Ants - Tumblr Posts
iirc (and I don't have a source handy for this at the moment), in medieval Europe wheat was primarily consumed by the middle and upper classes (which would probably have included anyone writing a bestiary!), whereas barley (and rye) were primarily what peasants used to bake their bread (in addition to being food for livestock, and of course, brewing beer!). Little bit of a class bias from the writer, perhaps?
As an aside, I suspect that the Venn diagram of tumblr users who are interested in drawing weird animals, and tumblr users who know about extant (or extinct) weird animals is going to be pretty close to a perfect circle!
Honestly, at this stage I'm finding that half the challenge - and don't get me wrong, very much half the fun too - is interpreting the prompts in a way that tries not to deliberately reference what I think the creature is. In some cases, I've got a pretty good idea, but in others, no freaking idea at all... It's interesting in those latter ones to see how close I actually got :D
I’m glad we got this prompt, despite it being pretty obvious, since I feel we all had a lot if fun with this one!
Bestiaryposting Results: Kengliwa
So, as it seems everyone made note of, this week's creature was exceptionally easy to guess. (To the point that a couple people did actually go ahead and name it, which I can't be that annoyed about because I don't think anyone missed this one.) I actually thought about not including it -- I cut a few that were particularly obvious like this one, but this entry was just so beautifully written that I didn't want to not post it. Maybe I should have done a separate post like with the dogs... live and learn, I suppose.
Anyway, previous entries and results can be found here: https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting. And the entry everybody is working from is at the link below:
Art below the cut in rough chronological order, as per usual.
@sweetlyfez (link to post here) decided to go a bit Beatrix Potter, and produced some frankly adorable shrew-like critters. (And her own alt-text, thank you.) They're dressed in these nice black coats and bowler hats so they can look like the "black column across the fields" described in the entry. I love everything about this. Also, if you want to see a version of this without the linework, check the link above.
@silverhart-makes-art (link to post here) decided to work off of the assertion that Kengliwas prefer wheat to barley because "barley is food for beasts". Naturally this means the Kengliwa must not itself be a beast, and Silverhart reflects that by medieval definition that excludes pretty much everything but birds and fish. So here we have a very small mouse-bird (the results of this one are all very cute, I have to say). And of course it's a flightless bird, because the entry describes them as walking. I'm really struck by the general composition of this one; the tiny bird clinging to the top of a wheat stalk is so well depicted. The colors are great too.
@cheapsweets (link to post here) followed the same "not a beast" logic as Silverhart, though they also name "serpent" and "worm" as potential non-beast categories. They also picked "bird", because the Kengliwa brings grain back to its nest, and birds have nests, so there you go. I appreciate that they've continued with that connection by having the interior of the Kengliwa burrow lined in a manner reminiscent of birds' nests. (And also that they provided alt-text, thank you.) Speaking of which, check it out, burrowing birds! With a cross-section of their burrow! Delightful. They further speculate that the symbolism attached to this one must be pretty weird given the mixed feelings the author seems to have, so I went and checked...
... there's actually not a lot of symbolism on this one. The highlights are that the divided grain supply represents the division between the Old and New Testaments, and barley represents heresy which is why it is scorned. (Pretty sure lots of people in the Middle Ages ate barley, but I suppose they preferred wheat.) The symbolism is all "things we learn from the good example of this industrious creature", and the entry quotes Proverbs 6:6 -- I'm not copying it here, because even though I'm pretty sure everyone knows what the animal is, the verse in question does name it, and we have a procedure here.
Anyway, as always, I recommend clicking on the link to CheapSweets's post to see their detailed explanation of their design decisions.
@theforceisstronginthegirl (link to post here) has drawn some ants in their agenda book. I have to admit, I'm not fully sure whether this was meant to be an entry, but you know, there's a picture (with alt-text and everything!) and it's tagged "kengliwa", so in it goes. Honestly I think the highlight here is that they described the creatures in the picture as "scribbles with jobs" which I think is a fun way to describe bugs generally. Very dynamically drawn scribbles too; they're quite expressive.
@pomrania (link to post here) has drawn a strange and adorable critter. It's giving... lizard-squirrel. Squizard. Particularly delighted by the fact that multiple people decided that such an industrious fellow should be wearing tiny clothing. I think the bag with one (1) grain of wheat in it is a nice touch. You just want to root for this little guy, you know? Also it's worth checking out Pomrania's linked post and associated progress post for some interesting steps in the design process for this one.
@coolest-capybara (link to post here) continues to deliver beautifully stylized art. They note that they considered rodents, but figured medieval authors would not be nearly this positive about rodents stealing grain, so instead they're lizards. Very good lizards, too! I love the patterning on them and the expressions on their faces. The one on the left scorning the barley is particularly delightful. Coolest-capybara also wonders what the original animal is classified under, if not "beast" -- to which I must say, oddly enough, this one is in with the beasts. I think. Right after this entry is the start of the "birds" section, and right before it is are some various mammals. So either this is the end of the beast section or it's, like, a palate-cleanser in between.
