Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2021 January 9

= January 9 =

Can termites create a physical "bridge" between two pieces of wood (that are separated from each other by a large distance) in midair?
Can termites (other than with their own bodies) create a physical "bridge" between two pieces of wood (that are separated from each other by a large distance) in midair (as opposed to a ground connection between these two pieces of wood)? Futurist110 (talk) 02:25, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * In reading Termite, the implicit answer would seem to be "No". Here's an article explaining more about termite nests. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 08:31, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Apparently Australian termites can. Alansplodge (talk) 16:40, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Amazing. But is that a bridge between two pieces of wood, or is it going from the underground nest to the wood, per normal termite behavior. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 16:53, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Okay, probably from the ground up. I just Googled "termite bridge". Alansplodge (talk) 19:37, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * I've seen a lot of Australian termite mounds, and looked at lots of pics of them. Never seen a bridge. HiLo48 (talk) 02:54, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Although termites probably have the technical building ability to build between two objects in midair - provided the objects are not so far apart that the termites' construction material collapses under its own weight - in practice it is highly unlikely to occur under natural conditions because termites have no impulse to build such a structure (as far as I'm aware). PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 16:25, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Just what kind of construction material would actually be necessary here? Futurist110 (talk) 22:27, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Just the kind of construction material they would normally use i.e. the same material as when building their mounds. There's a short David Attenborough clip here that shows how remarkable - in terms of strength, size, structural intricacy and functionality - termite mounds really are. PaleCloudedWhite (talk) 22:50, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Many ant species can bridge a horizontal gap with their bodies – but not if the gap is considerably wider than twice the length of a single ant. This is a video of army ants at work, this one of weaver ants, and one of an unidentified species. It looks like mission impossible, but in the end they succeed. --Lambiam 23:05, 10 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Oh, but they can bridge larger gaps. This video shows army ants bridging a gap of about 0.5 meter to reach a wasp's nest.  The bridge itself droops considerably, such that it is probably 2 meters along its length, but as can be shown in the video, consists of nothing but ant bodies grasping on each other.  Nature never ceases to astound.  By the way, the Wikipedia article on army ants has a picture showing a close up of the bridging behavior.  -- Jayron 32 18:20, 12 January 2021 (UTC)

Pictures not loading
Hello, for the last few days, any image in any Wikipedia article is not loading for me. I have been a repeat donor for Wikipedia for many years, and I would really hope to continue having a smoothin experience on Wikipedia. Looking forward to a response. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rohan parakh (talk • contribs) 11:30, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello, . The place to ask about this sort of thing is at VPT: the people who inhabit this reference desk are not generally familiar with the innards of the Wikimedia software. Are you using Safari on a mobile? Somebody asked about the same problem a couple of weeks ago (though they didn't get an answer). Thank you for donating, but whether or not a person is a donor is not known to either the software or to any of the editors, and has no effect whatever on any aspect of their interaction with the Wikipedia system. --ColinFine (talk) 14:01, 9 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Even if it could, how would it know? The OP has a grand total of 2 edits, 7 years apart. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 15:22, 9 January 2021 (UTC)


 * The first thing I would try is clearing the browser. If you need assistance, the folks at the computing desk would be glad to help. 2603:6081:1C00:1187:C964:88C3:AAEF:5847 (talk) 17:01, 9 January 2021 (UTC)