this post was submitted on 26 May 2026
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Science Memes

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[–] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 6 points 2 days ago

Lol so many people in this thread have been brainwashed.

Do you y'all seriously believe in Ants??!??

[–] panda_abyss@lemmy.ca 35 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] KenOh@feddit.online 5 points 2 days ago

We live in a society

for ants

[–] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 36 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (7 children)

Fun fact: most known ant species' workers are 0.01% genetically different than each other (ie. queen[s]:mate[s] ratio), and therefore are closer to clones than individual consciousnesses, strictly speaking. ☝🏼🤓

[–] Redjard@reddthat.com 58 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (11 children)

closer to clones than individual consciousnesses

You know that genetic clones are still individuals with independent brains, right?
Like twins don't have to take on the same profession or have the same personality. They're about as mentally different as any other random person.

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[–] morto@piefed.social 22 points 2 days ago (4 children)

You're mixing being a clone with being the same individual and sharing a mind, which are completely different things.

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[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 days ago (7 children)

This is wrong. They get the same DNA father side because male ants are haploid (meaning they have one chromosome of each instead of a pair like diploids) but they get different genes from their mother so they are more closely related than human siblings but no where near your made up number. They are still 25% different

[–] OldChicoAle@lemmy.world 15 points 2 days ago (5 children)

None of y'all used citations so everyone is wrong!

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[–] solidheron@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] wyldrstallyns@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Some are boba-sized, even!

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[–] its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 27 points 3 days ago (2 children)

The thing that makes him a clown is thinking the queen is in charge.

[–] chortle_tortle@mander.xyz 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

But like who is in charge?

[–] JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

There's not really such a thing as 'in charge' for ants. The colony is a single multi-body organism.

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)
  1. her.

  2. They're more or less clones, the queen is "in charge" because she's a linchpin to the colony keeping going genetically.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Where is the idea that worker ants are clones coming from? They share about 75% of their genes. That's a lot but far from more or less clones

[–] hansolo@lemmy.today 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Another comment mentioned it, but the DNA is 99.9-100% in common. Ants have haplodiploidy, so the females and males aren't just male/female versions of the same DNA.

Also, if a queen dies, her own worker larva are raised into new queens. So the meme is just silly overall.

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 days ago

Another comment mentioned it, but the DNA is 99.9-100% in common

And I answered that comment as well. Haplodiploidy leads to the 75% figure rather than 50% most siblings have.

Also, if a queen dies, her own worker larva are raised into new queens.

They get special food (gele royal). Ants have their role from birth, there is no changing caste. I'm not sure if this has anything to do with the queen dying. Pretty sure it's more about the season of the year.

The meme says "the queen will notice me" which has nothing to do with who becomes the next queen.

[–] TacoButtPlug@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

Kropotkin in a nutshell

[–] 5ha99y@lemmus.org 6 points 2 days ago

It is in their nature to work like this. They are specialised drones serving that exact purpose. The queen is btw no different. It is the DNA housing drone that produces all kind of drones. Their brains are pheromonally connected. Most possibly they share one brain (and consciousness) and are equipped for some brain parts "getting lost". It is anthropomorphizing to assume that they act like a human kingdom, where the queen (or king) is the upmost of all things to achieve in one or the other way. Ants are also all female. Only drones for mating are male.

[–] janus2@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago

I love how the first clown makeup iteration was built in by nature of this being a false color EM

[–] jaykrown@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Holy shit why did I do this I'm laughing so hard right now

[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

solo leveling arguably did ant-taur? better

[–] W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I ant serious, and don’t call me Shirley.

[–] mojofrododojo@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Like the dogstar? Man I wish my parents had named me something cool....

[–] YiddishMcSquidish@lemmy.today 7 points 2 days ago

But the proteins compel me.

[–] BlackLaZoR@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

You could also make meme about queen working hard in hope for retirement :)

[–] viertesauge@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago

what happened to 40(?) percent of workers sitting idle to act as backups?

[–] baltakatei@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago
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