Eating Ants

We Have Concerns

Anthony Carboni/Jeff Cannata

News, Science, Society & Culture, Culture, Comedy, Internet, Pop, Games, Gadgets

4.9 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Findings published in the journal Evolution reveal that mammals independently evolved specialized adaptations for exclusively feeding on ants and termites at least 12 times since the Cenozoic era began, roughly 66 million years ago. Why? And what does that reveal about how life has evolved on earth? Jeff and Anthony chew on the data to find out.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the summer of caring.
0:14.5	This is We Have Concerns.
0:15.6	Hi, Jeff Kanata.
0:16.7	Hi, Anthony Carboney.
0:18.2	Hello, Concerned Citizens.
0:19.9	Anthony, I want to talk to you about...
0:23.6	Okay, I'd love to.
0:25.7	I was...
0:26.6	Not aunts, ants.
0:27.9	Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:29.4	I, as a young boy, growing up in Northern California...
0:33.9	...dorf during World War I.
0:37.5	We've set the scene and go.
0:40.1	Growing up in Northern California, one of my constant refrain, the constant refrain from my father was a incessant, almost maniacal concern about the ants. The ants were coming. The ants were here. The ants had to be dealt with. The ants don't leave that out. The ants will arrive. Don't, don't, I've got to spray for the ants. Oh, my God, here they are. The answer here. It was ants everywhere. Now, is that a Northern California thing?
1:11.6	Or is that a, or is that a, that a, that's a good question. I don't know. I don't have any
1:16.7	comparative data. But you were an adult in Northern California at one point. That's true. It didn't.
1:22.1	Maybe it's more of a dad thing. I don't know. I don't know if other areas, like, I don't know. I recall, I recall my father
1:29.0	being being keenly interested in ants as well, but I don't, I don't recall seeing any really
1:37.1	in the house. Dude, we saw him all the time. And maybe that was, and maybe that was because of my
1:40.5	father's vigilance. You know what you have a better dad than me.
1:45.9	Well, and I know your parents listen to this and get fucked.
1:47.7	Well, all right.
	...

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