james harvey

from : an ant

“will reform all alphabets wiping out unwanted letters” Velimir Khlebnikov

r B – r’ C > 0

Separate [adj] letters

B number of the offspring of others that an individual will want to help to raise

r relatedness to their own offspring

r’ relatedness to the others‟ offspring

C number of their own offspring they won‟t be able to produce raising others‟

Together is greater than 0 and their inheritance

With large letter B offspring help each other and their mother raise her young their siblings

With strong altruism large letter B their inheritance is up to all individuals of their population

Working together AN ANTS‟ NEST

together is greater than 0 and their inheritance

an ant returning to nest

from food source

lays down short-lived trail

of attracting and orientation

pheromones

reciprocation

usually exceeding

evocation

so structure remains in place

diffusing to centimetre wide chain of semiellipsoids

attracting pheromones induces ant

at nest attracting pheromones induces ants

stronger to ants than orientation pheromones

through scent receptors on their antennae

from Dufours gland near their anuses

attracting pheromones

follows

lays own trail on return

structure remains in place

temporarily

induces

with pheromones back down semiellipsoid trail

others

their antennae feeling up to edge to steer them

lay down own trail on existing trail

lays down own trail of ants one ant

lays down own trail of ants one trail

large letter B large number of offspring altruists help raise for others

r’ is relatedness to the other‟s offspring

an ant‟s pheromones secreted to trail

returning laden with food

the many ants reciprocation

exceeding the ant‟s evocation

trail remains in place

fixed structure

food at site not so tempting

or further away

reciprocation not exceeding ant‟s evocation

faced with intransigence at nest

gentler behaviour is required

ants in nest need more persuading

ant brushes them with her antennae

displays regurgitated food in her mandibles

leads them out with outgoing pheromone trail

they advertising site to others

or not

with their return

as or if food at site decreases

too many ants are recruited

signalling decreases

pheromones dissipate

signalling breaks down

break up trail

C is the number of their own offspring they won‟t produce raising others‟

C is number of their own offspring they won‟t produce while raising others‟

a foraging ant

returning to the nest from outside

lays down her find seeing misplaced larva

a nursemaid ant

stops feeding nest‟s larvae

leaves nest

recruited by forager

defined by

as

individual

not individual self-protectiveness

with trusting

movement outward away from individual care-fullness

a window opened in space and time

the physical attributes in Atta sexdens

medium sized ants emerge from their pupae

with large poison glands

containing recruiting substances

for recruiting others

for foraging

and leafcutting

smallest ants emerge from their pupae

with large exocrine glands

producing secretions for larval feeding

antibiotics for caring for young

and fungus gardening

large letter B their inheritance is up to all individuals of their population

large letter B inheritance is up to all individuals of their population

an ant receiving cues

and signals

cues information coming from many ants

to one ant

signals from one ant to many ants

an ant strikes her alarm signal

emptying entire contents

of both paired mandibular glands

on seeing an intruder

the active space

as pheromone dissipates

low concentration

reaching out to six centimetres

attracts other ants in

from its epicentre to three centimetres

high concentration

brings aggressive behaviour in ants towards intruder

beyond six centimetres

after thirty seconds

pheromone‟s power is lost

accuracy

then multiplied

if intruder attack more serious

another ant

empties entire contents of both paired mandibular glands

another

B is the number of offspring of others that individual will want to help to raise

r’ is relatedness to others‟ offspring

a female larva

cared for by colony members

to become queen

to become major worker (also called soldier)

to become minor worker

will begin the same

as egg

large larva entering her pupation

grows body parts disproportionate to each other

specialised to task of being queen or soldier

keeps it for life

small larva entering her pupation

grows body parts more in proportion

proportioned number of different roles

throughout life

queen‟s

exquisite adventurous sexual flight

then

giving birth to others

soldier‟s

seeing to death and destruction

negation and liberation

from control from outside

worker‟s

production small assurances of making

to set up life

set to counter death

r is relatedness to nest‟s offspring

r is relatedness to his own offspring

a male ant

among fifty

flying

hovering

in a swarm

its diameter up to six feet

each individual for himself

facing into wind

above farmyard clearing in juniper wood

roughly held circular hovering together

centre five or six feet above ground

r is relatedness to her own offspring

a female ant

among four others

flying

with intent

each individual for herself

enters

slowly circles

through swarm

in less than five minutes

she is mounted by male

male and female drop together to the ground

landed on the ground

the male ant inserts his penis

the female ant

walks slowly around carrying him

taking

about half a minute

after

one or two minutes

inseminated queen

doubling up

pushes male off her with her head

r is relatedness to their own offspring