Guys, a massive ant war is happening in my
yard, this almost 3,000 sq meter plot of land on which we are building the future ant house. In a previous video, I did an initial probe
to see what ants lived in the area by laying down baits, and we were unpleasantly surprised
to see that two of the baits attracted invasive ant species, species that had been introduced
to the ecosystem of the area from other countries through human activities: namely ghost ants,
pharaoh ants, and black crazy ants. Thankfully, the third bait attracted native
ants: big-headed ants and Asian marauder ants. But this imbalance told me that the invasive
ants were indeed present where our future Ant House was being built, and this wasn’t
such a good thing for the ecosystem, particularly for the native ants, who’ve long dominated
these lands for millions of years, but who were now at risk of getting killed, pushed
out, or outcompeted by the invasive ants encroaching onto native ant ancestral grounds. And so, AC Family, this week, I decided to
scour the entire property to get to the bottom of who was winning in this epic ant war, over
territory and resources in my yard: Team Native Ants or Team Invasive Ants? To answer this question, I sought out to map
the exact locations of all the native ant colonies, and invasive ant colonies we came
across, and guys, you won’t believe what we found! Welcome to the AntsCanada ant channel. Please SUBSCRIBE to my channel and hit the
BELL ICON. Welcome to the AC Family! Enjoy! Guys, welcome to the future Ant House, a home
currently under construction which will feature a large, 2-storey ant room designed to house
our current and future pet ant colonies on this channel. This new Ant Room will be almost 20 times
the floor area of our current Ant Room, which is just one of the rooms in my condo, we’ve
come to call the Antiverse. But outside our future Antiverse 2.0, is an
expansive and lush, tropical landscape, which I’ve come to discover is truly abundant
with life. Let’s give these outdoor lands a name now,
AC Family. If the Ant Room is the Antiverse, the outside
world will from now on be referred to as ‘Antopia’. Antopia is full of plants, trees, flowers,
wildlife, and of course, as you’re about to see lots and lots of ants! But upon surveying these great territories,
I’ve come to realize that it’s currently the battleground of several ant tribes, tribes
of which in my mind fall under two major teams: Team Native ants, and Team Invasive Ants. Now before I show you where each ant tribe
is encamped, let me quickly show you the difference between Invasive Ants and Native Ants, in
case you’re new to such terms. Native Ants are basically ants that are endemic
and have naturally lived in an area for millions of years. They have long been a part of the ecosystem,
and contribute to the natural flow of the food web, with many other life forms depending
on them, and they depending on other native life forms. Invasive ants however, are ants that have
migrated to an area, are usually relatively new and introduced to an ecosystem from a
far away country. They’re basically aliens, ecologically speaking
that can totally disrupt a local ecosystem, and wreak havoc on native ant populations. They travel to new areas by way of human activities,
like importation of products, produce, or plants via air or sea, and proliferate in
new lands. Some of these migrating ants end up dying
due to alien environments, but some, manage to survive and thrive! Many invasive ants reproduce faster than native
ants, are more aggressive, some have certain biological advantages like being able to form
supercolonies, and are just all around tougher. If invasive ants wipe out native ants, you
know it could mean trouble for a delicate ecosystem that took millions of years to establish. And so Antopia here, as I’ve discovered,
is currently the venue of such an epic ant war for survival and resources, and for the
good of all the creatures that are living parts of Antopia’s sacred ecosystem, I hoped
while surveying the lands, that Team Native Ants were winning the great Antopian War. It was time to see how many colonies of native
ants I could find versus how many colonies of invasive ones. This was going to get crazy! AC Family, behold the bird’s eye map of
Antopia. Now here’s how we’re going to do this. We are going to keep a tally of how many colonies
of Native Ants we find and how many colonies of Invasive Ants we find, and I’m going
to place markers at the site of their nests. I feel this would give us a better idea, as
to how many native ants vs invasive ants Antopia is housing. Just a note though, that just because two
species of ants are native, it doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t battle each other, and same
goes for invasive ants. With some exceptions, as a general rule an
ant colony will fight another ant colony regardless of species, and regardless of native or invasive
status. Most ant colonies will claim a space as their
territory and defend it to the death from anyone. But for our purposes, tallying the nests of
native ants vs invasive ants will give us a better idea how healthy and secure Antopia’s
ecosystem is. If we see lots of invasive ant colonies on
the map, for instance, and only a few native ant colonies, we know we’re in trouble! In a previous video we already spotted three
species of invasive ants here and here, and two species of native ants here. Though all of these, except for the pharaoh
ants, were just sightings and not the locations of their nests, I will still mark them down
on the map with the assumption that their nests were somewhere nearby. So, right off the bat, Team Invasive Ants
