So here is an update on #tuliptheant the Eastern black carpenter ant median worker with pink dots on her gaster. Tulip has lost most of her paint. If it all flakes off I may lose track of her. She has been very active in the lower chamber bark project, and still hangs out on her branch.

She is over two years old and has seen her colony grow by 100s of ants. #namedAnts #ants

@futurebird Ants can live for years? This is fascinating! I had mistakenly assumed they were a much shorter lived creature.

@ambientspace

Queen ants can live for decades. The workers tend to live for about two years... though part of why I mark them is to try to see how long they really live.

@futurebird

If all of the paint is about to flake off can't you dab her with the same paint again? You could try to get an extra-small amount on her, though I guess it could be an inherently risky process

@richpuchalsky

To paint her I'd need to catch her and then put her in the fridge so she'd slow down enough that I could paint her.

I already put her through this once in her life and this time she'd know what's up so it'd be harder.

I think I will just try to keep and eye out for her as the paint flakes more and hopefully get a new "max age" for this species.

@futurebird I was thinking about something and I have a question about ants. When they walk, how do they move their legs? And what I mean by that is do they move all the legs on one side and then they move the legs on the other side or do they move them 2 x 2 x 2? I was just curious and does the way they move their legs to walk differ between species

@Pawpower

Ants have a unique walk when compared with most other insects.* They basically always keep 3 legs on the ground at all times. This lets many species ascend vertical and upside-down with seeming impunity (though there is a bit more to that that has to do with their feet)

Think of two tripods. On each side either the middle leg is down, or just the front and back leg are down.

*EDIT: I've realized this isn't correct, it's more typical than I thought

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLczo4N3CPI

This Is How Ants Walk - The Fascinating Videos

YouTube
@futurebird Thanks so much for describing it. I'm blind so won't be able to watch the video, but I think I understand how this works.
@Pawpower @futurebird
Ask a sighted person to watch it then play the ant with their fingers on your palm!
@futurebird @Pawpower in that case, how do most insects walk? I assumed they all used their 6 legs like this, but now I'm thinking about caterpillars and beetles and they're not as good at walking as ants.
@futurebird How can you be sure she's not secretly scraping off all the paint in the night and reapplying what she can to one of her sisters just to mess with you? Hee hee!