BB #072 - Os insetos vão a guerra!

[Music] Hi guys, and welcome to another Bugbytes. I'm talking directly from Trincheira do Bisou Studios. Here who speaks Philippe, the new member of the Bugbytes podcast team. So, I'm here today with Gus, how are you Gus? Hi guys, how are you? I'm Philippe. I mean, I'm very happy to be here, talking to you about these amazing animals and still have the opportunity to share science. Well, one of the things that fascinates me the most about entomology by being present in practically all places and directly affecting human life ended up being inserted into several cultural aspects of humanity. And so we, who are in entomology, end up being in contact with several types of knowledge in several areas through the study of insects. In today's episode, we will focus on one of these aspects in which insects and humans share behaviors and places in history. I would like to tell you a little bit about the wars of insects and about insects in the wars. The guerrillas' tactics used by insects and also how insects influenced human wars. So, let's go to today's episode, which has a lot of cool stuff. Let's go! What do you know about them? I'm Caio. And I'm Pedro. You are listening to the noise of the mosquito, the sound of the cigarette behind the ear. You are listening. Bug bites. Your podcast about insects. In the struggle for survival, insects can enter battles, be it through resources or reproductive partners. The ants, for example, are one of the most famous guerrillas, with castles of armed soldiers, with powerful mandibles and wagons loaded with pharmic acid. Really, Philip, the ants are really incredible insects. Believe that the sociability of these animals is one of the biggest factors and contributed to them dominating the planet and performing such cool behaviors. And the search for food resources often makes them have to use battle strategies and collective action from the ants to find their prey. And of course, in the process, many ants end up dying or severely injured. In a large colony, with thousands, sometimes millions of individuals, the death of several ants can be easily recovered. But in a smaller colony, each ant counts. And that's when the ants enter paramedics. Paramedic ants? How is that, Philip? Well, in a 2018 article, which we will leave the link in the description, German researchers found that there are paramedic ants. Specifically, the ant Megaponeira Analis, which lives in sub-Saharan Africa. These ants are specialized in cupid's food. The problem is that the cupids also defend their predators from the attack on predators. And the soldiers of the cupids have big and strong mandibles. And they stay at the entrance of the feeder preventing the passage of an intruder ant. But against these ants, usually the cupids end up dying worse. In this type of war, many soldiers are gravely injured and end up having their members amputated. But these paramedic ants, they take care of the injured ants, right? That's right. As the Megaponeira Analis colonies are small, the amputated ants in war are not left behind. Even though the ant, with one or more legs amputated, and the other leg amputated, they are encoded by their members and are carried to the companions. But Philip, the ants don't have weak vision. How do they know that one of the companions is injured? Look how interesting this is. The amputated ants release a pheromone from the mandible gland. As if it were a drop-down request, which is perceived by the companions, who then carry them back to the nest and take care of them through a process that we call "Gialogrooming", in anti-microbial distances present in the saliva on the pheromones. Wow, that's cool. But does this strategy work effectively? Yes, it does. If an ant is not taken care of by its sisters, the chances are 80% that it dies within 24 hours. But if it is taken care of, mortality drops by only 10%. In addition, the ants normally walk back, even after having some injured legs. But the coolest thing is whether the ant will be treated or not. It is not an ant that helps the companion be treated, but the ant itself in the battlefield. If they are very injured and have little chance of survival, they try to move more and do not adopt a position that allows the other ants to carry them back to the ant. And even if they are loaded, within an hour, the ant realizes that the ant has no chance of survival and takes them out of the nest. Wow, that's cool. But following with our episode, let's talk about another curious form of war between the seven. Did you know that ants exist in kamikaze? Kamikaze ants? How do they explode like Japanese soldiers of the Second World War? Yes, that's right. This behavior was what gave the nickname of kamikaze ants for the species "Exploded Camponots". Just like Japanese pilots, these ants sacrifice themselves in the presence of the gaster. Ah, gaster, for those who don't know, is what we call the ant's abdomen. That's right. This behavior of self-sacrifice is called autotasy. It is also found in cupins. The compression of the gaster makes the bodies of the body break and release a toxic pegasus substance in the enemies. The most interesting is that the pegasus substance is produced in the maxilla gland, which in this species is hypertrophied, and runs through the whole body until the end of the gaster. And do the ants exist here in Brazil? In fact, they are found in the Southeast Asia, in Borneo, for example. Even, they are