were already in the lead. But, AC Family, we still had a lot of ground
to cover before drawing any conclusions. It’s time to venture through Antopia, and
begin our ant exploration and colony survey! I found our very first ant colony here on
the Antopia map. As I was walking down this hill, a very busy
ant trail caught my eye. Have a look! The opening to the nest was quite a busy site. Judging from the commotion, it seemed the
ants were busy digging out a nest but also possibly transporting some of their nest luggage
to another satellite nest nearby perhaps. Not sure. So for all you ant experts, can you guess
what species this is? If you’ve been following the channel for
awhile, you may recognize them! Well, if you’re not sure, check out what
I saw at the opening. A supermajor! Guys, I’m happy to report that these ants
are Asian Marauder ants, Carebara diversa, and a very healthy and active colony belonging
to Team Native ants. Endemic to Southeast Asia, these ants are
polymorphic and have massive supermajors with huge heads, which act as the jaw force of
the colony, mostly defense, digging, and cutting things open. Some ants even ride these supermajors like
mounts, to save energy. We’ve actually kept this species before
in our Antiverse, if you recall the Titans. They’re incredible ants with massive queens
and supermajors, and a huge appetite, which is why I love them so much! Alright guys, so marking down the Asian Marauder
ant colony onto the map, which brings Team Native Ants to a tie with Team Invasive Ants:
3 Native Ant Sightings vs 3 Invasive Ant sightings. Let’s move on… Just a few steps lower on the hill, we found
the marauder ants’ enemies! Let’s see if you recognize these ants. Taking a stick and raking it through the soil
a bit, and AC Family, behold! The ever notorious Fire ants! This very invasive and stinging species is
no stranger to us on this channel. The late Fire Nation, my previous fire ant
colony, who lived in the Selva de Fuego, and the current Phoenix Empire, living in the
Ember Islands, are not ants to mess with. I’m sure this wild colony was just as fierce
and a danger to any Team Native ants of Antopia. What makes these ants even more dangerous
for the plants of the ecosystem, is that this particular colony was farming colonies of
aphids, protecting them and moving them around to healthy plants. This is also what makes fire ants a very serious
agricultural danger in other countries they have managed to invade including the US. They protect and propagate plant pests, which
is not good. Some ant scientists I know, recommend that
you simply pour boiling water repeatedly over a fire ant nest to kill the colony, if you
ever see them in the wild (unless of course you’re from South America where they are
native). I of course, won’t be doing that here, but
knowing fire ants were residents of Antopia was a good thing for us to know. Team Invasive Ants are now in the lead at
3 Native to 4 Invasive sightings. Moving on, at this huge Acacia tree, where
we had placed one of our baits before, I caught sight of some pretty insane action! AC Family, check this out! A group of weaver ants had seized a caterpillar
and were now working cooperatively to bring it up the tree to their nest. The caterpillar was still alive and struggling
for its life, but it had clearly been weakened by the weaver ants’ formic acid sprays and
tugging from all sides. Check out how big of an operation this was. This was no easy task! Looking up into the Acacia tree, I managed
to spot their nest. It was small, which meant this colony was
still young, but it was great to know they were present in Antopia, because they belong
to Team Native Ants. As you may know, we’ve also kept weaver
ants on this channel, called the Emerald Empire, which I released back into the wild during
lockdown in my city, earlier this year. I’ve actually seen their nest while running
around my neighbourhood! OK so being part of Team Native ants, I’m
adding them to the map, and our tally is now tied 4 - 4. Now guys, also on this tree, I spotted another
small colony of ants that seemed to be moving their brood to a new location within holes
in the tree trunk. Have a look at them, guys. I initially thought they were pharaoh ants,
but no. They seem different. Any ant experts out there want to take a stab
at ID? Now, because they don’t look like any of
the notorious invasive ant species, I know, I’m inclined to say these ants are native,
but I won’t add them to the tally right now and will just mark them on the map as
‘unknown tribe’. Now, as I moved over to a nearby pile of branches
and sticks, which had actually been felled from the big acacia tree, I spotted some pretty
awesome ants I have never yet seen in person. Crawling along the branches were these very
active and long black ants. Check them out! These cute and swift ants are called Tetraponera
ants, basically the southeast Asian counterpart of twig ants, aka Pseudomyrmex species from
the Americas. They are called twig ants because they live
within sticks and twigs. Check out the openings to their nests. I even caught the Tetraponera ants feeding
from honeydew from a mealybug. I’m happy to report that these Tetraponera
ants are from Team Native ants. Yay! This puts Team Native ants in the lead at
5 - 4. I spent the next few hours scouring the lands,
and found another busy fire ant colony, at another location on the hill, a quick sighting
of Odontoponera, a native ant species, a group of these weird looking flies that were actually
mimics of weaver ants, and even moved like weaver ants, but guys, the last colony I found,
before I decided to call it a day was here on the map. Would the Team Invasive Ant Sightings tie
