Now over the past few weeks, we've welcomed
two new ant colonies to the channel. Here in the Antiverse when a new ant colony
arrives, we welcome them with open arms to join our collection of ant kingdoms. But what about if old ant colonies whom we've
had to say goodbye to in the past, returned from the dead? AC Family, you won't believe this, but earlier
this week, one of our past and declared deceased ant colonies, one I as well as many of you
loved to death, has come back to life from the land of the dead. And so AC Family, you guys will not believe
who's come back to us, to rejoin our Antiverse of ant kingdoms. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the
BELL icon. Welcome to the AC Family. Enjoy! Alright, AC Family. This is the moment many of you have been dreaming
about. I cannot count how many messages I get in
every video and community tab post, requesting to somehow bring this ant colony back to the
channel, and today, I miraculously managed to make that dream a reality. I'll explain how I managed to obtain this
colony in a bit, but if you're new to the channel, and don't know what's going on, stay
tuned because you're about to meet what I feel is one of the coolest ants on the planet! In the history of this ant room, we have followed
the rise and fall of several ant kingdoms. Let's recap real quick on all the colonies
we have lost or had to say goodbye to in the past. First, we sadly lost the Jawbreakers last
year, a young colony of trap-jaw ants, who fell victim to a savage raid of wild black
crazy ants, who broke into their founding container and devoured everyone: workers,
babies, and queen. Also last year, we were horrified to find
out our promising and impressively polymorphic Titans, our Asian marauder ants, also perished
for reasons we weren't exactly sure of, but reasons that may have included a wild pharaoh
ant invasion and/or the predation of an ant-eating snake which lived unknowingly in their terrarium. The Titans endured quite the barrage of tribulations. We also said goodbye to the Tomb Raiders,
a captivated pharaoh ant colony, whom we collected using a series of baited traps, but who later
contracted mites, so we opted to release them back into the wild from whence they came. Finally, a few weeks ago, we discovered that
our Black Dragons, our beloved Polyrhachis semiinermis ants seemed to have escaped their
moated paludarium, called El Dragon Island. We assumed they left through one of my two
open windows to return to the wild. And those are the four ant kingdoms who's
stay with us proved much too short, and left us much too soon. But today, one of these four ant kingdoms
returns to the Antiverse for an epic second chance at success under our care. One of the four ant kingdoms has returned
to us from the dead, and they patiently await now in this container. But we'll find out who in just a bit. 'Cause now it was time to do what we do best. It was time to create the new world, an ant
world, in which the new ant colony would live, and man, wait until you see what I had planned
for this ant kingdom! I went straight to work. I added my driftwood, soils, sphagnum mosses,
and powerfully shaped the earth with great care, driven by ant love and ambition. With this new ant home, I had some grand plans
that I had never before attempted, and you'll see in just a moment what I mean. And in a couple hours, the new ant world,
was complete. AC Family, I am pleased to introduce to you,
the Plateaus of Gaia. Ahhh so excited to show you around. Let's have a look at this new eclectic territory! The Plateaus of Gaia were inspired by actual
rainforest habitat I've seen, where ants of the type that will be moving in here exist. I've shaped the territories in a sort of arm-chair
format: high at the back and center, lower on both sides, and lowest in the front. It makes for optimal viewing and attractive
presentation from all angles. Now about the design, one of the coolest features
of the Plateaus of Gaia is its topography. The lands are actually composed of multi-level
shelves, hence the name "Plateaus". There are actually three main levels to this
terrarium. There's the top plateau or a third floor,
a middle plateau, a second floor, and a neat ramp which leads to the bottom floor. I have great plans for this bottom floor,
but more about that in a bit. From a bird's eye view, you can better see
our lower floor, top floor, and middle floor. Now the reason I've designed this space in
this way is I wanted to ensure the ants moving in would have a lot of digging opportunity,
while still enabling optimal viewing. Creating multiple levels like this is actually
an efficient use of space, because it increases possible travel area, enables good and deep
subterranean nest building, and makes it easier for us to view the ants once moved in. This design also helps retain moisture well. AC Family, check out this back wall. Its main constituent is sphagnum moss, which
is highly absorbent, and can keep the lands properly humidified as it gradually releases
