this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2023
1847 points (98.3% liked)

Memes

44239 readers
1360 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] SubArcticTundra@lemmy.ml 78 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Ants do that. I think they enslave aphids

[–] NakariLexfortaine@lemm.ee 36 points 11 months ago (4 children)

They do! Well, at least certain species do. They groom the aphids to harvest a sweet excretion.

It's a really neat relationship.

[–] pjhenry1216@kbin.social 29 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I mean, it's not just any excretion. It's a byproduct of sorts of the aphids digestive system.

From wikipedia on "Honeydew (secretion)":

When their mouthpart penetrates the phloem, the sugary, high-pressure liquid is forced out of the anus of the aphid.

[–] electric@lemmy.world 27 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

mouthpart penetrates the phloem

liquid is forced out of the anus

Sweet Jesus.

[–] pjhenry1216@kbin.social 18 points 11 months ago

Sweet Jesus.

Yes, apparently it does taste very sweet.

I'll see myself out.

[–] Holzkohlen@feddit.de 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I assume someone made porn of this.

[–] NakariLexfortaine@lemm.ee 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Well, there's at least video of ants getting the honeydew, so I guess if one's kinky enough, it's porn for ants.

[–] kamenlady@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Ant porn for humans with that extra kink™

[–] MarigoldPuppyFlavors@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Love me some sweet excretion. What a life, to be an ant.

[–] SuddenDownpour@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

Ants can be brutal. Some species of ants steal the eggs of different colonies to force them to work for their own colony. Sometimes, the kidnapped ants rebel and lay waste to the interior of the colony that kidnapped them if they think they can overpower them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave-making_ant