with Native Ant sightings? If this was the case, this was not good odds
for Team Native Ants, as even a tie would eventually mean Team Invasives would come
out on top, as invasives simply are too great a force. Would I have to resort pouring boiling water
on invasive ant colonies for the sake of Antopia’s native ants and all life within it? AC Family, this was the ant colony I saw. Another colony of weaver ants, and in one
of the worker’s jaws, a killed fire ant which it was bringing up to the nest to eat. It seems the Asian weaver ants are savage. They were even tearing up this egg sac of
who knows what (a spider, a moth?) and pulling the eggs out, also to eat. Based on the number of ants I saw on this
tree, it was clear this was a mature colony and established. Seeing them gave me hope. The score was now 7 - 5, for Team Native Ants,
and assuming that unknown diminutive ant colony on the Acacia was a native ant species, our
score could possibly even be 8 - 5 for Team Native Ants. And so AC Family, I believe Antopia will be
ok. Though it’s the sight of a current push
between native and invasive forces, I did feel that our native ants of the area were
indeed fighting against invasive enemy lines. And you know what else, guys? After thinking about it further, I know deep
down that though in our heads it does seem like Team Native ants are the good guys of
this war and Team Invasive Ants are the bad guys, in reality, they’re all inherently
good, and it’s not the fault of Team Invasives that they’ve been imported to new lands
worldwide and have become so successful. If ever, we humans are the ones to blame. And you wanna hear something totally messed
up? So in last week’s episode, you saw that
someone gave me a huge Pheidole supercolony, collected when splitting open a bamboo stalk. The colony had a tonne of brood, millions
of workers, and hundreds of egg-laying queens. My initial plan was to possibly release them
into Antopia in hopes to help boost Team Native ant populations, and overpower Team Invasive
ants, but I asked you guys what you thought about that plan. Now get this! Turns out, the majority of you AC Family,
wanted to keep them forever instead, and you know what? It’s a good thing you guys did, because
I’m totally ashamed that I didn’t know this, but this Pheidole colony might actually
be a very invasive ant species called Pheidole megacephala, originally native to Africa! I knew the name but had never seen them before,
and had no idea they were found in my area. Pheidole megacephala are considered one of
the most problematic invasive ant species, and have caused devastating environmental
problems all over the world! Now, I’m still getting species ID verification
from my myrmecologist friend on this, but for now I’m definitely keeping the colony
and not releasing them. Good call, AC Family! Anyway, going back to Antopia I will continue
to search the territories for more ant colonies over time, as I’m sure I may have missed
a tonne of nests during my search, and keep tabs on the currently documented ant colonies. I think as long as Team Native ant sightings
outnumber the Team Invasive ant sightings, we should be ok. I’ll continue to update this map of Antopia,
as I find new and exciting ant colonies involved in this great Antopian ant war. Thank you for watching and supporting the
ants. It’s ant love forever! AC Family, hope you enjoyed this week’s
episode! So many more ant videos are ahead, so if you
haven't yet do SMASH that SUBSCRIBE button and BELL ICON now, and hit ALL so you get
notified at every upload. Also don’t forget to hit the LIKE button
every single time including now. It would really mean a lot to me, guys. Thank you! AC Inner Colony, I have left a hidden cookie
for you here, if you would like to watch extended play footage of the ants of Antopia. Go check them out! And guys, in case you haven’t heard yet
our AC Holidays Sale 2020, where you get 20% off our ac Ant Tower Small and ac Hybrid Nest
Mini is still in effect at our shop at antscanada.com, and on top of that, if you use the promo code
“antloveforever2020”, you get our Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook ebook, complete with
care guides on specific commonly kept ant species, totally free, which you can add to
your cart before checking out! Our easy-to-use ant farms which you see me
use in my videos, make an awesome holiday gift for anyone who loves ants! We ship worldwide and also offer full email
support if you need our help! Plus, if you didn’t catch a queen ant this
season and need ants, just visit the QUEEN ANTS FOR SALE tab on our site to look for
an ant colony seller in your area. Just a reminder that though it’s too late
to order for delivery before Christmas, this awesome promo still continues until January
1st 2021, so visit AntsCanada.com today, and get your discount to own your very first ac
Ant Farm and pet ant colony. And now it’s time for the AC Question of
the Week. Last week, we asked: What is polymorphism in ants? Congratulations to Clairelyn Abergas who answered: Polymorphism in ants is when the workers
of the colony come in different sizes. Congratulations Clairelyn, you just won a
free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our shop! In this week’s AC Question of the Week we
ask: Which ant colony living in Antopia was your
favourite and why? Leave your answer in the comments section
and you could also win a free Ultimate Ant Keeping Handbook from our shop! Hope you could subscribe to the channel as
we upload every Saturday at 8AM EST. Please remember to LIKE, COMMENT, SHARE, and
SUBSCRIBE if you enjoyed this video, to help us keep making more. It’s ant love forever!