evaporated water into the air from moisture absorbed from the soils it barricades behind
it. Some gorgeous heart-shaped philodendron also
help maintain humidity within the territories through transpiration, and also will be beneficial
at eating up the ants' waste material in the soils. They grow from various spots around the plateaus,
and I just love the overall aesthetic that these versatile and hanging plants contribute
to the habitat. Finally, let's talk about the incredible wood
latticework. A single connected wooden root piece forms
the skeleton of the Plateaus of Gaia marvelously, creating neat random wooden structures throughout
the territories that I know the ants will love and make use of. One wooden branch even achieves some impressive
height, extending slightly above the glass borders. OK, AC Family, now that I've shown you around
the newly created lands, are you ready to hear the coolest, most epic thing about this
entire world! Alright, as mentioned the name Plateaus of
Gaia comes from the territories' multi-leveled design, but it's name also comes from "Gaia",
the primordial goddess of the Earth in Greek Mythology, the ancestral mother of all life. And, as it relates to this terrarium, it also
comes from the "Gaia Hypothesis", a theory formulated in the 1970s which basically proposes
that living organisms on Earth, interact with their inorganic surroundings to form a self-regulating,
complex system that helps keep life flourishing, and even suggests that the Earth is a living
superorganism! Now what does that have to do with this ant
world? Well, AC Family, get this: when the ants have
finally all moved in, and all preparations set, I plan for this entire habitat to be,
to a degree, self-sustaining. That's right! I wanted this Ant World to be one of the lowest
maintenance biounits in the entire Ant Room. Now, I say "self-sustaining to a degree" because
the only things I plan to provide this entire system is water, light, and some organics
to fuel the system, but that's it! It would be like treating the entire terrarium
like a single organism! Yes, I know the idea right now sounds abstract
and confusing, but I promise to explain everything about how I plan to execute this self-sustaining
Ant World soon, and just a clue, it has something to do with this bottom floor area, but first,
AC Family, let's get to some major matters, shall we?! I feel you've all waited long enough. It's now time to meet the ants that we are
welcoming back to the land of the living. AC Family, here within this container are
some old friends, and I am certain you will be happy to find out who's returned to the
channel. And so, here is the plan. I'm going to cut the container across the
middle now, just to make it easier for me to move the colony out. Within the container is also some soil, so
I just plan to carefully dump the container's contents out onto the top plateau. As I was cutting, the ants were restless. They were eager for freedom and to explore
their new home. Alright, So, AC Family, let's do this! Here we go... 1 - 2 - 3! I carefully turned the container on its side
and carefully scooped out the soils along with the colony. I wore gloves because these ants have a painful
bite and sting! I also had to scoop the colony out very carefully
so not to injure the queen, wherever she was, nor any brood. And just like that, the ants were in! AC Family, returning from the dead, I am overjoyed
to announce the return of the Jawbreakers. Ah, I was getting emotional watching the Jawbreakers
exploring the Plateaus of Gaia. Last year they were not given a chance to
survival and proliferation, but I was so happy to see them get that chance now, and watch
them hopefully become the great colony they were meant to be. So this trap-jaw ant colony of about 100 workers
came to me from a friend who offered me an opportunity to bring the Jawbreakers back
to the channel. Of course, the actual Jawbreakers couldn't
literally come back from the dead, but at least they did figuratively but I know many
of you AC Family would be happy with this! I know I was! The workers were now eagerly exploring their
new territories. Workers were checking out the wood, some were
exploring the lower ground floor, but most of the ants were checking out the soils of
the top plateau, and AC Family, as I'd hoped, it wasn't long before the ants began to start
digging! Alright! The Jawbreakers quickly organized themselves
and began to excavate tunnels. Now one of the coolest things about these
Trap-jaw ants is they are some of the few ants that actually can't climb glass! This is an awesome thing because I don't need
to add a barrier on the inside to keep the ants in. They can however climb wood as seen here,
and for those of you who are aware of trap-jaw ant powers, one of their many superant capabilities
includes being able to jump using the crazy trigger power of their jaws. This ant here is about to launch herself in
3 - 2 - 1 and gone! Luckily the ant didn't launch herself out
