Ant Fact of the Day:
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
I'm in the know where to collect them near Mallaig, Scotland.
I met a German geology PhD student while on holiday. I drove him around for a few days so he could take photos for his dissertation.
In return, he showed me where I could get garnets from shale.
1970, right after the amazing Isle of Wight music festival.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird That’s so cool.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird@sauropods.win apparently they're also primarily on native land only in Arizona, which is probably a very important political consideration to have!
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"For in the parts where they live it is desert on account of the sand; and in this desert and sandy tract are produced ants, which are in size smaller than dogs but larger than foxes,"
- Herodotus
I'm so mad the fox-sized ants weren't real I'll never forgive him for this.
@futurebird it is possible the Romans ate them all.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird *Pushes Button to Subscribe to Ant Facts*
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
Fascinating. I read up on this for at LEAST 30 minutes!
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@futurebird You can buy them loose, but not set; they're usually small, under a quarter carat, and never faceted at that size. There are indigenous sites I think in Arizona where you can go pick them up yourself for a fee.
I've heard gem sellers call them "anthill garnets" and since garnets are all natural, never treated or enhanced, you have just your ant friend to thank.
Garnets were known for invisibility in battle and for strengthening your blood (vigor) and sex drive.i have some anthill garnets around the house somewhere... pretty sure mine came from Arizona
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird Wow! I would absolutely love to facet a garnet dug up by an ant...
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i have some anthill garnets around the house somewhere... pretty sure mine came from Arizona
@peachfront @futurebird Yes, the inter-webs tell me that although other harvester ants have dug garnet in Australia and Africa, the main (trusted) source is the Navajo Nation, in the Four Corners region of northeastern Arizona where they carefully document the available (chromium rich) pyrope garnets. Mantle-derived, they occur in shallow, weathered deposits reachable by ants, which conditions don't often occur elsewhere. I have seen them listed briefly for sale on line, 1-5 mm roughs in lots.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird I saw some at one of the gemologists I buy stones from and bought a pair for earrings. Most beautiful garnet I've seen in my career so far.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
Filing this away for the next time I’m in Arizona.
In Colorado, north of Steamboat Springs, there was a garnet ledge above the Strawberry Park hot springs. My mom and I went looking; sure enough, there were garnets on the rocks. It made her so happy to relive an old memory.
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@futurebird I saw some at one of the gemologists I buy stones from and bought a pair for earrings. Most beautiful garnet I've seen in my career so far.
It annoyed an ant so much she dragged it from deep in the earth just to get it out of her home. "too sparkly, too red, too hard and in my way!"
That is why they are so nice. LOL.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
This brings up a question in my mind, How do ant dislodge grains of soil when it’s hard? For example, I grew up in a desert where the ground could be really hard. And yet the ants were there. Are there special digger ants with jackhammer heads?
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This brings up a question in my mind, How do ant dislodge grains of soil when it’s hard? For example, I grew up in a desert where the ground could be really hard. And yet the ants were there. Are there special digger ants with jackhammer heads?
persistANTS
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It annoyed an ant so much she dragged it from deep in the earth just to get it out of her home. "too sparkly, too red, too hard and in my way!"
That is why they are so nice. LOL.
@futurebird one ant's trash is a jeweler's treasure
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird so I was just writing this information to my wife and realized I completely unironically described you as "my favorite myrmecologist"
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persistANTS
@futurebird Once again, you have managed to win the entire internet. Good job.
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Ant Fact of the Day:
"Ant Garnets" are tiny red gems found by ants. I know this sounds made up ... but it's real.
Harvester ants dig deep nests (up to 6m!) and they bring the soil to the surface grain by grain. Sometimes they find garnets, tiny precious red gemstones.
These are waste to the ants: they end up in the spoil heap around the nest. When it rains, the lighter stone washes away, the garnets from deep in the earth remain.
Those in the know can collect them from the surface.
@futurebird I've always wanted some ant garnets
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@futurebird so I was just writing this information to my wife and realized I completely unironically described you as "my favorite myrmecologist"
@kyonshi Is there any other way to describe @futurebird...?
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