True Facts: Trap Jaw Ants

Not gonna lie. When Mildred turned herself around in the death pit and bit her predator in the face to escape it was pretty badass.

"she looks like shes overdoing it a bit but who knows, termite might be talking sh*t"
i already love this channel

“Kind of a 'catch me outside' kinda ant”
Ah, this man is well versed in nature and references I see

“And that’s the problem with the scientists. They can’t be like the rest of us and say ‘That’s cool,’ and flip on the television. They’re like those annoying children that keep asking ‘why?’”
Legitimately the best description of what a classical scientist is.

"Play this in a sex-ed class without telling anyone what it is."
For the record, That line caused me to subscribe.

"Scary stuff. Like being in kindergarten, and having a biter in the ball-pit"
That's so scary and funny at the same time.
And, never was an antlion likened so aptly.

I love how Jerry started as an offhand joke in one of his videos, and now he's a recurring character

"Butt ants like mildred -sorry- but ants like mildred..."
This....this is why we watch your videos

God: “Adam, you get one wish.”
Adam: “Ants stay small.”
God: “Done.”

Imagine playing a claw machine with your mustache. Now imagine your mustache moving so incredibly fast that is launches you backwards across the room. That's how the trap jaw ant do.

"Imagine a Wheel of Fortune where the word 'scumbag', is being displayed, but people still have to guess the 's'".
Congratulations Zefrank, you outdone yourself

You teach in a way that my ADD and ADHD can handle. The quick quips and jests give my brain just a momentary release from any monotony that it's perceiving and grab my attention right back with cool, well explained (and enjoyable) explanations. It's probably not even a thought or a basis for making the channel but you may be one of the best teachers I have ever had about these subjects. Not getting overly mushy but, thank you and please keep these coming!

8:38 A bit of a correction: there he's likely referring to the Asian Pericapritermes nitobei termites (who became relatively notorious a while ago for dethroning Mystrium in blow speed), however they don't do the "basically the same thing" at all but employ a very different technique than the one used by Mystrium: the asymmetrical snapping, totally unique to termites. This advanced technique involve highly assimmetrical and very weirdly shaped mandibles (along with a big head full of muscles) and work on a different principle tha the symmetrical snap used by Mystrium (and several termite species aswell), allowing their blows to reach velocities unmatchable by symmetrical snappers (or any other snapping ants). P. nitobei soldiers snaps at up to 121 meters per seconds, well above the 90 meters per second reached by Mystrium, but they're still not the fastest known animal movement in the world: that trophy is currently held by another much larger asymmetrical snapping termite: Neocapritermes taracua from South America. This very interesting species (beside being known for the kamikaze toxic "backpacks" their older workers are equipped with) have soldiers than can snap at a whopping 153 meters per second (as very recently registered by termitologist Jan Sobotnik and his team), which neatly beat P. nitobei's (and shatters Mystrium's) "scores". Said so, though there are a lot of termite species that employ the asymmetrical snapping technique, only these these two had their snap speed measured, so the real "fastest blow in the animal Kingdom" is likely still hiding among them, unknown to us due to a lack of research on termites.

That footage of the bouncing, spinning ants needs to be the basis of the title sequence in the next James Bond movie.

Ive loved this channel since 2013 and I swear the funny lines never get old. True Facts you still make me laugh out loud (surprising even myself haha) after all these long years ♡♡♡♡♡

“Oh, you were bleeping what they were thinking.”
That.... was very clever, Jerry.

I love these videos and appreciate the evolution of this channel to connecting with scientists. I watch these in my free time as a PhD student. love!

Ze, look into Volcanic Snails! They're wild, and I'd love to learn more about them, True Facts style!

“Tell me what is a f**k band Jerry?” Why was this the part that broke me? I spent a solid 5 minutes laughing on the floor

I like how these keep getting more informative as time goes on. If my Bio teacher did her lectures like this I’d probably have learned something XD

“...They’re like those annoying children that keep asking “why?”, except people give them money. Not much, because it encourages them.” As a scientist this is hilarious to me.

Wow, this is really brilliant made science work/knowledge transfer. Congrats to the makers. - a former ant researcher.

You should really do mystery snails mainly because I think you'll have fun with it. They have a tube that comes from the front of them that they extend up to the surface in order to get air

Mised you content so much Frank, thanks for bringing humor and science to my day!

This was one of the more fascinating videos from this channel that I've been (re)binging for the past few days. 10 times the acceleration of a bat hitting a fastball! Like, what the heck! Amazing.

One of these days a mischievous scientist will make a huge discovery and call it "sticky knobs" just for the lols.

My friend, this episode was incredible! i laughed so hard xd, you are achieving new levels of educational humor, thank you

The whole thing was fantastic. From the dropping ants to the antimations. Love it

If you've ever wondered what a love child of Sir David Attenborough and Robin Williams would sound like, well now you know

This man needs to teach everything about ants. Legend!!!