of the terrarium and landed somewhere below. If I start to see Jawbreakers wandering the
floor of my Ant Room, I will look into building a screen dome of some kind to keep any jumpers
in, but for now, it seemed the ants could not escape even if they had self-launching
tendencies. I allowed our new old ants do their thing
in peace and settle in to their new home. Over the next few hours the ants continued
their digging operations. It was amazing watching them actively bring
chunks of dirt out of holes as they excavated deeply. These ants were strong and fast in their work! I even spotted this ant here, digging a tunnel
at a prime and hidden location in the middle plateau. Alright, so while these ants are busy excavating
their new nest tunnels, let me further share my exciting plans for this terrarium. So guys as mentioned, I want the Plateaus
of Gaia to be sort of self-sustaining, but AC Family, more specifically, for the first
time on this channel, I want this ant setup to be self-feeding. Alright guys, so get this... Remember our episode two weeks ago when we
watched the Black Panthers, our Asian Bullet Ants actively hunting Springtails, which we
call the Spring Cleaners, as supplementary side food? We watched as the Black Panthers were incredible
at hunting the Spring Cleaners down, and I did manage to catch a couple ants actually
catching a springtail or two, but the Spring Cleaners proved to be quick at evading the
Black Panthers, especially due their unique ability to spring out of sight when threatened
using a special springing appendage folded under their bodies. But as I watched the Black Panthers hunting
the springtails, I realized not only how awesome it was to witness these natural hunting behaviours,
but also how beneficial and enriching it was for the ants to be hunting in this way, like
they would in the wild. Now, I personally don't like to feed my ants
live prey, but what if I could somehow make it so that my ants' food could live and breed
within the territories of the ants, and allow the ants themselves to catch their prey live! And although it did seem our Black Panthers
had troubles catching these ever nimble springtails, I had a hunch, that if there were ants that
had the ability to catch these Springtails, it would definitely be trap-jaw ants! As you may have seen from a previous video
from when we first met these ants, the mechanics of trap-jaw ants' jaws is truly something
to marvel at! Have a look! Those mandibles are capable of opening over
180 degrees and are locked in place by an internal mechanism, but between these very
scary jaws, are fine sensory trigger hairs that when touched cause the jaws to shut at
mind-blowing speeds. In fact, it is said that trap-jaw ants have
the fastest moving predatory appendages within the animal kingdom, with one study on Odontomachus
ants recording peak jaw shut speeds of 126-230 km/h, with the jaws closing within just 130
microseconds, and the peak force exerted was about 300 times the body weight of the ant! Those are insane stats, guys. That's about 18.6 tonnes of force, which is
like crush dropping 12 SUVs onto something, if the trap-jaw ant were the size of a human! Amazing evolutionary tools, Mother Nature
has given these ants, wouldn't you say? Springtail catching tools! Now, usually Springtails kinda pop out of
nowhere, no pun intended, and populate my terrariums over an extended period of time,
with pioneering members coming naturally in the soils of the terrariums. But, in this case, we want the Jawbreakers
to have an abundant food source ASAP so we can't can't exactly wait the several weeks
required for a big population of Springtails to develop. We needed to populate the Plateaus of Gaia
with a big pioneer colony of Spring Cleaners now. So, first, I went to Roachella, my cockroach
colony and natural habitat created specifically for my feeder roaches, and borrowed a piece
of Roachella's watermelon. The food I place into my cockroach farm always
draws a crowd of tiny springtails! I then placed this watermelon peeling into
the territories. Have a look at all those awesome springtails! There is just so many! In case you're new to the Spring Cleaners,
I find them to be like cleaner rodents, feeding on anything decaying, as well as molds and
fungi! I bet they even relish ant poop! These creatures are actually very much essential
to the soils of all my terrariums, and of course to the ant colonies. After about an hour, I removed the watermelon
peeling, and as you can see, it has successfully transplanted loads of Springtails into terrarium. These pioneering Spring Cleaners will be the
ancestors to the future self-perpetuating Spring Cleaner population and more importantly,
the primary intended food source to the Jawbreakers. I repeated this cycle of watermelon peel Spring
Cleaner transport a few times, over the course of a few hours. I saw these watermelon peels like giant boats
carrying loads of these migrating colonies of Spring Cleaners to their new promise lands! Now most of the Spring Cleaners so far are