@strixcattus (link to post here) has also given their Kengliwa clothing, but for a very specific reason: as others have noted, the Kengliwa scorning barley because it's "food for beasts" implies that the Kengliwa are not beasts. Therefore, in Strixcattus's interpretation, they're people. Which is indeed the only non-"beast" category of animal that nobody else has mentioned, as far as I can figure. They're darling. Love the one on the right that appears to be chewing on a straw like your stereotypical farmer, except of course the straw is a single seed with like a bit of stalk attached. And I know I always say it, but you need to go read the linked post for this one. Maybe it's just because worldbuilding is my jam, but I'd happily read a lengthy TTRPG supplement about how Kengliwa society operates. They're like... medieval Borrowers who farm lichen and domesticate ants. I want to know everything about this.
Anyway, here's the Aberdeen Bestiary version:
That's right, they're scribbles with jobs!
Seriously, it turns out Theforceisstronginthegirl drew basically a dead ringer for the medieval version. Compare the two; the biggest differences are the medium and the fact that the Aberdeen Bestiary includes a nest.
But yes, they're ants. We all know they're ants.
Which should, as CheapSweets alluded to, be classed in with the worms! (Remember, that's a flexible term in the medieval era... especially since this is a Latin text, so it's vermis, like Modern English vermin.) There is a section labelled De vermibus, and these guys aren't in it! It could have really used them, too; I think the Ant entry by itself is the same length as the whole "worm" section.
Anyway. Hopefully next week's will be less obvious... okay, I just checked, it's barely less obvious. But I would put money on nobody guessing the one that posts on the 19th (though that's a pretty short entry, unfortunately).
When ants die, a few days later they emit oleic acid, which tells the living ants to dispose of their corpse.
A myrmecologist named Ed Wilson discovered this and dropped the chemical on a living ant. It was immediately carried off, despite the fact that it was still moving, and clearly not dead.
10: Argentine Ant, the most successful invasive species in the world, high points for potency, but devious little rascals who have done a lot of damage
9: Matabele Ants, they hunt exclusively termites in the African Savanah and, to my knowledge, actively avoid destroying entire nests for a sustainable supply
8: Slaver Ants, they raid larger hives and use pheromones to send them into confusion so they can steal larvae to raise as their own. They're so locked-in on this strategy that they can't even sustain themselves without other Ants
7: Army Ants, a nomadic species that consumes everything that crosses its path. They make bivouwac shelters out of their own bodies when sheltering at the end of a march
6: Black Ants, the platonic ideal of an ant, thrives in its simplicity
5: Formica Ereptor Gene Thief Ants, the fictional species who serve as the protagonists of Empires of the Undergrowth and rapidly evolve to mimic other species
4: Weaver Ants, who build treetop shelters by using their larvae as glue guns (the process does not harm they, they are just squeezed lightly to extrude silk) to bond leaves together
3: Bullet Ants, the only 4+ on the Schmidt sting pain index, the sting is described as "walking over flaming charcoal with a three-inch nail embedded in your heel" and "waves of burning, throbbing, all-consuming pain that continues unabated for up to 24 hours."
2: Imported Fire Ants, Solenopsis Invicta - cool-ass name, my main in Empires of the Undergrowth, and extremely successful in most places that are introduced, for better or worse
1: Leaf-Cutter Ants, one of the select few species on Earth that practice agriculture by using leaf cuttings to fertilize fungal gardens inside of their nests.
other social media websites im on are like. hawk tuah girl and mr beast are collabing for a festables event. and tumblr is like. here are my top 10 favorite ants
ant queens should actually be called empresses and their colonies should be empires. It makes no sense for it to be called a colony. It’s not like ants go away to form their own colony and report back to a singular queen a few days later. It would be like if the thirteen colonies had their own king separate from the king of England and that would be stupid! It’s a dumb name.
thinking currently about how if the ants or something in my back yard were sentient, they would absolutely be worshiping the lawnmower
An imaginary house of ants deep in a blue forest...
i need more friends who love bugs. I cant take telling people i love bugs and there reaction being "i hate them i kill everyone i see", or "ew" ( and then giving me a weird look. where are the bug lovers? where are my friends? let me show you my collection, lets draw insects together, lets make power points of our favorites.
In a world vast and wide, a lone ant ventures beyond the familiar trails of his colony. Amidst a landscape woven with dew-kissed flowers and succulent fruits, he pauses, savoring the sweetness of the morning dew under the gentle caress of the rising sun. 🐜🌼🌞
Each step is a quiet testament to the power of appreciating the now—the fleeting, fragile moments that may not find their way back in life’s relentless march. Let this tiny wanderer remind us to cherish the little joys, for they craft the mosaic of our memories.
Crafted with passion, this enchanting scene captures the beauty of the unnoticed. A creation from my heart, brought to life with the magic of digital artistry. 🎨✨
Well, the ants decided to have a colony inside my mech keyboard.
The way I would read an entire series about them.
these army ants tend to move in groups of 4, with the line leader leading the expeditions. They have terrible eyesight, so rely on the sound of the Line Leader's bell staff, and the the pheromone map made by the previous expedition to know where they're heading.
ID in alt
The mighty ants! Pulling a grain of rice up against force gravity.
these army ants tend to move in groups of 4, with the line leader leading the expeditions. They have terrible eyesight, so rely on the sound of the Line Leader's bell staff, and the the pheromone map made by the previous expedition to know where they're heading.
there’s a fire at my school and i’m over here laughing at an ant spinning in circles in a pile of tajin
theoretically speaking, since ants are made of silica which is a chemical used to create glass and is extracted from sand. silica is a breakable chemical meaning that when you step on an ant, killing it (which you should NOT do), you are technically "breaking" it.