:11

happens. Yes, They're also known as Myrmetsia. This is a genus of ants typically found in Australia and they can grow up to 40 millimeters big. Yeah. So they have large, powerful eyes, and they can track moving prey from a meter

Tanner 6:28

away. Wow. far for

Andi 6:31

really far when you're only 40 millimeters long.

Sups 6:34

venom one of the most toxic in the insect world.

Tanner 6:38

of course. They're Australian. Of course they're going to

Andi 6:39

going to kill you.

Tanner 6:40

you.

Sups 6:41

The head seizes the tail and the tail defends itself by stinging.

Tanner 6:46

Oh, a stick. That's how it's

Sups 6:48

This fight can go up to 30 minutes till one of them dies, or if they're separated by some other. Ants Uhhuh. But in most cases, like one of

Andi 6:58

the ants will break up an a butt head fight. Hold me back, kill me back. Stop me, bro. From the, how, I'm so confused about this. So

Tanner 7:07

So, sounds like, it's, like a reaction. the nervous system is just like attacking anything that's close. Cause like the butt can't think,

Sups 7:16

Yeah. Does

Tanner 7:18

there. So I've heard that hornets, or like wasps, if their head is removed from their body, then the rest of their body like holds their head like they're eating it or something weird. But this is just the nervous system just like, doing what it does. Like a reflex. So I'm thinking this must be like a reflex.

Sups 7:37

nugget of it.

Andi 7:37

is just bite my butt.

Sups 7:40

bulldog ants are the closest to wasps. So they are like, when they were evolving, this is the ant which did not fully develop. And

Andi 7:48

ant which did not fully develop. Comment among ants, I, I think, I don't know much about ants, I don't think they really have stingers. Yeah. So, wow. I'm still so just flabbergasted by the idea that somebody, like, found this out. Like, that's just so bizarre to me, but okay. One thing I find a little suspicious is that, why is it called a bulldog ant? Because bulldogs are known Specifically for their, like, tendency to, like, bite and not let go their tenacity. So I guess maybe it's kind of very tenacious if they, like, are fighting their own butt.

Tanner 8:22

fighting on what? it's

Andi 8:25

like a dog chasing its tail.

Tanner 8:26

chasing it's tail.

Andi 8:28

So I mean, like, that again is maybe a little suspicious where I'd be like, No, the bulldog ant probably bites. And then this is, again, a different kind of

Tanner 8:36

again it doesn't do anything.

Andi 8:39

right. Yeah, that's like a bulldog thing. Mine is a pit bull

Tanner 8:42

bulldog thing. I'm

Andi 8:47

So it's a little weird. whole concept is obviously weird, and if the game today was just the whole fact is a lie, this one would be the shot right up there, because why? Why the hell?

Tanner 8:57

hell?

Andi 8:58

But that's not the lie parts, which I'm finding really weird. So it's just like, it's a different kind of ant. I don't know.

Tanner 9:05

Okay. Sure.

Sups 9:06

well, we're halfway

Tanner 9:07

Ant

Sups 9:08

Ant number three, acorn.

Tanner 9:11

The acorn ant.

Sups 9:12

acorn ant queens change their size when moving to a new location.

Tanner 9:18

landing

Andi 9:19

Hmm.

Sups 9:20

they can shrink or grow depending on where they

Tanner 9:22

they can shrink or

Andi 9:26

right? Are you just describing

Tanner 9:27

on where

Sups 9:32

bocelli.

Andi 9:33

that sounds like a

Tanner 9:34

what I thought.

Sups 9:36

that's exactly what I thought. So there are 200 different species of these ants and they read almost anything that's on their way. Acorn ants are blind. And they have about 15 to 20 pheromones, each meaning different things at which they use to communicate. And they're super aggressive, and a colony can contain anywhere between 20 million ants. the reason why the queen can change, modify its size, because Santa's born without any wings. So, that's why they can change the size depending on where she's moving and she can lay up to 30, 000 eggs in a day.

Andi 10:19

where did they live?

Sups 10:21

it's a common,

Andi 10:21

they're all over the world.

Sups 10:22

yes, not like bulldog ants or something. Just like odorous, this is like commonly found.

Andi 10:28

Okay.

Tanner 10:29

So when she shrinks or enlarges, it's about the wings?

Sups 10:34

I mean, because she does not have a wing, so she can,

Andi 10:37

Okay, I I got the idea with the no wings. So like she can't fly to a new place. It's just a

Sups 10:42

walk. Mm

Tanner 10:43

I was gonna say the opposite.

Andi 10:45

big. I was gonna say the opposite. I was like, it would take a lot less time if you are bigger. You take

Tanner 10:50

Oh

Andi 10:51

you know, it just literally takes less time because you're bigger. Right. But, I don't know, this is very weird. Yeah. I don't really fully understand the whole process of getting bigger and smaller. Yeah. Why are they acorn

Tanner 11:03

Yeah. Also, the name doesn't make any

Andi 11:05

Yeah, why, are they called that? Live in oak trees? they

Tanner 11:08

look like

Sups 11:08

no, I mean, the shape that they make of their colon. Is often a con and They live in the trees. They can live in jungles

Tanner 11:17

Okay. Okay.