the smaller whitish yellow kind. I have found that there are other Spring Cleaners,
however, which are much larger and a bit more meaty! To import this fatter species of Springtails,
we'll need to travel to another lush kingdom - The Shire! You can see that these larger, darker-coloured
Springtails dominate these lands, feeding on uneaten food leftover by the Black Panthers. I grabbed a old decaying watermelon piece
loaded with Spring Cleaners and placed it into the Plateaus of Gaia. It would go on to introduce these larger Springtails
to these virgin territories. But, AC Family, look here. Mites have also come with the transplants,
which is bad news for this Jawbreaker here who is actually on his way to dying, perhaps
of old age or illness, but the mites are ruthless and hungry. In no time, like scavengers preying on an
aged, crippled animal, the mites latch on to the dying ant and begin to feed on it,
punching holes into its exoskeleton and sucking the ants' insides! It was such a hard sight to witness, but it
was a reminder that the Plateaus of Gaia, as the Hypothesis suggests is a complex organism,
whose parts are all interdependent, which sometimes means this habitat is unforgiving
so long as life within these lands can persist. These mites will actually also benefit the
system, because they will help break down decaying organic matter, including dead or
in this case, dying ants! But this was part of the plan right, AC Family? Predation in its truest, most raw form will
be a big part of this self-sustaining habitat. So, let's see if our plans for this self-feeding
system will work! After hours of tunnel excavations, as I anticipated,
the ants had grown hungry. It was hunting time! AC Family, I watched as the Jawbreakers began
to launch their very first hunting party within the territories of their new home! This is where it gets super exciting, guys! It was now night time, and the ants were clearly
stalking the springtails which they had plenty of time to learn were crawling all around
the hunting grounds, particularly in the lower ground floor. This lower ground floor was to become the
colony's official feeding pit! One ant decides to check random holes, and
take a look at it detecting a mite with its antennae in the darkness of the hole, trying
to decide whether or not to eat it, but sadly, the ant hesitated a moment too long, and the
mite was gone. Take a look at this ant with a broken jaw. One of its jaws seemed unable to open, but
the ant was still out hunting! The Jawbreakers are thorough and inspected
all places. It was just amazing to see the trap-jaw ants
hunting like this, as they would naturally in the wild! What a unique opportunity! But after watching for some time, I noticed
that many times the ants would completely miss the Springtails. Watch this! Oh, an ant brushes it's legs right by a Springtail,
but the springtail immediately stood still, and the ant completely failed to detect it! I knew the ants could definitely smell the
Springtails all around, but the springtails were just so good at evading the Jawbreakers
before they could get close. But the ants were hungry, and would not nor
could not give up! I knew it was only a matter of time before
we captured some footage of an ant catching one of the Spring Cleaners. I needed to see it with my own eyes, so I
could rest assured that our plans for the Plateaus of Gaia here being a self-feeding
system worked! From the looks of things, part of the challenge
was that it seemed the ants' vision wasn't the best, as springtails appeared to literally
slip between their legs. I felt the ants needed to physically touch
a Springtail with their antennae in order to properly detect it was there. Even then, once touched, the springtails could
immediately spring away. Watching the Jawbreakers hunt for Springtails
was nerve-racking as the ants came so close! Look at the God's eye perspective we have. Ah the springtails are just so close! Additionally, the second challenge was timing. Strike too soon and they hop away due to distance,
hesitate too long and they spring away due to speed. The ants needed to strike at just the right
time, or hope a springtail walks right into their jaw trigger hairs! It was almost worth it to do this ant's tactic,
and just walk around with jaws wide open and hope a springtail ends up between them! Haha! Now watch this ant that cleverly uses the
ambush tactic. Look at this! She feels with her antennae for springtails
coming close. So many springtails were scuttle around. She even periodically found it worth it, to
simply lunge out, even if she thought nothing was there! Man, it's just incredible to think these ants
are intelligent like this. And then AC Family, eventually late in the
night just as I hit the record button on my camera, I got it! A Jawbreaker had caught a springtail and bam
delivered a lethal and quick sting to immobilize it! Wow! Isn't that awesome? She made her way back to the colony. Bringing home this kill is essential because
