human anteaters
from fossilesque@mander.xyz to science_memes@mander.xyz on 29 Nov 20:24
https://mander.xyz/post/21306562

#science_memes

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rockerface@lemm.ee on 29 Nov 20:28 next collapse

Gon Freecss moment

Okokimup@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 20:36 next collapse

Only if he eats it.

saltesc@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 21:47 collapse

Yeah. It sounds more like he could be Ant-Man and is able to pick up on the trails. If he can communicate with them by twreking his butt into the ground, I’m convinced.

Maalus@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 22:32 collapse

Antmeeter. He can always arrange an in-person meeting with an ant. Even if the ant’s schedule is full.

chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 20:44 next collapse

I have the same thing. Maybe not quite that powerful, but as a kid I used to root out ant hills to shove sticks in and be a general terror. I thought it was normal until I started dating a girl and we went on a picnic and pointed them out saying we shouldn’t eat there. If I smash one it smells like someone opened a can of gas in the room.

NegativeLookBehind@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 20:55 next collapse

You’re a genetic masterpiece.

sir_pronoun@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 22:06 collapse

Yes, I hope she realized that she should have a family with that guy. Those genes need preserving

Tyfud@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 22:20 next collapse

And when did Charles Xavier reach out to you?

tetris11@lemmy.ml on 29 Nov 23:06 next collapse

Forget Westchester - my boy Shino here has a whole clan, come to Konoha

chemical_cutthroat@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 23:13 collapse

When I was 14, but I asked if he had a sister cause I’m into girls with shaved heads, and he just waved his hand and gave me ADHD and then walked away.

MeowZedong@lemmygrad.ml on 30 Nov 05:13 collapse

From what I last heard, X and his sister aren’t exactly on speaking terms.

Kcap@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 12:58 collapse

youtu.be/ZHJG48NSWzg had to do it

Bishma@discuss.tchncs.de on 29 Nov 20:44 next collapse

I equate it to the smell of juniper berries.

FidelChadstro@hexbear.net on 29 Nov 21:53 collapse

I could see “gasoline”. Maybe peppery.

Xanthrax@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 20:59 next collapse

I think it smells like mint gum and wood chips. I’ve only ever smelled it when I was landscaping and accidentally killed a bunch of ants.

Hux@lemmy.ml on 29 Nov 21:28 next collapse

He’s like an X-Men hero designed to find Ant-Man when he gets stuck between couch cushions or something.

TheMightyCanuck@sh.itjust.works on 29 Nov 21:30 next collapse

Fuck I have the stupid shitty cilantro gene and there’s some dudes with ant hunting genes?

Not fair :(

Irelephant@lemm.ee on 29 Nov 23:22 next collapse

I put soap and cilantro into stuff i make so no one feels superior

GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 00:05 collapse

“Now it sucks for me and you! Just kidding, I like the taste of soap.”

CM400@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 01:11 collapse

I love cilantro, but if I put enough on a taco or something I can taste a little bit of soapiness. It isn’t bad enough to put me off of it, but I get it.

GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 01:32 collapse

It’s funny. Cilantro tastes weird and I don’t like it, but I wouldn’t say it tastes soapy. That said, whenever I have it, I always notice this weird taste, but never actually recognize it. Then I check the ingredients and there it is.

CM400@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 02:48 collapse

Cilantro in salsa is so good. Something about how the flavor of the tomato acts with it… I need to make some salsa now.

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 03:33 collapse

I can smell ants. I’ve eaten one before. They taste like iron. Like blood mixed with pepper. Idk why I told you that just now.

WhatYouNeed@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 09:33 next collapse

They taste awful. Like licking a battery.

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 17:49 collapse

That’s a great explanation! Yes, that’s what they taste like.

50MYT@aussie.zone on 30 Nov 09:52 next collapse

Different ants taste different!

I’ve had ants that taste like fizzy lime…

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 17:51 collapse

The one I ate was one of those big black ones. Not the huge ones that wander around by themselves, but the normal colony black ants that are large enough to easily pick up.

