Disruptive species
Check out this brilliant video by Kurzgesagt on the Argentine Ants.
I learned that these ants were in a constant battle with other species for survival as all living beings are. No earth-shattering discovery there. But they got a serendipitous ride on certain ships by humans and were transported out of their natural habitat where they evolved and which was in equilibrium with them to other continents. From there they began to take over those new habitats as they did not have much competition and they were able to multiply faster than they were able to kill. Also, a quirk of their genetic component made them cooperative with other distant colonies so that they would not compete with them. As the video informs, they have disrupted many habitats and have driven many species out of their area of towards extinction.
When you compare them with humans, we are not that different. Some of us like to think that we humans are somehow worse than other living beings in that we have taken over the natural world for ourselves. But there is nothing different in what we have done. And this parallel expansion of Argentine ants and killing of other species is a good example. We got certain benefits over others while we were still struggling for daily survival and those combinations of benefits made us highly adaptive species and the homo sapiens quickly expanded all over the world barring some extreme weathers. We wielded our powers and took over the world and have become a threat to the overall natural equilibrium of the world.
But again, we are not that different. We are just a species that has gained some positive feedback loops that have made us much better at survival than others, at their disposal. Given the chance, every species will do so. But that does not let us off the hook blameless.
Even though we are the same as the ants mentioned above or any other beings in our drive for survival, we are different in a sense that we can be conscious about our actions, even collectively. The ants don’t seem to have that capacity. They don’t care that they are disturbing the habitats for thousands of other species. Or maybe the won’t. Just like, now, it seems that humans as a whole don’t care about the planet. But we know that we can care. It will be a monumental task to convince all the different colonies of humans to work towards one goal. But it is doable. And we need to do it because that only helps our continual survival.
Because just like if the ants were to get too numerous and they were to kill off all they can eat, they will then start to starve to death because there won’t be anything left for them to consume. And slowly, the imbalance will be regressed to balance even if over millions of years.
