Flat parts of the earthen mound and the floor of the adjacent spaces were carpeted with bodies of dead ants. Locally the deposits were a few centimetres thick. (...) the number of dead Formica polyctena workers probably amounted to about two million. The cemeteries comprised also remnants of other insects, most probably those caught by foragers of the free-living upper colony that had fallen down. Of other ants, only a head of the Leptothorax sp. worker was found.
"Ah yes, that small speck of chitin among 2 million other corpses is obviously a head of the Leptothorax sp. worker."
donkey_brains 6 hours ago||
I also found this part hilarious. It’s not even a needle in a haystack, more like one specific needle in a…big pile of needles, I guess. Except the needles are microscopic, fragile and fragmentary.
ForHackernews 6 hours ago||
Presumably entomologists are good at accurately identifying small bits of ants.
ralfd 7 hours ago||
Needless sensationalism: I didnt find the term “cannibalistic” on the source page.
pessimizer 3 hours ago||
"Living beyond the limits of survival" is certainly dramatic enough, and there's no hyperbole in it.
dsr_ 4 hours ago|
I'm glad I don't think that ants have self-awareness, because this sounds like hell.