8000gnat@reddthat.com on 30 Nov 17:24 next collapse

you’re welcome to untell me

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 17:53 collapse

There’s no putting the ink back on the bottle.

Chee_Koala@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 16:52 collapse
Croquette@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 17:52 next collapse

Not something I ever wondered, but it’s a pretty neat anecdote.

Catfish@lemmygrad.ml on 29 Nov 21:53 next collapse

I think it smells more like vinegar.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml on 29 Nov 21:54 next collapse

I have it. My mom used to crush ants she saw in the kitchen before she realized that the stink I was complaining about was the stench of compressed ant corpses. Don’t get me started on these stinky fucks:

<img alt="" src="https://lemmy.ml/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcontent.ces.ncsu.edu%2Fmedia%2Fimages%2Fmillipede.jpg">

Entertainmeonly@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Nov 23:18 collapse

I’m so intrigued! What do centipedes smell like?

geomela@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 23:28 next collapse

I think that’s a millipede. Centipedes = 1 pair of legs per body segment, millipedes = multiple pairs per body segment.

In the picture it looks like more than one pair of legs per body segment.

I think that’s how it is, anyway.

JoMiran@lemmy.ml on 30 Nov 01:54 collapse

Milipedes.

The closest I can equate it to is hair chemicals.like the stuff they use for perms or coloring…but worse.

EDIT: Ants also have a strong chemical smell. Pungent like Krazy Glue but not at all the same.

TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 03:41 collapse

I can smell millipedes up close but not far away. I also can’t smell ants

GluWu@lemm.ee on 29 Nov 22:06 next collapse

I wouldn’t say I can smell if there’s a single ant in the other room, but I can absolutely smell if there are ants. And I hate if I have to sweep them out do anything because they really pop off in distress. Its crazy how such a tiny thing can smell so bad.

southsamurai@sh.itjust.works on 29 Nov 22:09 next collapse

I’d say the smell is closer to turpentine or maybe kerosene

SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org on 29 Nov 22:33 next collapse

If her bf is an anteater, good for her, I'd say. 😏
On a more serious note, I think I have the opposite, cause I've never felt the apparently dreadful smell that stinkbugs emit when threatened or squished.

sukhmel@programming.dev on 29 Nov 23:03 next collapse

You evolved to be their ultimate menace.

yamanii@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 01:28 collapse

Oh I have that with mosquitoes, my parents even wake up when they sting, but I feel nothing, I always have some big ones filled with blood in the morning because they feast on me all night long.

SharkAttak@kbin.melroy.org on 30 Nov 13:43 collapse

You sure those aren't ticks?

sartalon@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 22:37 next collapse

There was a brief moment, while I was going through SERE training, in the Navy; it was before we were “captured” but long enough that I hadn’t eaten in a while. We were in the low mountains of SoCal, dry and hot. Whenever we would stop movement for a moment and take a seat, I could smell when an ant was on me.

I didn’t recognize what the smell was at first until I saw an ant, after smelling it. I hooked him on my finger and brought him close to my nose and it was clear, he was the source.

I couldn’t describe it very well though, not a common smell to me. Never experienced it since.

Maybe it was the combination of no food or bathing, and heightened stress. My SiL also went through SERE, says she has no idea what I was talking about, and just makes fun of me about it. But she’s also the type of person who would lie about it, just to fuck with me.

So who knows.

Maggoty@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 03:29 next collapse

It’s a genetic quirk, entirely possible they don’t have it and you do. There’s definitely a thing with real hunger and increased senses too though. I experienced the same thing in Iraq when we out ran our supply lines and went on severe rationing.

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 03:31 next collapse

You went through SERE training? Damn soldier, you’re harder than woodpecker lips! What was your MOS that required that training? I know someone who went through it and he said they locked him in a box that was too small to move in, and then played a recording of someone counting to 10 very slowly over and over again for hours. Did they do that to you?

sartalon@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 04:44 collapse

I was a helicopter aircrewman. They sent all aircrew through.