Andi 11:18

Okay.

Tanner 11:19

The queen can change her size. Yeah.

Andi 11:22

But that's not the negotiable part. That's true.

Tanner 11:25

Yeah, why would an acorn ant do that?

Andi 11:27

grows. Why would this acorn ant? I don't know. That's even less guessable I don't know. Why would that be an acorn ant? That should be the

Tanner 11:38

know,

Sups 11:38

know, you

Andi 11:39

Like, I don't know. You know what I mean? Like, I guess it's one of those features where it's like, okay, it's clearly not the, defining feature of this

Tanner 11:46

it's aimed for that.

Andi 11:48

for that. it could make sense if it was like, well, humans have been seeing their colonies named them after acorns and then later discovered, Oh, these dudes, she gets bigger and smaller. Like what? That's so

Tanner 11:57

bigger and It's super weird. Everything

Andi 12:00

about this is weird.

Tanner 12:02

weird.

Andi 12:02

Why are ants so

Tanner 12:03

I guess

Andi 12:04

I guess when there are like 000, 12, 000 of you, then one of you is gonna be weird.

Sups 12:09

Alright so we move on to our last ant, ant number four. Dracula.

Tanner 12:15

Dracula

Sups 12:17

So Dracula Ant's jaws reach a velocity of over 200 miles per hour, making them one of the fastest Movers

Tanner 12:26

200 miles per hour.

Andi 12:28

Yeah, but they're only going like, you know, like teeny tiny distance. I mean, Yeah. it's like the mantis shrimp.

Sups 12:34

Exactly. Dracula ants are of the species Mysterium Camille. They were only discovered in the 1990s and they found majorly in Madagascar They are called Dracula ants, because they exhibit vampire like characteristics. They practice a form of non lethal cannibalism, where the worker ants gently milk their own larvae. By making small incisions and consuming the hemolymph which is the equivalent of blood in insects.

Andi 13:09

incense. What the

Tanner 13:12

would you eat that? From your

Andi 13:15

That's, like one of the weirdest things I've ever heard, because, you know, like, I feel like one of the general rules of the animal kingdom as I understood it was that, like, animals protect their young. And then this ant's like, nah, we eat them. But we eat them

Sups 13:28

Yes, and it's non lethal. I'm not

Andi 13:30

yeah, well, it couldn't be, or these ants would have been, you know, they would have gone the way of the dodo a long time ago. What?

Sups 13:37

They live under a rotting wood or under rocks. They have a very distinct appearance. The color ranges from silver to dark brown, and they have a a metal like shine

Andi 13:47

What?

Sups 13:48

and they are nocturnal. and they can strike 5, 000 times faster than the blink of an eye.

Andi 13:53

of an eye. Oh my This is terrifying. See,

Tanner 13:57

Can we on discover this

Andi 13:58

thing Yeah. Ha ha. ha. Yes. Put it back

Tanner 14:01

it back under that rock.

Andi 14:03

That is definitely like, yeah, a rock you'd want to turn back over. Like, nope! Again, I am glad that the game is not does this exist, but this

Tanner 14:13

this exists. And

Andi 14:15

This is. Horrifying, cause this would be unbelievable, like, Massoops is like, watching Vampire Diaries late at night, and he's like, Ooh, yeah, what if I made an ant like

Tanner 14:24

Yeah, they're nocturnal, they suck the blood of their young.

Andi 14:27

So this one I would say this is the least suspicious for this game.

Tanner 14:31

Yeah, cause that name.

Andi 14:33

that name is dead on. Right? Like, of course that's a Dracula ant. Unless somebody else found some other blood sucking ant and named it Dracula and then they found this and they're like, Oh, but this is more

Tanner 14:44

They already took our

Andi 14:45

Then it would be the Nosferatu ant. So it's like, okay, I think, I think we're pretty confident here that, like, the name matches the description. sounds like the Dracula

Tanner 14:55

It really lines up. Yeah.

Andi 14:56

Why does it eat its own young?

Sups 14:59

Nobody knows.

Andi 15:00

don't know. If it can strike, its prey super fast, why does it also need to, like, milk its own children? Like, I, I'm very confused

Tanner 15:10

feed its own children? I'm very confused. Well,

Sups 15:15

but it's like their nutrition, it's their food. Yeah.

Andi 15:17

That's so bizarre. Ew. But. Since the game is to figure out if it's the aunt he says is the aunt he's describing, this one I think it is. I think It's gotta be, right? Like, especially because the other ones were suspicious as hell. So this one is like, okay. feel okay about this one.

Tanner 15:34

this.

Andi 15:35

But thanks, oops, never gonna sleep

Tanner 15:37

slip again. Wow, we're going

Andi 15:40

I thought fire ants were the worst that we could get, but then we got cannibal ant

Sups 15:44

No, there's a lot more than just red and

Andi 15:47

kidding. Wow, those were just absolutely wild facts about ants. But before we guess which ant doesn't match the description, could you please repeat them for us?