very difficult to collect, because when you pick them up with the tweezers, they start to explode. Very cool, these ants and cupins kamikaze. In a way, we also remember the Jabelia operas that attack the ants with the honey and with its fur, but end up losing their lives. Literally, these insects give their lives for the colony. Well, now that we have two curiosities about the strategies that insects use in the battlefield, let's go to the next block, where we will tell you how the insects impacted the human battle. We are back, guys. Let's talk about the insects in the human war. As well as insects, humans also make war. But many times, for much less noble reasons. Now that we have already briefly talked about how insects fight against natural enemies, let's talk about the use of these animals and how they affect our wars. Well, yes. We humans are proud to have built a life in society, but when things end up not doing very well, we often observe the birth of conflicts and wars. And we have already passed on to many of them. But it is clear that the chaos and horror of the war took global proportions with the First and Second World War. But you should be wondering what insects have to do with the human war. Well, yes, believe me, they have already been used, even with biological weapons, in several occasions in the history of humanity. That's right, and at least 12 order of insects have already been used in conflicts. Humans use insects for this purpose for a long time. An example of this ancient practice can still be observed in the African continent, where they inhabit a group of people called sands, which are considered by genetic studies as the oldest populations of our species. Some of these people live in a life of collectors, just like our ancestors. Looking at the habits of these people is like looking at our older habits. So it is difficult to say when the sands spent using insects as weapons. But without a doubt, it was a long time ago. They collect larvae and beehives from the Crisomelid family. And they mate together with plants, creating a powerful poison that is then passed on to the tip of the arrows. A arrow in a large animal, such as a giraffe, for example, makes that in about three days, the animal becomes much more vulnerable and susceptible to a final blow by the sands. Nowadays, this habit is not very common, be it by the illegality of hunting in some regions of Africa but also by the loss of traditional customs. Wow, that's cool. In a way, it is like the Indians that use poisonous substances from the Crisomelid family on the tip of their spears and I think it also flashes. You know, Philip? What is interesting, too, is that the poison of these amphibians comes mainly from the ants. In other words, in a way, there are insects in this story, too. But both in this case and in the previous one, these tribes seem to use the insects only for hunting, right? But do you know when the insects began to be used in battles? The use of insects as weapons dates back a long time, probably since the Paleolithic, about a hundred and one years ago. A very cool story about the use of insects comes from ancient Rome, around 67, before the common era. escaping from Pompeu's army, King Tridentius VI, a notorious enemy of Rome, fled to the ancient city of Colquida, where Georgia is currently located. There he dreamed of the local population and placed a jar full of honey on the way of the Roman army to the enemy. The soldiers drank that delicious honey apparently abandoned on the road. After a few minutes, some began to feel strange as if they were bewildered. Some began to present storms, storms, other heart attacks and hallucinations. Soon, everyone who took the honey was affected. It was then that the allies of Emitridates, taking advantage of the plethora of torpor that were Roman soldiers, quickly killed a thousand soldiers and Emitridates managed to escape. The honey, or the crazy honey, as it is called, is usually produced by bees. In the honey factory, they look for pollen in rododendron plants. Wow, that's cool! Rododendron are the alias, aren't they? That's right. The leaves and pollen of these plants have toxins called Graianotoxins. The bees are immune to the effects and these toxins are incorporated into honey, probably as a defense strategy against vertebrate predators. Wow, that's crazy! So it means that you can't consume this honey, is that it? Look, it even gives, but it has to be a very small dose. In fact, there is a curiosity that even in today's days, some people die because of the crazy honey cultivation. In Nepal, the consumption of this type of honey used in traditional ceremonies but sometimes some people end up dying in the dose. The bees were also used on other occasions, like in catapultes, for example. Even the next story has to do with catapultes too, but the catapult of pineapples. So, I think you, the listener, everyone has heard about the black plague, or the bubonic plague, right? Yes, of course, the black plague killed almost a third of the European population in the 14th century. So, there are many people, right? Yes, exactly. And if you talk about insects, maybe it helped to turn the black plague into a pandemic. Ah, it's not possible. Even that, the insects are involved. But the whole disease is not a rat. Yes, in reality, the rat causes the plague, which is the entire bacteria and the plague that causes the disease. So, how did the bees help to reduce this disease? People