ant versus termite dipping at Quiet Wood

• by MimiA scientist, moderator

  One of the big bosses (Christophe) watched these videos and is sure that this is termite dipping and not ant dipping, his reasons are as follows:

  1. with ants, the chimps are more cautious and tend not to be on the ground and often you see them getting bit while dipping- here Astrea is walking through the area more or less unconcerned, so whatever she is eating, isn't very aggressive (eg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7_7Fx6WZBc)

  2. if they were ants, they would either be in single file in which case you would see the chimps dipping from very specific locations along a line ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVkdw5s3joI) OR they could be moving in which case they are like a carpet and the chimps tend to stay away from them ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UozWJTuhbMQ)

  bonus: Christophe talking about ant fishing: http://www.exploratorium.edu/tv/index.php?project=22&program=00000764

  Posted March 14, 2016 4:55 PM

• by ksigler moderator in response to MimiA's comment.

  Super helpful explanation! Thank you, @MimiA & Christophe! I love those videos of his on exploratorium.

  Posted March 15, 2016 10:28 AM