now the Jawbreakers will know that the Springcleaners live in the area and that they could offer
the colony sustenance. AC Family, it seems our plans of making the
Plateaus of Gaia, a self-feeding system for the ants would work! By morning the ants were all settled in. I saw that the Jawbreakers were continuing
to hunt around the watermelon slices. I guess to feed a colony of a hundred workers
and young, hunting for Springtails was a 24 hour job! With the ants' evident hunting prowess, I
have no doubt in my mind that the ants will get better and better at hunting the springtails
over time. The Springtails need to eat so they will always
be around and out in the open. As intended the only thing I need to do is
add rotting or decaying materials in these territories to fuel this world of creatures. For now the watermelon slices seemed to be
sufficient. The springtails will eat from these slices,
and the ants will hunt them. And look, some Jawbreakers are smart and have
decided to create underground stations beneath the watermelon slices. Clever girls! Over all, watching the various scenes within
this new world known as the Plateau of Gaia, was so satisfying. The best thing about it all, was that we had
the Jawbreakers back, and this time it seemed they had a better chance at survival. I also placed some deadly diatomaceous, non-toxic
chalk around the entire terrarium just to keep any savage ants wanting to repeat history
far, far away from this promising ant kingdom. The Jawbreakers were truly an amazing colony,
and admittedly one of my favourites to ever grace the channel. It was also interesting to see how the ants
further interacted within this new world in ways I didn't plan. Again dying or diseased ants fell food to
the ravenous mite colonies, which were quick to put them out of their misery and devour
them. Fellow sisters didn't even need to worry about
burying their dying sistren. But AC Family, take a look at this! On rainy nights, masses of these tiny flies
end up in my ant room flying in through the open windows, attracted to the lights of the
ant setups, and low and behold, after flying for hours and hours, they end up dying from
exhaustion, and to my surprise, the Jawbreakers would pluck these random delicious gifts,
fallen from the heavens, and take them to the colony to eat. An additional food source. The Plateaus of Gaia were self-feeding in
more ways than one! AC Family, we did well today as Creators of
Worlds. We brought an ant colony back from the dead,
and simultaneously successfully created a living system which would sustain more life,
as if the world we created were a living sueprorganism itself. Let's hope the Jawbreakers and the Plateaus
of Gaia continue to flourish. What a miracle! Welcome back, ladies. The AC Family is happy to have you back. Now, sometimes things go perfectly as planned,
or even better than we anticipated, but as you know, in the Antiverse, sometimes things
go wrong. Completely wrong, and disaster strikes, disrupting
all carefully made plans. AC Family, brace yourselves. I have some news. It's about the Fire Nation. I regret to announce that disaster has hit
the Selva de Fuego, and we've got some serious problems to fix immediately! Oh man! AC Family, today's creation of the Plateaus
of Gaia was a success, but something else completely terrible has happened in the Selva
de Fuego, specifically involving our water system and recent experiment. I'll explain everything in depth next week
as I try to make reparations to the Fire Nation's kingdom, so be sure to hit that SUBSCRIBE
button and BELL ICON now so you don't miss this update on our biggest ant colony on this
channel! And hit the LIKE button every single time,
including now. Also if you're new to the channel, I've created
a complete story line playlist here if you would just like to watch how all ants in the
ant room came to be. If you want to catch up on all your AntsCanada
lore, it's all there in that playlist! You'll be surprised how epic the lives of
ants actually are in the microworld! There is actually nothing micro about it! AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would just like to watch extended play scenes of the Jawbreakers hunting
the Springtails. It's nerve wracking and full of action. So do check it out! And now it's time for the AC Question of the
Week! Last week we asked: What made the fourth queen ant
unique from the other queens? Congratulations to Niketas Delgato who correctly
answered: The fourth queen had a mite on
its head and a dented abdomen. Congratulations Niketas you just won a free
ebook handbook from our shop! In this week's AC Question of the Week, we
ask: Who is Gaia in Greek Mythology? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free ebook handbook from our shop! Hope you can SUBSCRIBE to the channel as we
upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, & SUBSCRIBE
if you enjoyed this video, to help us keep making more! It's ant love forever!
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