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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 22:47:38 GMT 1
Hi,
Inspired by a recent documentary about casting an ant colony I was interested in doing the same in the UK. Without knowing much about ants and their very special world I wondered if anyone could advise me about whether this is possible and which type of ant might provide the most elaborate colony cast. I will be casting in aluminium and am based in Scotland.
Any ideas most welcome
Thanks
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Post by Myrm on May 8, 2012 22:51:28 GMT 1
Hi iomega, and welcome to the forum. Thank you for supporting us by joining. What do you mean by "casting"?
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 22:54:13 GMT 1
By cast I mean, pouring aluminium into the colony and allow it to travel through the system. Allowing it to cool and then digging it out. All pretty invasive stuff but some of the examples i've seen from North America are pretty amazing For example, this type of thing, although this is in plaster thinkorthwim.com/2007/05/01/plaster-casts-of-ant-nests/
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Post by Myrm on May 8, 2012 22:57:13 GMT 1
By cast I mean, pouring aluminium into the colony and allow it to travel through the system. Allowing it to cool and then digging it out. All pretty invasive stuff but some of the examples i've seen from North America are pretty amazing I would sure hope that you choose to do this on nests that are empty and not destroy an entire colony for this purpose!
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 23:01:10 GMT 1
It most certainly wouldn't be my intention to deliberately destroy a working colony.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 23:19:47 GMT 1
I don't think that would work with a molten metal. There are many narrow tunnels, and I expect that trapped gases will be working against you as well. You would need something less viscous and which gives you time to work with, like dilute plaster.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 23:50:53 GMT 1
Hi, I found an article called Methods for casting subterranean ant nests by Walter R. Tschinkel It was in Journal of Insect Science:Vol. 10 | Article 88 Its a 17 page document about his work casting in plaster, wax and aluminium. its excellent. i cant quite find a link at the moment though..
I supposed the differences I need to know are about how North European colony's might be differnt from their north American cousins in scale and complexity for example.
I know a few bits and bobs about casting and I certainly work with people who know a great deal about casting and air venting and flow ect.
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Post by Deleted on May 8, 2012 23:56:24 GMT 1
What species were they doing this for? I know that Pogonomyrmex and the leaf-cutter ants have had castes made of their nests, but these have much wider tunnels than, say, Lasius or Formica. A caste of their nest will probably look more like a sponge than tunnels and chambers.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 0:02:58 GMT 1
Oh my, this is a bit worrying. As a scientific person I like the concept here, but the chances of you finding an ant nest that is uninhabited are very slim. I also think that it would be quite cruel.
I must agree that using aluminum would not be the best material to use, and plaster or similar would work much better.
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Post by Deleted on May 9, 2012 0:25:28 GMT 1
Hi, there are certainly a number of issues to resolve but as an example of a so a called expert, well tv calls him an expert, here's an example.
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