Pharaohs Lightning

Blood of the Pharaohs

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Pharaoh ants utilize this pheromone near forks in the trail network, and an ant that detects it will begin to walk in a zigzag manner. Both the attractive and repellent pheromones are utilized in the decision-making an ant must make while foraging. The repellent pheromone is especially useful in the repositioning of trails after a new food source has been introduced.

It also helps prevent ants from concentrating on an undesirable trail. Thus, the repellant pheromone makes the pharaoh ant a particularly efficient forager. Pharaoh ants use a positive feedback system of foraging. Each morning, scouts will search for food. When one finds it, it will instantly return to the nest. Soon, a large group will be upon the food. Scouts are thought to use both chemical and visual cues to remain aware of the nest location and find their way. Even inside colonies were found to forage close to windows, indicating a propensity for outdoor environment.

Even though scouts search independently, they use a distinct trail system that remains somewhat constant from day to day. The system consists of one to four trunk routes. Every scout uses one of these trunks in the beginning and end of its food search. In this way, the trunks get continuous chemical reinforcement and do not change much. Each trunk divides into many branch routes. These will change based on food availability.

Lighthouse of Alexandria

The organization of foraging trails is strongly affected by the health of the colony and the availability of food. Food deprivation induces a higher amount of foraging ant traffic, compared to a non-deprived population. If a food source is presented to the food deprived colony, this traffic was further increased, an indication of the pharaoh ant's recruitment tactic.

If food is not present, a colony will extend its trails to a wider radius around the nest. Logically, number of trails and forager traffic is largest near a food source. In fact, the pharaoh ant relies on geometry to show it the way home. Each fork in the trail system spreads at an angle between 50 and 60 degrees.

When returning to the nest, a forager that encounters a fork will almost always take the path that deviates less from its current direction. In other words, it will never choose an acute angle that would drastically change its direction. Using this algorithm, each forager is able to find its way back to the nest.

If the fork angle is experimentally increased to an angle between 60 and degrees, M. This method of decision-making reduces the wasted energy that would result from traveling in the wrong direction and contributes to the pharaoh ant's efficiency in foraging. She will therefore refuse to give up food. A queen may also feed on secretions from larvae. This creates a positive feedback loop in which more larvae will provide more food to queens who can in turn produce more larvae.

If a large amount of larvae results in a surplus of secretions, pharaoh ants will store the excess in the gasters of a unique caste, the replete workers. Members of this group have enormous gasters and can regurgitate their stored food when needed. In this way, the colony has a cushion against food shortages.

Pharaoh ants have a sophisticated strategy for food preference. They implement two related behaviors. The first is known as satiation. The workers will at first show a strong preference for a particular food type. However, if this food is offered alone, with no other options, for several weeks, workers will afterward show a distinct preference for a different type of food.

In this way, the ants become satiated on a certain food group and will change their decision. The second behavior is called alternation. If given the continuous choice between food groups, pharaoh ants will tend to alternate between carbohydrate-rich foods and protein-rich foods.

These satiation and alternation behaviors are evolutionarily adaptive. The decision to vary the type of food consumed ensures that the colony maintains a balanced diet. Monomorium pharaonis , similar to other invasive ants, is polygynous , meaning its colonies contain many queens up to It is hypothesized that polygyny leads to lower levels of nestmate recognition in comparison to monogynous species due to the expected higher levels of genetic diversity.

Because these colonies lack nestmate recognition, there is no hostility between neighbouring colonies, which is known as unicoloniality. Many invasive ants display unicoloniality. The adaptive value of this nonaggression among colonies has to do with avoiding unnecessary injury and allowing proper resource allocation , ensuring success for all the colonies.

Low nestmate recognition, caused in part by polygyny, also has a biochemical basis in M.

Cuticular hydrocarbons are compounds, often found on antennae , that allow for communication in many social insects. In ant species, these compounds play an especially key role in nestmate recognition. Differences in cuticular hydrocarbons are detected by other ant species, who respond accordingly. However, all pharaoh ant colonies have the same hydrocarbons on their antennae.

This leads to ineffective nestmate recognition, and nonaggression between colonies.

Pharaoh ant colonies contain many queens. The ratio of queens to workers is variable and dependent on the size of the colony. An individual colony normally contains 1,—2, workers, but often a high density of nests gives the impression of massive colonies.

