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Earth’s “Alien” Societies: Superorganisms | Lindsay Nikole

Lindsay Nikole | January 8, 2026



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Imagine a world where everyone’s role is decided before birth and personal identity takes a backseat to the good of the group. In this exploration of eusocial creatures, we’ll look at how ants, bees, termites, and even naked mole rats form complex societies where the colony operates as a single unit. These animals exhibit behaviors that go beyond survival, cooperating, building, and even “voting” to make collective decisions. It’s a deep dive into teamwork like you’ve never seen before!

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ABOUT LINDSAY NIKOLE
Join zoologist Lindsay Nikole for vivid stories about evolution, animal behavior, and the wonderfully weird life around (and before) us. Each video dives into creatures you’ve never met and facts you’ll never forget, blending science with humor, visuals, and memorable explanations. From viral mystery IDs and prehistoric deep dives to myth-busting and conservation context, this channel makes complex biology easy and exciting to understand.

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Chapters:
00:00 Today’s Episode is Earth’s Aliens!
01:11 Ants
18:56 Wasps, The Origin of Bees and Ants
19:46 Bees
22:19 Wood Roaches
25:33 Aphid and Thrips
29:41 Synalpheus
30:55 Naked Mole Rats

Earth’s “Alien” Societies: Superorganisms | Lindsay Nikolehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrc2iv2-G1FZ3VscM3zu2jg

Written by Lindsay Nikole

Comments

This post currently has 44 comments.

  1. @fredeerickbays

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    I like ur 1,000,005 random # Mine is 6714 It is the # I gave my Ma when I was ten when she ask me how many times i had to be told something. Brought the Poor Woman up shot
    Any one ask how many for some dumb thing ya 6714

  2. @Rockthrowingbudhist

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Controlling ants in your home is actually quite easy and does not require anything more toxic than ammonia cleaner which will kill any individuals and disrupt their access trails. Make it expensive for them. Make sure their loss of biomass exceeds any food they are able to collect and the hive will figure it out and go foraging elsewhere. This has been working for me for decades.

  3. @TJF588

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    What's that one "SCP" that's a collective of butterflies that, while no individual butterfly experiences consciousness, the complexity of their interactions is so advanced as to have learned to communicate with human handlers, and by which damage to the collective results in diminished conversational capabilities while new members are being replenished.

  4. @TJF588

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Bringing up the incredulity of altruism, i get to thinking again about the "why would any human be gay? that evolutionarily doesn't make sense!!" naysaying, as if family groups (or broader!) wouldn't benefit from all members' cooperative dispositions, far more than any supposed "disadvantage" from a stray member who inherently wouldn't be queuing their own genes up, especially when it's humans who take decades to secure their self-sufficiency, and said self-sufficiency would most likely cycle back into the family+ group dynamics anyway. For us, antisociality has gotta be the biggest detractor of success, far more than natural diversity.

  5. @YoRouable

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Whales have many documented cases of exhibiting strong cross-species altruism, proving that altruism in non-human animals is not always correlated to their "relatedness".

  6. @chelu4u

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    I would love to meet you so I could flirt with you even though my friends said you would destroy me lol not kidding thanks for sharing much appreciated 👍❤

  7. @EmilyJelassi

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Love all of the green plants that you've added😊😊❤❤
    Amts aren't something that I think of ona regular basis, unless we're being invaded, usually in the spring… 😂

  8. @BaronvonTurkeyfish

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    I'm a bit late to this video I know but you should look into a species of ant called the Bull Ant as they have a somewhat unique society compared with other ants. the workers can even mate with males to become a new queen if the old one dies for example

  9. @ShikamaruXT

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    Nevermind me, I'm just looking for a certain comment. The "yo, lets date, and you can tell me all about ants" one

    The first time i read about mole rats, was in Fallout 2 😂

  10. @Silly_Fellow552

    January 8, 2026 at 7:41 am

    This is like a small part of the video but while caring about the environment, PLEASE dont use Ai images or overview. Really unfortunate that it is hard to tell sometimes if something is or not. 😟 those data centers just do so much to the earth and not in a positive way ..

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