did not know that the bees were responsible for transmitting the black plague. In fact, the conflict that we are going to focus on today began in 1343 when the Mongols attacked near the port of Kaffa, the current Theodosia, and the war in the area lasted for about three years. The black plague was already surrounding the Asia and the battlefield, contributing to the casualties of the Mongols. But then, at the end of the war, the Mongols catapulted bodies that carried the bees into the bacteria, or the bacteria itself inside the city, which caused a surge of black plague in Kaffa. Wow, but this must have helped to spread the disease, right? Yes, the powder present in the clothes and the bodies catapulted spread to rats, cats and dogs of the city. Infecting the inhabitants. There, between the Middle East Asia, there was also the route of the silk, and it could also have been responsible for spreading the black plague to Europe. But anyway, the Mongols' action was effective, without a doubt, which is still horrendous. But history doesn't stop there. The inhabitants of Kaffa, seeing the disease, being vaccinated, ran away from the city and ended up spreading the black plague throughout Europe. In 1350, the disease had become a pandemic. Ah, a very cool thing is that the insects also helped in the defeat of Napoleon, the attempt to conquer Russia. Ah, really, son? The insect and Napoleon tell us a story. Well, in 1810, in France there was a disagreement, let's say, with the Kisar of Russia, Alexander I. Due to the continental blockade imposed by Napoleon Bonaparte. For the Kisar, the continental blockade caused the Kava-Russia plague and ended up devaluing the coin. That was a lot for the two nations to enter the disagreement. On June 24, 1812, the great army of Napoleon counting with more than 500,000 soldiers entered the Russian territory. Napoleon thought that with such a large army he would win the battle easily. It turns out that the army was extremely affected by the rigorous winter in Russia, and the army of Napoleon also could not establish itself in the city of the Russians. Because the country worked the tactic of the burned land, where the population kept fire throughout the city and there was nothing left for the French army. Ah, but where do these insects fit in the story? What interests us is that the defeat of Napoleon and its gigantic army must, in addition to the cold, the cold extreme, go to the insects. When the cold passed and the summer came, the army of Napoleon, already the freaks by the desertions, hungry and cold, received another severe blow. In a month, 80,000 soldiers died, especially in the Tifu. The disease caused by the rickets was pro-Azek, which had human eyes At the end of the campaign of Napoleon, without success and with less than 100,000 soldiers remaining, he ended up going back to France. That's crazy. It's a tragedy, we have to admit it. But with insects they changed battles and conflict results and it's very interesting. A sample of how the insects really part of the history of humanity. This reminds me of another occasion in which the worst were responsible for the worsening of the war conditions. Well, the trenches, as everyone knows, allowed the soldiers from the first of the Second World War to protect themselves from the attacks on the battlefield. And the soldiers practically lived inside them for years. But who also lived in them? They were the pyres which are the vectors of the bartholomellar bacteria responsible for the fever of the trench. Few people came to die, but the disease reached about 800,000 men. I believe that everyone who studied insects already heard about the canfra. The canfra is a product that has been synthesized and replaced in Italy in the preservation of insects. In the First World War French women produced large quantities of canfra content that were loaded by soldiers close to the body as a profile against pyres inside the trench. Since one of the functions of the canfra's strong smell is to keep insects as, for example, pyres inside the trench. The terror of the entire entomologist. Can I just add that you don't have a taxonomic observation? Many of you may have learned from the gradation that the pyres belong to the Fittiraptor Order. But it is not considered valid, because now the pyres are considered by the molecules as a group by the Piscicodidils. And now they are grouped in the Piscocodian Order which used to be called Piscocopter. Cool. It changes all the time, right? It is true. We are moving to the end of today's episode. There is a lot of cool history that we will not be able to tell today. Like, for example, the DDT which was very important for today's exercises in the Second World War. Stay for the next episode. But before closing the episode we will tell two more events in which insects involved in the human wars. But this time, as entomological weapons. First, we will conceptualize an entomological war. An entomological war is a type of conflict in which insects are used as biological weapons. They can be used in three ways. The first is when the insect is infected with bacteria or viruses and is used as a dispersor of the infectious agent. The second type is the use of an insect to destroy plant crops. Also called agro-terrorism. And the last type is when the insects are used to attack enemies. In countries already used insects in wars and, as we know, Japan had a long and rich tradition when it comes to entomology. And