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In a small colony, there will be more queens relative to workers. In addition, individuals will be larger than those in a more populous colony. Larvae that will produce workers have characteristic hairs all over them, while larvae that will produce sexual males or females are bare. It is thought that workers can use these distinguishing features to identify larvae. Workers may cannibalize larvae in order to ensure a favorable caste ratio. This was so that when the plaster with Ptolemy's name fell off, Sostratus's name would be visible in the stone.

Judith McKenzie writes that "The Arab descriptions of the lighthouse are remarkably consistent, although it was repaired several times especially after earthquake damage. The height they give varies only fifteen per cent from c. The Arab authors indicate that the lighthouse was constructed from large blocks of light-coloured stone , the tower was made up of three tapering tiers: At its apex was positioned a mirror which reflected sunlight during the day; a fire was lit at night.

Extant Roman coins struck by the Alexandrian mint show that a statue of Triton was positioned on each of the building's four corners. A statue of Poseidon or Zeus stood atop the lighthouse. Al-Masudi writes that the seaward-facing eastern side featured an inscription dedicated to Zeus. The lighthouse was badly damaged in the earthquake of , and then again in and Finally the stubby remnant disappeared in , when the then- Sultan of Egypt , Qaitbay , built a medieval fort on the larger platform of the lighthouse site using some of the fallen stone.

The 10th-century writer al-Mas'udi reports a legendary tale on the lighthouse's destruction, according to which at the time of Caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan r. The search was cunningly made in such a manner that the foundations were undermined, and the Pharos collapsed.

The agent managed to escape in a ship waiting for him.

In the lighthouse was rediscovered. She confirmed the existence of the ruins representing part of the lighthouse. Due to the lack of specialized archaeologists and the area becoming a military zone, exploration was put on hold. Greek archaeologists led by Jean-Yves Empereur re-discovered the physical remains of the lighthouse in late on the floor of Alexandria's Eastern Harbour.

Some of these remains were brought up and were lying at the harbour on public view at the end of It is possible to go diving and see the ruins. Legend has it that the people of the island of Pharos were wreckers ; hence, Ptolemy I Soter had the lighthouse built to help guide ships into port at night. In it was suggested [20] that the Pharos was the vertical yardstick used in the first precise measurement of the size of the Earth. Since a number of proposals have been made to replace the lighthouse with a modern reconstruction.

In , the Egyptian government and the Alexandria governorate suggested building a skyscraper on the site of the lighthouse as part of the regeneration of the eastern harbour of Alexandria Port. The plan was opposed by Alexandria-based sociologist Amro Ali.

The lighthouse remains a civic symbol of the city of Alexandria and of the Alexandria Governorate with which the city is more or less coterminous. A stylised representation of the lighthouse appears on the flag and seal of the Governorate and on many public services of the city, including the seal of Alexandria University.

Now because of the narrowness of the strait there can be no access by ship to the harbour without the consent of those who hold the Pharos. In view of this, Caesar took the precaution of landing his troops while the enemy was preoccupied with fighting, seized the Pharos and posted a garrison there. The result was that safe access was secured for his corn supplies and reinforcements.

He knew, as actually happened, that in a very short time the letters would fall away with the plaster and there would be revealed: History then should be written in that spirit, with truthfulness and an eye to future expectations rather than with adulation and a view to the pleasure of present praise. The Blood of the Pharaohs is the royal bloodline dating back to Ancient Egypt. The possessors of the royal blood are extremely powerful and are favored by the gods as hosts. Thought to be extinct, the bloodline continues into the modern world. Carter and Sadie Kane are the most powerful magicians born to the line in thousands of years.

Lighthouse of Alexandria - Wikipedia

A list of the pharaohs is contained on a papyrus scroll called The Blood of the Pharaohs. One copy is kept in the library of Brooklyn House , which includes the name Kane written in hieroglyphs. Those with the blood of the pharaohs are currently being persecuted by the House of Life for following the Path of the Gods. Sadie and Carter have begun to use Osiris 's djed to call others like them to Brooklyn House. Anyone who has the blood of the pharaohs has the right to become the Pharaoh of the House of Life.

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