Friday, July 9, 2010

Animal Farm Friday - Suicide Bomber Ants

Camponotus saundersi
Its defensive behaviours include self-destruction by autothysis. Two oversized, poison-filled mandibular glands run the entire length of the ant's body. When combat takes a turn for the worse, the ant violently contracts its abdominal muscles to rupture its body and spray poison or glue in all directions.[2][3] The ant has an enormously enlarged mandibular (abdomen) gland, many times the size of a normal ant, which produces the glue. The glue bursts out and entangles and immobilizes all nearby victims. [4][5]

Seriously rad! But this earlier Wikipedia entry was pretty spot on!

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

The Israeli settlers steal Palestinian land and resources, and then wonder why Palestinians fire rockets at them?