I definitely wouldn’t consider myself “harder than a woodpecker by any stretch”, and yes, I got the box and there were several songs they would loop that were designed to prevent you from relaxing. The “Boots” song is one I probably won’t forget

The box actually didn’t bother me. But there were a lot of things that really messed with head. They were also still water boarding back then.

We still had SEALs going through the same school (they have their own now), and we had one that kept escaping. You couldn’t really escape though, because this was all training, so you if you did escape, you were supposed to stop and announce it, and let the guards come get you. And then you get punished. So it was stupid to escape. Except this fucking guy didn’t give a shit. He just kept escaping. The stripped him, hosed him down, slapped the shit out of him, he didn’t care. In the debrief, they said they almost failed him because they thought he wasn’t taking it seriously. I thought they weren’t taking it seriously if it was that easy to escape

That wasn’t something I ever want go through again.

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 04:51 collapse

Ha! That guy was a genuine badass, and they didn’t know how to deal with it.

I was a helicopter crewman too, but they never sent me through anything like that. I was Army though.

Is water boarding as bad as they say it is in the news?

sartalon@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 05:25 collapse

Yeah it fucking sucked. I don’t necessarily disagree with how or why they did it though.

It taught you that no matter how tough you are, everyone breaks. Nobody made it through that scenario without saying whatever they told you to say. You are to resist as much as you can but it is not worth your life.

So as a tool to demonstrate that everyone has a breaking point, it was very effective. But as a method for actual intelligence gathering, torture has and always will be notoriously unreliable, and in my opinion, not worth the ethical sacrifice.

I thought the Army had their own version of SERE.

You’ll like this story. I was a helicopter crewman off the Kitty Hawk when 911 happened.

They kicked off most of the airwing. The kept a few of us helos, some hornets, and some S-3’s (for refueling).

Then we took on a bunch of Rangers and Delta, and turned us into an Army Carrier. Then straight to hanging out just barely in international waters outside of Iran/Pakistan.

It was 75% Chinooks and Blackhawks. No rotor brakes or folding rotor heads. No real carrier landing quals, and half the hand signal were different. But we made it work.

We had to give up our Ready Room and some other “primo” spaces to “Task Force Sword”, but post 9/11, there was zero inter service rivalry. It was all, “what does the mission require.” and “What do you need from us?”

Our Aircrew shop was next to the Ready Room and it only took a day for a couple of the operators to realize we had Unreal Tournament. So our shop became a common rest stop between missions.

Man that was a crazy deployment.

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 06:19 collapse

That sounds like a wild adventure!

I’m fully aware everyone can be broken. It has caused me a few hypothetical crises of conscience thinking about if there’s even any point to trying to resist.

The Army has their own SERE school, but my unit didn’t send me there. I spent my whole time in the Army at peace, so I was never deployed. I got a Desert Storm ribbon because we were technically still there, but not really. That was just a freebie for me.

I actually received activation for wartime duty orders because of 9/11, but I had ETS’ed the prior month. Their activation system wasn’t up-to-date with their ETS system, so they just called it a computer glitch and I didn’t deploy or anything. I was already honorably discharged anyways. I honestly thought about re-enlisting after that, because you know we were all pretty ready for some payback (whatever that meant back then), but I had a new baby, so I decided against it. My hearing was shit by then anyways, so I probably wouldn’t have made it past the MEPS.

Anyways, I had a good time in the Army, and enjoyed working on helicopters.

Fizz@lemmy.nz on 30 Nov 16:44 collapse

Gonna starve myself to see if I have the ant smelling superpower

sartalon@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 02:36 collapse

Let me know how it goes. I honestly would love to know.

Fizz@lemmy.nz on 03 Dec 05:28 next collapse

So far it’s going terrible. I can’t find a single ant to get a control test done. I swear these little fellas were everywhere until they heard my plans to begin developing this superpower now they’re nowhere to be seen.

Fizz@lemmy.nz on 13 Dec 04:04 collapse

OK I have done the experiment. It was a massive failure.

So on a normal day I cannot smell ants. I can smell ants if I’m close and I squash them so I now know what they smell like.

I fasted for almost 3 days and I tried to smell ants each day and I could never smell them.

