Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Science/2023 October 25

= October 25 =

Ants cohabitating with honeybees?
I met a beekeeper recently who told me about how, on occasion, ants and bees live with, or at least tolerate the existence of, each other. Specifically, I was told ants went into beehives and no conflict occured.This was quite exciting to me and I want to learn more about it, but looking online for studies/reference of this symbiotic relationship left me lost. I only found a few beekeepers asking the same question, and people replying by saying that it is impossible. Any help? Parameci (talk) 19:11, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * The relationship is symbiotic only if it is mutualistic, commensalistic, or parasitic. Philvoids (talk) 21:25, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * My bad if I chose the wrong word, I admittedly got excited! Parameci (talk) 16:45, 26 October 2023 (UTC)


 * "In the southern United States, ants are ubiquitous within apiaries and are common pests of managed honey bees." "Ants belonging to 14 genera were observed interacting with managed honey bee colonies in multiple ways, most commonly by robbing sugar resources from within hives." Clarityfiend (talk) 09:39, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I was wondering if there are any other sources or observations on these interactions? I would love to see any videos, but this would be very difficult to find I assume. Parameci (talk) 16:48, 26 October 2023 (UTC)

Wildlife: rabbits and frogs living together.
I believe rabbits in the wild can live together, including in a hole in the ground. I've seen Youtube videos where people pull out rabbits from a hole in the ground 1 by 1. But how does it work when a rabbit has to crap, do they do it in the same place where they sleep? Do they have some decency to not do it where others sleep together? When the den is eventually filled up with too much crap do the rabbits then just move to find another den or sleeping spot?

I'm somewhat wondering this about frogs too. I asked a reptile professor yesterday if frogs can live together, they can. But 2 frogs will only live together if they grew up together or looked for a home together, otherwise even frogs become territorial. And it doesn't seem likely frogs and toads ever live together in the wild. Though the reptile professor not all frogs try to live in the same place, some are migrant. So do frogs that live together piss and crap in the same place where they sleep? Or do they have some selectivity or a sense of decency, assuming they sleep in a hoe or some place. In any events I already find out cats and turtles for example are independent, they all live solo as adults, with some narrow exceptions. Odd questions indeed ;0. 170.76.231.162 (talk) 19:15, 25 October 2023 (UTC).


 * Hey, you've asked a few questions here now, such as a couple about photons interacting with electrons, and people have done a lot of work giving you answers. You haven't responded to any of them, not even to show that you have read our responses, let alone that you understand them and appreciate them. It's... kind of common courtesy to do those things? --OuroborosCobra (talk) 19:56, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * They do occasionally respond, like for example here, here and here. --Lambiam 09:12, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Ah yes, I didn't have anything to respond to the electrons/photons question. I try not to post too much, at least in terms of chit chat. I was once banned from this Ref Desk for a year over asking about the speed of light being converted to mass question. But I do like this forum more than StackExchange, such as chemistry, biology, and law. In those places people are quick to vote to shut down your question and if you get downvoted too much it prevents you from asking questions, equivalent to a ban. 170.76.231.162 (talk) 14:45, 26 October 2023 (UTC).
 * I'm not sure specifically why you had a partial ban as I cannot find where it was discussed or decided upon, but from what I can gather, it wasn't because you were overly thankful or overly demonstrating that you understood the answers you were given. In fact, quite the opposite, it seemed to be because you would jump on some odd ideas (like that food particles needed to be accelerated to the speed of light during digestion in order to get any energy from food), and just refused to drop your false initial premises when told they were wrong. Notice that you haven't been getting treated in your current reference desk questions (at least here in Science) the way that you were back then with that "digestion" question. So again, the problem wasn't idle chit chat or being overly grateful, it was refusing to drop the stick and admit the the very basis of your question was built upon false assumptions and downright scientific inaccuracies. It wasn't that you were asking questions about the "speed of light being converted to mass," but that you refused to accept that the E=mc2 mass/energy relationship and the "speed of light" itself have basically nothing to do with how we digest food and extract caloric energy from our food, which has more to do with things like bond dissociation energies, enthalpies of reaction, etc. We kept explaining to you that your very premise was false, and you kept coming back with "ok but what % of the speed of light is needed for digestion?" which, at its very core, is just wrong. Like, there is no right answer to the question, extraction of caloric energy from food has nothing to do with the speed of light, no matter the percentage. It's like asking "how much of a drought is needed for a volcano to erupt," and when we say that the geological forces leading to volcanic eruptions have nothing to do with rainfall, coming back with "ok, but at what relative humidity, as a result of drought conditions, are needed for a volcanic eruption to take place." That's why you were banned for a year, I would guess. --OuroborosCobra (talk) 16:53, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * That and probably other factors like asking other questions that some find offensive, such as me being an incel and asking prior questions on attracting women, like does men walking around shirtless effect on attracting women. When you ask a question like that, you can throw in another variable, which makes people of the Republican type, think of you as a liberal, or libtard. For some reason, a Republican would never ask such a question. And even though the question has nothing to do with politics, people automatically can define you as such (libtard). Much like now how Israelites and Palestinians can bias against each other for reasons now. 170.76.231.162 (talk) 18:22, 26 October 2023 (UTC).
 * Is the heading a Ghostbusters allusion? Just curious. --Trovatore (talk) 20:34, 25 October 2023 (UTC)
 * No burrowing animals would normally defecate in their holes, not counting cecotropes. Rabbits leave their droppings in the form of hard dry pellets everywhere else. No distinction is made between frogs and toads in scientific taxonomy, and in many languages there are no separate words for them either. All are species within the order Anura, altogether over 7,600 species in 55 families. It is hardly possible to make statements about the behaviour of frogs and toads that apply generically to all or even most. Some are communal, others not so much, often related to the ecological niches of the species. --Lambiam 09:36, 26 October 2023 (UTC)
 * For a second I thought you were talking about Human sacrifice, rabbits and frogs living together, Mass hysteria! Dhrm77 (talk) 19:45, 26 October 2023 (UTC)