Zefrank is in a league of his own
making me laugh and educating me at the same time..
The funny made up accent, the humor, the wit..... Pure Genius
🤣🤣🤣

I remember seeing these tiny pits that would snatch an ant if it fell into it. Always wondered what the heck was going on there.

I love how he personifies these animals and gives them human names. Pure gold lol

Oh the joys of rediscovering your videos three years later. I had totally forgotten and now there's a backlog to clear!!! ❤️

“Sticky doorknob” sounds like one of those slang terms you’d look up on Urban Dictionary and immediately regret it.

I can never account for why jokes like "butt ants like- sorry, but ants like Mildred" at 7:43 are peak humor to me.

I’ve never laughed so flipping hard at science... dear God my cheeks hurt and tears are streaming down my face! Thanks !!! 😂🤣😂🤣

Your videos are improving to a whole new level of education and humor. This may be my favorite one yet. Thanks for all the laughs and education!

What an impressive improvement. I always liked your videos. You and your team work very hard on these videos.
I mean it. I was hoping for a slightly cleaner direction in these videos and I was meet with not only an improvement in pun maturity but even more educational content.
Seriously yall that video was so interesting with the added physics examples and 3d models.
High 5!

Man you rock. This is exactly how all people should be taught. Love your site and your shows. Just awesome. Thank you 🙏

This channel is awesome...I've always wanted to find a funny and educational channel that's not for kids...perfect 10 out of 10 would subscribe again.

I rarely comment Ze, but you deserve it. Ty so much for your work, time, and love put into every vid. Just wanted to say, continue on man, everything in that universe, keep us learning and involved. If we could train teachers to apply their learning to students in the way you do to your viewers, kids would love science again... As well as all other disciplines. So glad I found your channel. You put smiles on my family's faces repeatedly, seriously each vid gets many views and laughs. Best of all we discuss things and learn, together. Take care and be safe. The world needs your brilliance!

Such a unique style and so much legit information... One of the best offerings on TheXvid.

Mom: "Alright girls, someones gotta go get groceries, you decide who."
Mildred: *stares at Mandy*
Mandy: *stares at Mildred*
Mildred: *proceeds to aggressively poke her sister's forehead*
Mandy: *proceeds to aggressively poke her sister's forehead*
Mandy: I win
Mildred: *plays sad music as she goes to the grocery store alone*

"they're like those annoying children that keep asking why" This channel is gold. 😭😭

Wow I really enjoyed seeing the antlion footage, when I was a kid we used to go to this Campground in Michigan that would go on nature walk tours and they showed us antlions and I always thought they were so cool

I don’t think anyone else can make me sit through videos of insects but you, it’s very fascinating. Thanks for linking the scientists too so I could look them up later!

Glad you're back, you're absolutely killing it!

"Butt ants... Sorry, but ants..."
This is a joke he uses in so many videos, and yet it ALWAYS gets me.

I love this guy i wish every nature show had him as the narrator

Love your work. Funny AND educational.
Ever get asked to narrate somebody's IVF embryo development video? Because my wife and I would love to have you and Jerry document the conception of our bebeh.

Goodness gracious! I laughed so hard!! 😂 What the world needs now is love... and more of these videos.

I feel like you and AntsCanada would make a killer colab video. I have no idea what kind of video you would do, but he is very knowledgeable and passionate about ants and other insects and also a pretty fun watch. I didn't even know I was interested in this kind of stuff until I found his channel.

Having a bear trap jaw is cool.
Having a bear trap jaw that doubles as an escape catapult is next level tech.

Thanks for recommending Ant Lab to us, there's some amazing stuff to watch.

This man sound like he's gonna give me a 2 hour lecture on astrofysics but the actual words he speaks are more in line with those of a channel like tierzoo.
I love it

We learn a lot and laugh a lot!! Thank you!💙

Just about the best narration I've ever heard on a nature doc!

I love every single True Facts video! More often than not, they're about critters I don't even particularly care about, but I ALWAYS learn really cool things and laugh like crazy. It's a real talent to be able to make the life cycle of the Trap Jaw Ant something you would look forward to watching and tell your friends and family about. Imagine if this is how kids were taught in school?! Everyone would be a genius!

I love this!! Wish it was a bit more suitable for my kids though! They'll have to wait.

thank you thank you thank you - a real adult documentary series! this series is hysterically brilliant.

That was fascinating and hilarious. Brilliant job!

I love this video! As a kid in Venezuela me and my friends would put two of the ants against each others' jaws which would turn into a wrestling match.

Mildred (I can't spell, sorry) falling off the table and bouncing when she hit the floor is just hilarious.

