Australian ant honey inhibits tough pathogens, new research shows
July 30, 2023 12:50 AM Subscribe
Australian ant honey inhibits tough pathogens, new research shows. The honey has powerful anti-microbial effects, particularly against certain heat-tolerant yeasts and moulds which resist most current antifungal drugs.
"For our people, honey ants are more than just a food source. Digging for them is a very enjoyable way of life. It’s a way of bringing the family together, to connect with each other and nature".
Adjacent: hereabouts today, the last Sunday of July, is Fraochán Sunday when extended families and neighbours would head for the hills to pick bilberries = Fraochán = Vaccinium myrtillus and make a holiday of it. You'd have to course far and wide to get a handful which allowed courting couples to disappear in a distant hollow. Sweet! indeed. A few years ago I found a beat-up tea-pot in the heather which had probably been forgotten in the clean up one distant July.
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:23 AM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Adjacent: hereabouts today, the last Sunday of July, is Fraochán Sunday when extended families and neighbours would head for the hills to pick bilberries = Fraochán = Vaccinium myrtillus and make a holiday of it. You'd have to course far and wide to get a handful which allowed courting couples to disappear in a distant hollow. Sweet! indeed. A few years ago I found a beat-up tea-pot in the heather which had probably been forgotten in the clean up one distant July.
posted by BobTheScientist at 6:23 AM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
Food fad incoming in 3... 2... 1...
Do you have to kill an ant nest to harvest the honey? Expect the ants to be hunted to extinction.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:05 AM on July 30, 2023
Do you have to kill an ant nest to harvest the honey? Expect the ants to be hunted to extinction.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:05 AM on July 30, 2023
Ok now that I've looked at TFA i see the potential for a food fad is lower than i first imagined.
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by Aardvark Cheeselog at 7:07 AM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]
I’ve seen a zillion David Attenborough-style nature docs and have never heard it these ants or this form of food storage, very interesting! Thanks for posting.
posted by skewed at 11:02 AM on July 30, 2023
posted by skewed at 11:02 AM on July 30, 2023
...[C]ertain worker ants known as “repletes” serve as living food stores. The repletes are fed by other members of the colony, who forage for nectar and honeydew in the environment. The repletes accumulate a golden honey-like substance in their flexible abdomens. The repletes become so engorged with honey they are rendered almost immobile. They hang together from the ceiling of the nest, forming a sort of ant pantry. In times of need, other worker ants visit the repletes and stroke their antennae. The repletes cough up some honey in response...
This planet is wild, y'all.
posted by BrashTech at 3:53 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
This planet is wild, y'all.
posted by BrashTech at 3:53 PM on July 30, 2023 [3 favorites]
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posted by GenjiandProust at 6:17 AM on July 30, 2023 [6 favorites]