There have been a few comments about the destructiveness of making these casts, which I want to address by providing more context. 1) The nest that we cast in metal in this video is a Camponotus socius nest. That species is polydomous (a single colony spans across multiple independent nests, averaging >2), which means that this cast did not destroy the colony. The colony still lives on, likely just missing some of its worker population. 2) The other big cast in this, the one Walter shows in the biology building, was made from a recently abandoned nest. No ants were in that. 3) At a broader scale, Walter has been studying ant nest architecture for ~25 years by making 100-200 casts mostly from the same field site in Northern Florida. The ecological impact and the impact on the ant communities in these places from this activity is near zero. 4) This is done for research purposes, permits and approval are needed for doing this type of work on these public lands. 5) If you would like to get even more context, I really recommend checking out his nest architecture book. If I didn’t answer your question here, the answer is probably in that book! Thanks for watching!

As a child, I once saw a documentary that showed some people doing this. It fascinated me, but I was never able to catch it on TV again. When internet came around, I finally got to see more footage of this. Now I can see a whole video with the man who invented the technique! This is awesome!

Let’s note how much time he dedicated to this man on his own channel uninterrupted instead of himself being the focus in this video. Great guy!

When I was an entomology student at Cornell in the late 70s, I spent one summer digging up and recording sweat bee nests. We used thin plaster which we dyed florescent green so we could follow the nest in the dim light of the hole we dug.

I'd love to see this done for termite mounds, those things get so damn tall who knows how deep they can also get?!

A transparent polymer would show the ants. Wonder if there is one.

This makes me wonder, has he yet casted anthills in, lets say, chernobyl for instance. Would their anthills look different to similar ants in non radiated areas? Etc. Very fascinating!

So glad to see a video from you again! I always found these fascinating, neat to learn about the person and techniques for making them, and their scientific value. Thank you for sharing!

“Ants heaven” filled by molten aluminum

It's neat to see, but sad to think of the colonies that are obliterated for it. I wonder how old that large colony/nest was that is in the biology center.

Must be apocalyptic for the ants inside.

Great content! I've been working on an algorithm for procedural generation of 3D ant nests, primarily based on Dr. Tschinkel's research. It's interesting to see his casting process on video, and I'll definitely be getting a copy of his new book.

You can see how happy he looks after that successful cast :). He loves what he does

I'm amazed at how deep aluminum will go down, I imagined that it would immediately begin to cool down and stop flowing after a certain depth

“It's a beauty, don'chyou think?” That's easily a video game villian phrase right there

This is quite an interesting method for myrmecology. The book is definitely on my to read list. But I am worried about the effects of this act of scientific study. Doesn't intensive and continous destruction of live colonies, if that is usually the case, affect the population of certain ant species negatively? Although one might say that it's effects to species are minor. But I am unaware of number of nests that get casted, so I might be overestimating.

Great seeing Walter in action! I would have enjoyed seeing more of his explanations/descriptions of his trophy casts.

Dr. Tschinkel has been a huge influence in my work and my passion for ants! The Fire Ants and his vast research career has been invaluable throughout my PhD and understanding experimental design. So so cool to hear from him on your channel, what a great video! Thanks for this

Who would have thought that the story of casting ant nests in metal would be so interesting? You did Mr. Ant Lab, you did! Thank you for showing me a part of life I know so little about.

Thank you a lot! It was amazing to know the story and the men behind it❤️

My mind was blown the first time I seen this being done to an ant nest. And still amazes me. Anys always fascinated me, love those little warriors. I'd love to own one but I also dont wanna support destruction of a ant colony. This video is great.

Thank you for what you do

Marvelous! Thank you very much for your videos. I don't spend enough time watching viral videos and visiting etsy shops that's why I've got this knowledge straight from the inventor. He is an interesting "guy with all those metal casts".

Awesome interview! Awesome casts! 😲

Great story! Sweet guy!

Wonderful video not only In a scientific aspekt but also because of the story and personal part of it... great work!

Congratulations on such a wonderful work of scientific communication. When research reaches out to the general public, science and scholarly knowledge become less of a monster. Also, congrats on keeping it complicated and not going for the easy KZfaq game of dumbing everything down

Great show!

Fascinating! Thank you.

This is super interesting! Thank you!

Who would have thought that the story of casting ant nests in metal would be so interesting. You did

This is absolutely incredible

These nests and their complexity are fascinating I'm glad somebody thought to do this

I’d love to see how any architecture shows genetic relationships. Building plans may show how some are more closely related and how others are more distant relatives due to their style architecture. It would be neat to be able to have a understanding of how ants think like how we do by examining hominid fossils and their tool use.

nice...very detailed

smelting and insects, nice work.

Very insightful! And very well shot!

Oh my GOD. Where did you come from?! You and your channel are truly GENIUS! You should WIN a NOVEL PRIZE . ASTONISHING INSECT WORK MY MAN. KEEP IT UP, FOR SURE. ANT LAB 🐜🐜🐜 AMAZING

super découverte merci :)

Such impressive results are fortified by his relentless research. Sometimes solitary exploration is required for intense focus that often produces the most startling results. I have an idea that I will share with you at some point. My years of experience showcasing the wonders of sculpture as functional objects for galleries has led me to you perhaps. Great work ethics on display. BRAVO !