I've heard a lot about trap jaw ants and how badass their jaws are. No one ever mentioned they fire themselves off like catapaults and bound and spin around so much. Not sure if that makes them more or less badass.

I don’t know why it’s so funny that, whenever they snap their jaws, they get knocked to the 7th dimension.

I love that they actually made a model to show how the mandible work. That's dedication right there.

Hey!! Love your videos! I always wonder. Would you ever consider doing one of these about the homosapien??? Would love to see it!

Great fun to learn and b educated with this crazy humour. I love it and watch every video so pls, never stop this is great.

Amazing job thank you guys for the hard hard work.

_"Those four little bumpy thing are called”..._
Me with understanding of insects: oh prolegs :D!
_"sticky door knobs”_
Me: wai-!? hold on?

I think what surprises me so much about these ants is that they are kind of more individual than other ants. Like instead of just using pheromones to communicate the actually like do a thumb fight or whatever the hell it is that they're doing I think that's really interesting

Ahhh I didn’t know you were still making these! The best! Please do one on bison 🦬❤️❤️❤️

Thank God for this man, his voice, his jokes, and amazing videos

I'd have an A+ in bio if all my classes were this entertaining

Love the “play this in sex Ed class without telling them what it is and just say always wear a condom.” Lol

I just found this channel and I am so glad that I did this is such a fun way to learn about insects

I hope he does a video just on ant lions someday, they’re my favorite insect

This is absolutely the best way to learn more. Knowledge with humour, the best!

I LOVE this channel. So informative of things you didn't realize you wanted to know, and Hilarious at the same time.

"And then the bebeh's have to spin their own blankie (cocoon whatever) with crap that come out their face parts"
Should have been immediately followed with...
"Imagine crawling into bed every night and throwing up an entire blanket to cover yourself with. That is how the Trap Jaw Ant do"

I had a biology class that had us catch antlions (not easy by the way they burrow down quick) and we had to catch ants with tweezers to keep them alive until we took the final. So cool to watch.

"Biter in the ball pit" hit way to close for me, I was in fact bitten at a McDonald's playhouse ball pit by some dirty ass kid who didn't know what personal space meant.
He bit me on the calf while I was trying to do some butterfly stroke type motion lol.
Shit hurt and when he finally got taken out he didn't even have a parent with him. Turns out he lived just down the block.

"Sticky Door Knobs"
FINALLY! SOMEONE WHO DOESNT GIVE COMPLICATED NAMES.
Scientist who gave that name, *you're a legend.*

My husband showed me the ant lions at the farm we were at. There were a hunch of holes everywhere and he put a poor old ant in the hole and just watched the ant lion throw sand to get the ant sucked in. Crazy but so fascinating.

never a dull moment with your videos Ze! I peed so hard that I laughed

Thanks for the laugh. It's been a miserable few days. Been stuck in the hospital wondering if my husband is gonna die. This gave me a second of laughter

This is the kind of nature documentary I love

Hilarious narration while imparting knowledge....great job!!

Haha love these ants! Their bite hurts SO MUCH! 🖤🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜

8:17 Wait so what is the point of the pressure-snapping mandible over the tension-snapping mandible? Just bouncing away? The trap-jaw seems a lot more useful since you can bite hard with it.

in the Philippines, we called this "Hantik" its bite and sting really pack a punch! the bite or sting area on your skin starts to get a bit numb but painful as time goes by.

Don't let this man's great comedy distract you from the incredible fact that these ants invented rocket jumping.

The commentary is hilarious! Wish this guy taught Science Class, I would've passed with flying colors!

I'm on the third semester of biology college and i often come to your videos if I want some more information about an animal. one of my teachers uses TheXvid videos to show us animals parts and behaviors and your videos are always on the recommendation section. i love it. you encourage me to not give up and stick to this field

"It's like being in kindergarten and having a biter in the ball pit" That made me laugh so much!

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do Lubber Grasshoppers!! They froth at the mouth and emit a stank to ward off predators, and their only predator, the loggerhead shrike bird decapitated and impaled them on a surface and waits for the toxins to dry up before eating it... There's a vampire joke in there somewhere! DOOOO IIIIIT!!

You should make your own "planet earth series" except it would be a compilation of these types of videos. Rated Pg-13 of course lol. Im sure it would sell just as good as normal documentaries do considering its actually education and funny, which is something nobody else does with nature documentaries

OMG...Now my skin is actually "crawling" like I might be developing a major panic attack...I would rather have random snakes slithering all over me than spiders or ANY kind of ant...I despise them both as their bites cause serious allergic reactions...They literally make me weak in the knees...s h u d d e r I n g...

I will NEVER EVER get tired of the "Why did you bleep that?" routine, no matter how much you use it! 😂