I did learn that they bite and I got bit a lot.

crawancon@lemm.ee on 29 Nov 22:49 next collapse

yeah a small % of folks can smell them.

Last time I was reading through comments from those who could, the common response was “sorta like raisins”

Gnugit@aussie.zone on 30 Nov 02:18 next collapse

A little like cilantro

crawancon@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 04:51 next collapse

I’m one of the ones that dislike the smell of cilantro as it is repugnant. (to me)

phx@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 05:34 collapse

Old cilantro that’s starting to go bad maybe. That has a very “earthy” smell similar to an over-watered plant

xorollo@leminal.space on 30 Nov 03:55 collapse

Spicy raisins

MycelialMass@lemmy.world on 29 Nov 22:49 next collapse

Lee Mack can smell dead flies

m.youtube.com/watch?v=tEBL5HR9Cuo&pp=ygUgbGVlIG1h…

watersnipje@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 29 Nov 23:03 next collapse

I can smell dead flies. They stink.

tetris11@lemmy.ml on 29 Nov 23:11 next collapse

Damn, I really believed him

Reyali@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 05:03 collapse

This is exactly what I thought about increasing this! I asked my bf what bug it was because I couldn’t remember for sure. If only I’d kept scrolling before asking, lol.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 29 Nov 23:15 next collapse

They smell SO BAD. I was super sensitive to it as a kid, and the smell would be impossible to get off, so I developed a habit of never crushing them.

GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 00:04 next collapse

As a tool-using species, killing them with something you won’t care about the smell being on seems pretty trivial.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 00:56 collapse

It releases the smell. It stays around in the room.

GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 01:07 next collapse

Well, now I can’t help but wonder if burning them is better or worse.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 01:22 next collapse

Probably better, I’ve never tried it. I just imagine a bunch of tiny fireballs running around.

osaerisxero@kbin.melroy.org on 30 Nov 02:54 collapse

In my experience it's way better, and that having a candle burning will usually clear up the scent of a crush in relatively short order.

Naz@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 02:06 collapse

I can’t smell ants but I can smell roaches. Any house or restaurant I walk into that has that signature roach scent, I do a 180° and leave.

As to describe the scent of roaches: Pungent, wet/moldy towel smell, worse when they’re dead.

howrar@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 02:18 next collapse

We need people like you as health inspectors.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 02:54 next collapse

You know, I feel like I know that smell as well. Not anywhere NEAR as pungent as the ant smell, but I’ve been in some… Unfortunate situations with enough roaches that I can conjure up that smell.

Scubus@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 06:27 collapse

Wait I thought wveryone can smell roaches

Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 01:51 collapse

Why tf would anyone crush ants? Is this a thing?

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 02:51 collapse

Like, killing them? One or two running across a table, and you just pop em?

phlegmy@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 08:22 next collapse

You murderer!
I hope the smell never washes off your hand, you sick son of a bitch.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 12:16 collapse

Look, if they wanna stay alive, they can take a shower.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 09:52 next collapse

Huh, oh yeah, like any invertebrate, bcs they are within human space which isn’t allowed.

Idk why my brainhole didn’t make the connection, I def know people that kill eg spiders if they see them.

I sometimes kill mosquitos that won’t leave via regular ventilation paths.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 12:16 next collapse

Spider Bros can stay. Ants too stinky.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 12:46 collapse
FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 14:40 collapse

We like you too.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee on 01 Dec 11:05 collapse

I leave the dead mosquitos outside as an offering for the local flying squids, much like ravens they are smart af, and a pleasant addition to the square concrete jungle we made for some reason.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 11:06 collapse

Thank you, but we prefer mackerel.

MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml on 30 Nov 12:09 collapse

No, it’s ugly? I just swish them away.

Ookami38@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 12:57 collapse

Like spray them with water? Sure, if they’re in the sink or on the counter. If you mean just swat them away, I wouldn’t trust that to kill them. And as soon as it doesn’t kill them, and they find their way back to the nest, there’s a chance they’ll lead others back, if they found so much as a scrap of food.

Evil_Shrubbery@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 01:50 next collapse

Omg, this is peak nerd.