More fantastic work. Every video from you is fun,educational, and inspiring. Thank you.

Helical tunnels are stunning!

This was very cool!

Really cool!

I thought I hit subscribe when I watched some of your videos forever ago and figured you stopped uploading. But this was recommended so I just hit subscribe

So cool!

Really cool thanks !

Super cool!!

Fascinating man!

Wow, I had no idea this was such a new method! I guess I knew aluminum was relatively new, but wow. So much still to learn!

Incredible!

Very interesting never would have thought of anything like this 😁 im gonna definitely trys this myself

Excellent Work. keep up the good work.

about the mystery formation , do you take under account the near by terrain, food/water source {possibly contaminated?} do you take radiation measures, temperature maybe..? how about excavating the queen {fermented fruit? } could be a good idea to, either interduce a queen to an existing nest or rather recrate a good old ant farm to check all of the above in a controlled environment . absolutely beautiful

I remember watching carpenter ants dig in a tree and I wondered how far in they were, from seeing the sawdust pile.

I wonder, if you study the ants in the nest before you cast the nest, would you find out more regarding why some are shaped so differently? I don't know a lot about ants, but that was a cool video!

Lovely

Adrian: Does Walter retain specimens from the sites in order to sequence the DNA of the colony? I wonder if colony-specific DNA mutations might result in certain characteristics of nests, such as the chaotic design seen in the video.

This is so amazing, I always seen the casting videos but it's nice to see where it came from. Is there a way I can get in contact with you I am writing a LITRPG novel And I could really use your advice

I wanna fill my house with molten metal and sell it on ebay

Cool.

Bac at home we used to have leaf ant infestations almost every 2 to 3 years in the yards, they could span underground nests over 4 to 6 houses (maybe more) which is an area of around 25 by 25 meters, who knows how deep. I would love to see a metal cast of one of those giant nests, taking into account that leaf ants are giant insects, I bet that one of those casts could weigh a Ton or maybe more. There is a video of some guys pouring concrete on one of those giant nests, it’s very interesting

I went to Florida state for four years and never knew the little treasures hidden around campus

If they dig down and then up, how does the molten metal find it's way up into hose cavities?

Anyone else here from Daily Dose of Internet? I'm mad at myself for not knowing about this absolute gem of a channel earlier.

I hope people aren’t doing this to live ant nests and are making sure the nests they’re pouring molten metal into aren’t inhabited.

I want to be like this man when I grow older

This man is a genius.

Are those abandoned nests or you guys just pour hellfire to simulate apocalypse for the ants?

i just wonder.. do u do it with empty nests.. because if not.. that would be quite harsh :c

This popped up on my subscriptions and I was a tad confused. And then I realized I subscribed to you thanks to the ZeFrank video. These ant metal casts are really interesting and I'd love to learn more about the taxonomy studies you could do with these. Also a not so serious question: There is a game called Empires of the Undergrowth, which is basically like Dungeon Keeper but with ants. Do you know it? What do you think of it? Imho, it has quite a few interesting facts and things about ants in there. But alas, currently no 3D hive building... But maybe you'd like it anyways.

Have these casts been digitized? It would be great to allow more researchers ( citizen scientists) to have access to these.

Cool

I don't understand why do I find this interesting, but I do

If you can find enough aluminum, my property has been invaded by the Texas leaf cutter ants. Texas AM estimates these beds can be over 20 ft deep and 400 ft across. There are stories of people trying to dig up these beds with a backhoe and had to give up because they could find the end of the nest. These ants are impossible to get rid of or control.

What about the ants living in the nests? Are they collaterar or were the nests abandoned?

0:47 He is so cool he doesn't need shoes to talk to you. YUPE... He is the coolest person ever. 🤓🦶

Cool looking..Poor ants

The host looks like an ant scientist if I've ever seen one

Thanks for sharing. one of my favourite subjects. You might be interested in this @tzbc

should you cool down the castings with urine?

A shopvac with a battery would be amazing for excavation.

I hope you guys make the ants leave first before pouring the aluminum

Does anyone think about those ants in the anthills, when they die by molten aluminum?! Everybody can see its beauty, not its sadness.

ok thats so sweet

Barefoot interview. Love it..LOL

Cool, but does anyone else feel bad about the thousands to tens of thousands of ants that get murdered to make these casts?

He needs to come to Australia 🇦🇺 ants 🐜 are everywhere down here

I love his soul that's all what I'm going to say.

No ants were harmed during the filming of this episode

no ants harm in the making of the process this video

official F thread for all immolated ants

would. e interesting to see ants making nests under effects of different chemicals and such, how long do the colonies keep order till they become a mess

*No ants were harmed in the making of this video.

So cool. I would love to do one myself

How people is so cool about this ? So brutal

Such a shame I can only 👍 once. Art, biology and education 😁

I'd love to do this the the carpenter ant nest near my house, if I knew where it was. Kind of hilarious that people are concerned about toasting a few thousand ants where the world numbers are very likely in the trillions.

this guy needs to do a video on the mexican jumping bean

I made it 50 seconds in before going to buy the book.