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Ants! Close-up Pics. Strange, Grotesque, Almost Riveting

ngm.nationalgeographic.com — Photog, Mark Moffett, shot pics for Nat Geo. He's big-time explorer-photographer with uncommon (uncommonly odd?) focus on "bugs". Gallery also includes some pretty interesting descriptions of ant behavior, facts, etc -- for those who want to know.

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  • reflex768, on 04/04/2008, -3/+7Outstanding gallery OT. Particularly the sequence dealing with the roles of the ant harvester and harvester-cleaners.
    Here as always, you can see the parallels that exist between human and ant "civilization" when you look at them (agriculture, warfare, architecture, etc etc). It strongly suggests (I think) that there are certain logical processes for social-civilizational development, that may apply elsewhere in the universe. Given that here we have two comprehensively dissimilar social organisms, which seem to follow similar rules, arrived at from completely different natural histories.
  • ultraJesus, on 04/04/2008, -1/+3That other bug in the first shot doesn't look like the cleverest of the bunch.
  • crowbarred, on 04/04/2008, -3/+1So you! ... with your can of raid and a lighter .... feeling lucky tonight? do ya?
  • SuperVepr308, on 04/04/2008, -5/+21I have to say it...I, for one, welcome our new ant overlords...
    • Ibox, on 04/04/2008, -1/+1I was gunna say that!!!...
    • Ohimesama, on 04/05/2008, -0/+2Meh, we have ants in the back office of my Starbuc- er.. store, (tiny little buggers...) and that's exactly what I wrote on our message board to let our manager know they're there.
  • plytheman, on 04/04/2008, -1/+11I've always found bugs to be pretty cool, especially ants. The fact that life exists on such a small level and to the extent that it does boggles my mind. These bugs are so tiny yet inside them they have tiny little organs, little bug brains tel ling them to build nests, find food, fight competition, work as a team, etc. They have eyes and look around at whats going on in their world. I mean, some of these ants have doors to their homes! Teeth that clamp shut 2300 times faster than the blink of an eye? You can't tell me that that isn't impressive for something that could fit on a penny.

  • Nelka, on 04/04/2008, -1/+2Very interesting, although the timing isn't so great for me. Ants invaded our pantry the other day, and we didn't know it until I poured out a bag of chips and almost one of the little bastards.
  • CleverNapkins, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2This is amazing. The picture of the ant using a pebble as a door...wow. I knew they were intelligent and sophisticated...but that really got me.
  • Haz63, on 04/04/2008, -1/+21YOU'LL NEVER GET PAST MY IMPREGNABLE PEBBLE DOOR!!!!
  • peecha1985, on 04/04/2008, -1/+3What about spiders?
    http://www.flickzzz.com/2007/09/eepy-spiders.html
  • moocowrat, on 04/04/2008, -2/+2anyone else feel the need to scratch themselves when they saw this?
    • n8r0n, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2Nope. The doctor gave me some ointment for that.
    • Clumber, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Itchy! Itchy! Bugs all over! BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
      (VERY VERY cool photos. Definitely worth browsing.)
  • drgirlfriend, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2Eww the larva had tiny little hairs. For some reason that freaks me out.
  • hatheaddotcom, on 04/04/2008, -2/+2I for one am glad these bad boys weren't made the size of elephants. I'd have to hit the gym twice as hard just to fight these things off. Did i mention that I work out? Oh yeah.......I do pushups.
  • BigKeg, on 04/04/2008, -1/+2And to think I ate those when I was a kid!
    • Exbzurq, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1They taste great fried and with some sauce.
  • rocktopotomus, on 04/04/2008, -1/+2what is so grotesque? i think they are cute, even when they march across my kitchen counter
  • Bluemotion, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1ewwww its the tiny hairs that freak me out
  • maelstromwar, on 04/04/2008, -3/+1That was... almost riveting.

    Buried.
  • Amcha, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Even cooler than the Mezzanine cover.
  • amirman, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1too bad they had to use a stupid javascript app so i couldn't save any as future wallpapers. thankfully the digg community pulled through and offered some killer ones in the thread.
  • smrekar, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1buried for NAt Geo low-res pics. I hate clicking on a Nat Geo link.
  • buddamus, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Ants are cool, its amazing how they work together
  • leerayIG88, on 04/04/2008, -0/+2Digg + Ants?! What perfect combination!
  • travelina, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1I liked the photo of the ant larva lapping up a snail in its shell like it was eating an ice-cream cone.
  • VinnieDaMac, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Neat, very fascinating stuff.
  • INDOAZZ, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1It's an ANT eat ANT world out there.
  • ForTh3W1n, on 04/04/2008, -0/+1Ooh that crickets gonna get his ass kicked!
  • ihaveanus, on 04/05/2008, -0/+2“Ladies and gentlemen, uh, we’ve just lost the picture, but what we’ve seen speaks for itself. The Corvair spacecraft has apparently been taken over ... ‘conquered’ if you will ... by a master race of giant space ants. It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I'd like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.” Kent Brockman
  • travelina, on 04/08/2008, -0/+1Mmmmmm....underground sugar caves...!
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