If this is a thing it’s def a special subset of ant smellers that would go ant hunting (whatever quantity of ants).

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 03:28 next collapse

I can do this too.

MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 06:39 next collapse

Weirdo.

…I like that about you.

Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 10:43 collapse

You can, but do you hunt?

Anticorp@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 17:52 collapse

If I smell them in my house, you’re damned right I do!

BigBenis@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 03:34 next collapse

If I touch an ant I can certainly smell it on my finger but I wouldn’t be able to detect an ant in the room with me

TriflingToad@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 03:43 next collapse

I can’t do that, I think you have special ant powers

Brickhead92@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 04:34 next collapse

Like some kind of any man

Allero@lemmy.today on 30 Nov 05:15 collapse

I can register formic acid if I touch an ant or am fairly close. Probably wouldn’t smell an ant from a distance, though

bunchberry@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 06:58 collapse

I can’t say I’ve ever gotten ant on my finger then proceeded to smell my finger.

Dasus@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 14:44 collapse

When I was a kid it was a thing to stick a stick into a nest of ants so they’d piss on it so you could then suck/sniff the stick for a… sensation.

I never did as I didn’t want to bother the ants.

m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 30 Nov 20:30 collapse

Chimp coded

kemsat@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 05:37 next collapse

Some comments are calling it a genetic quirk, but I submit to you all that it is the ones that lack the ability that have a deficiency.

interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml on 30 Nov 10:04 next collapse

I have an anteater but I can’t smell the ants

And009@reddthat.com on 30 Nov 11:34 collapse

You gotta show em who’s the real boss. Hold tight and jerk hard until successful complaince is observed

Notyou@sopuli.xyz on 30 Nov 12:07 collapse

Am I also deficient if I lack the ability to taste soap when I eat cilantro?

ARk@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 13:01 next collapse

please eat all the cilantro so we never have to see it on a dish again

lambdabeta@lemmy.ca on 30 Nov 13:08 collapse

I’m one of the very rare people that have the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap, but likes it. I blame the soap flavoured gum I had as a kid here in Canada.

So maybe save a little soaplantro for those that want it ;)

Hadriscus@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 18:48 collapse

cilantro tastes like soap for you ? no way, is this real ?

roguetrick@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 03:26 collapse

It’s pretty common. I mourn for those that aren’t freakish enough to actually want to eat soap. I mourn for those like the parent too, but for different reasons.

TheRealKuni@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 16:40 collapse

Yes because it makes you worse at finding and disposing of those damn stink bugs, whose stink smells vaguely like how soapy cilantro tastes because of aldehydes.

FlyingSquid@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 12:24 next collapse

<img alt="" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/70411bb2077cc01d6018b1124e213c55/67ed5a59cba532f1-91/s540x810/c67f068bd6e21cc3d7db7cedb44fe7e27853f803.gifv">

captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works on 30 Nov 18:20 collapse

mom, my nuts?

passiveaggressivesonar@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 18:00 next collapse

Maybe it was a particularly stinky ant

scbasteve7@lemm.ee on 30 Nov 19:36 next collapse

I can smell ant death pheromones. It smells like cleaner and artificial sweetener. A very unique smell but very pungent.

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 20:43 next collapse

I can smell a single bedbug. That smell is terrifying

i_dont_want_to@lemmy.blahaj.zone on 01 Dec 03:15 next collapse

…what do they smell like?

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 16:07 collapse

It’s a sour bitter smell. I fled to the SW US so I never smell them again

FourThirteen@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 03:53 collapse

Yes, what do they smell like?

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world on 01 Dec 16:07 collapse

It’s a sour bitter smell. Hard to describe, but I know it when I smell it. I fled to the SW US to never smell them again

ar_fox@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 20:50 next collapse

An anteater in a human suit

andros_rex@lemmy.world on 30 Nov 21:17 collapse

The odorous black house ant is pretty common in the US. The smell is pretty pronounced if you crush them - grad student I was doing field work under randomly shouted “come smell my finger!” and yeah - it’s very much like blue cheese.