Sups 15:59

we Odorous emit a distinct blue cheese smell when crushed. 2. If you cut the bulldog ant into two, the head and tail fight till one of them dies. 3. Acorn ant queens change their size when moving to a new location. 4. Dracula ants jaws reach a velocity of over 200 miles per hour, making them one of the fastest movers.

Andi 16:37

Wow.

Tanner 16:39

Things first odorous blue cheese, that sounds good to me

Andi 16:42

It sounds better than the others. Yeah.

Tanner 16:45

number two Bulldog fights its butt

Andi 16:49

also. Okay. Okay. With that? Sure, sure.

Tanner 16:53

Number three,

Andi 16:54

Acorn

Tanner 16:54

acorn queen changes

Andi 16:57

See, the acorn thing doesn't give me any information, so that's unhelpful. But what would an acorn ant be? Like, it gets buried by squirrels and then you dig it up later.

Tanner 17:09

It stores food over the winter. It lives inside

Andi 17:13

acorns. Well, why wouldn't it be a squirrel ant then? Yeah,

Tanner 17:15

It lives in oak trees, like, hmm, And then the Dracula.

Andi 17:20

Now I'm thinking about it differently that like it's the thing about the Dracula being fast.

Tanner 17:24

then it would be the Pistol Ant or the Lightning Ant

Andi 17:28

exactly. That's what exactly what I was thinking that like, no, that's a different kind of ant. That's the, yeah, I was gonna say lightning the

Tanner 17:37

about, yeah, the Bolt Ant.

Andi 17:39

We're just making up ants over here now.

Sups 17:41

new ant names. Yeah.

Andi 17:42

Yeah. So actually that one, maybe I'm going to recant on my whole, like, this is the most obvious one could you imagine if you're such a, like a ant, that not only are you a cannibal of your own babies, But also you're super fast. why do they need to eat prey love and eat their babies? Suze just got one.

Tanner 18:05

pray, love.

Andi 18:06

know. Prey love Yeah. You know what I mean though? But like, maybe that's pheromone trail that Supes is leaving for us to follow. There's some breadcrumbs here, picnic that way. He's barfing it into my mouth and telling me picnic that way.

Tanner 18:20

think

Andi 18:22

So I think maybe I will go with the Dracula

Tanner 18:24

very, Um, I think they will

Andi 18:28

got nothing on that

Tanner 18:29

definitely. You've nothing wrong

Andi 18:32

There's a different kind of ant that grows and shrinks. Yeah, like ant man. Yeah, the ant man.

Tanner 18:37

The Ant Man.

Sups 18:39

Okay, so odorous and bulldog. A hundred percent.

Andi 18:43

Okay, alright.

Sups 18:45

They

Tanner 18:45

feel

Sups 18:46

The Dracula ant. the reason why I did not make, the Dracula ants like non lethal cannibalism as like the main fact, because I thought like that's kind of given because that's why they're named

Andi 18:59

fast. It's too obvious that's where the name comes from. So they just also are

Sups 19:03

also, yes, they're also super fast. With the acorn. The description that I gave of to 20 million ants in one colony, super aggressive, that is the army

Tanner 19:15

Army ants.

Andi 19:16

ants. The army ants. Yeah, I guess we didn't really touch on how, like, 15 million is a super large colony. So

Sups 19:25

acorn ants is actually one of the most peaceful species of ants. They can only be up to 200, which fits into one acorn.

Andi 19:34

Oh,

Sups 19:35

And when they're done, and then they move to another

Andi 19:37

Oh, they do live in them. I do.

Tanner 19:39

They really live in

Sups 19:41

Yes.

Andi 19:41

And they sound very cute. Acorn Ant does sound like that's not an ant that's gonna bite you. I guess I missed how aggressive the, the ant you were describing was.

Sups 19:50

that's what it's known for. yeah,

Andi 19:52

So the army ants, the queen gets bigger and smaller. Exactly. That part wasn't in the ANCO marching you know, there's no, like the ANCO marching two by two, the Queen is bigger now, smaller than you

Sups 20:05

bigger,

Andi 20:06

Wow.

Sups 20:07

than me. The hidden didn't

Andi 20:12

Wow. I have learned so much about ants. That's why I love this show, man. Like, what? Why? Why? do I need to know any of this? That was super cool. And yeah, I guess army ants, I do know of that ant. So like, I feel like maybe I should have known.

Tanner 20:27

I Should Have Known.

Andi 20:28

Thanks for listening to this episode of I should have known. We would be eternally grateful you, uh, march on down and leave us a five star review, wherever you listen to podcasts, that would really help us out. And we'll be finishing up our animal kingdom theme next week. We have a frequently requested episode, Tanner will be your quiz master and he'll be telling us. Four facts about house cats. So, get ready for that. And as always

Tanner 21:02

I don't have a stinger