of course, not even during the First and Second World War, the Japanese allowed to recognize the importance of these insects as allies in combat. The Japanese massively invested in biological weapons production containing insects. There are many interesting details in this story that you can check in the reference of this episode. But one of the most crazy things that came out in the Second World War were the bombings of Agui, a device launched by airplanes in enemy cities. When it collided with the ground, it opened a compartment containing thousands of domestic insects. And another compartment contained a mixed yellow-golden mixture filled with bacteria that caused the cholera. With the impact, the yellow and liquid insects mixed and the flies were acting in the vetors of the disease. And Japan did not just develop these bombs as it tested them in Baoshan, China. Around 60,000 refugees in the city died of cholera and with the dissemination of the disease, the final number of victims would reach about 200,000 victims. Seeing the effectiveness of this weapon, the Japanese returned to use it in 1953. This time they were in the area where the attack would be carried out. And the solution was simple. They carried out the attack with the bombs and Agui, but they vaccinated the Japanese troops against cholera. Well, to finish the episode, I wanted to tell the listeners a case, this controversial one, of the use of insects with biological weapons that occurred in 1952 and ended up involving several countries, including Brazil. Wow, really? How much is that? So, Gus, during the post-war period, the planet lived at the beginning of the Cold War and the world was divided by communist and capitalist ideologies, the United States versus Russia. In 1952, China accused the United States of using infected insects with diseases in Chinese territory and in Korea, during the Korean War. To verify the accusations, China composed an international scientific commission to analyze the data and write a report. Among the convocated researchers was a Brazilian, Dr. Samuel L. Pessoa, professor of parasitology at the University of Sao Paulo. In short, the report presented through the World Peace Congress pointed out that the United States was guilty of using colemols, coleoptors, various species of flies, ants, beeswaxes, gorillas, scorpions, eucalyptus, and contaminants with more than 8 types of diseases, such as cholera and anthrax, for example. In addition, the evidence of the report points to very strange situations, clearly not natural, such as a huge column of colemols found inside a stadium, as well as dust infected with cholera or black plague bacteria, a disease that had been exterminated by China more than 500 years ago. The United States, obviously, denied and claimed that everything did not pass through the communist propaganda. As an argument, they pointed out that the World Peace Congress was largely led by Marxists, which was true. The United States pointed out the fact that the choice of insects was very bizarre to have been used. For example, to use colemols as biological weapons, a beast that should walk a few meters in distance throughout its life and inside the soil. However, the reports of observations by citizens were supposedly attacked. The drawback of this story is that no one was responsible. And if the United States attacked China and Korea with infected insects, it will always be a mystery. It seems that this kind of history repeats itself. Many times the U.S. does things and then... It's all in the political context. That's it. But it's really... The citizens woke up early in the morning and saw a plane passing over the village, according to the report. And they released a lot of snow flakes. And they thought it was a snow flakes and then they said it was actually a lot of dust. And then these people who were in contact with it fell into the water so there was a cholera in the water. So... It's a very bizarre situation and obviously there was a plane passing over it. Exactly that night, people started watching the cholera. If the report was true, if the testimonies were real, it would be very bizarre. Another thing that is quite controversial in this story is that the report that China produced was related to war prisoners. It was related to American war prisoners. Captured during the war. And then, according to the report, war prisoners made things clearly not natural. They say things like the United States, this kind of villain, they must have attacked Chinese cities. Things that the soldiers clearly wouldn't say. The American soldiers wouldn't say. And there were some very, very rotten things. It was clearly staged. So it seems that it was kind of a lie from China. Well guys, that's what I wanted to talk about today. Certainly Gus, often we try to anthropomorphize insects, but the relationship of good and bad is a human concept. Anyway, the episode is cool. We learned a lot, guys. And this subject is very extensive. We just took a look at the content. For sure, Felipe. Although sometimes talking about wars can make you very sad and sad, it is interesting to see these parallels between insect society and our society. The law is clear about the influence and you are interested in this topic and want to know more? Don't forget to check our list of references in the description of this episode. That's it. We will end here and you already know the 20. 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