“Livin’ in an Ant Society”: Analyzing the Accuracies of Phineas & Ferb’s “Gi-Ants”

“Livin’ in an Ant Society”: Analyzing the Accuracies of Phineas & Ferb’s “Gi-Ants”

One of the most creative and universally enjoyable children’s TV shows to come out of this century has to be Phineas and Ferb. This Disney Channel show, airing from 2007 to 2015, is a family-friendly cartoon about two stepbrothers who create all kinds of wild inventions during their summer vacation to make the lives of their friends and family more fun. Oh, and their pet platypus is a secret agent who has to put a stop to the wacky plans of evil scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz every episode. But that’s for another day. 

While every episode contains ironic humor, likable characters, and bright animation, we’re focusing on just one in particular. Actually, half of one, since each episode is split into two separate stories (like Spongebob Squarepants). The second half of season 3 episode 17, “Gi-Ants,” follows Phineas and Ferb as they grow ants to human-size and then join the ants in a giant ant farm that they impressively crafted off-screen. While this is an enjoyable episode as expected, the logistics of the ant colony that they join causes us to question if the structure of an ant family is accurately represented here. Let’s take a brief look at how this episode went for the young inventors, then we’ll dive into what a real life ant colony looks like and how the cartoon holds up. Just as a premature prediction, we’re guessing that the animated version is much more appealing and fun. But who knows, maybe real ants are hiding fun qualities that we don’t know about yet!

The Basics of the Episode

Just like every episode of this wonderful show, the premise of “Gi-Ants” happens because Phineas and Ferb are inspired by a random occurrence that just so happens to be the cure for a tedious summer day. When they see a bunch of ants scurrying over a baklava bear that their older sister Candace abandoned, Phineas marvels at the perseverance and work ethic of these tiny creatures. He asks Ferb the rhetorical question about how fun it would be to live in an ant colony, which, logically, leads to them building a house-sized ant farm and finding a scientific way to enlarge the ants. When their friends Isabella, Baljeet, and Buford stop by to see what’s going on, Phineas explains while Ferb demonstrates, as the dynamic always goes. In short, Ferb scoops an ant hill into the “resize-anizer” that rains enlarging liquid on the ants, who go to a “synthostatic light” before heading into the massive ant farm as they grow. Phineas dubs the structure “Antius Maximus,” which is quite the scientific name for this contraption. All of the friends then douse themselves in ant pheromones to blend in, which Candace later inadvertently does so much to the point where the ants take her in as their new queen. 

As queen, Candace wants a salad and a nice dress rather than the natural materials that the ants dotingly bring her. This leads the ants to learn how to make a salad, weave fabric, do online gaming, get hobbies, advance into a democracy rather than a monarchy, and achieve enlightenment through meditation, all in this order. An interesting sequence of events for an evolving society, yes, but it certainly makes for a captivating show. The giant ants thank Phineas and Ferb for their work, but state that their new mission is to find the mystical “picnic planet” somewhere in the cosmos. They even get to take a giant cooked turkey as a parting meal, only because Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s “Turkey-inator” went on the fritz. The constant jokes and a catchy little song make this whole premise a lot more entertaining than it may sound on paper. But how accurate is this rapidly-evolving ant colony to the real ones that don’t know about computers or planets devoted to picnics? This is the question left in our minds while the credits roll and their fun song “Ants” plays once again to get stuck in our heads for the rest of the day.

The Accuracies of a Cartoon

Of course, it should be reiterated that this is a children’s cartoon and therefore will not be completely realistic. It’s much more enjoyable for children of all ages to watch Phineas and Ferb become friends with intelligent animated ants rather than realistic creepy ants. So their appearance is not a factor in our analysis, even though the cartoon versions are good renditions of the real pests. Let’s take a brief look at the functionality of this ant society and how it lines up with a real colony. 

Queen Ants

The function of an ant queen is a little different than how Candace made it seem. Real ant queens purely exist to reproduce and grow the colony’s population, not order her subjects to make her a salad and a cell tower. The queen is also larger than the rest of the ants, which makes it easier to spot if you have the opportunity to watch a real ant colony. Since the queen is the only one who can reproduce, some of the younger worker ants are devoted to protecting her to make sure their population won’t die out. Also, the queen doesn’t dictate what the rest of the ants do with their time. The workers are self-employed and decide as a team what they want to do. Their decisions are based on their own instincts, preferences, and interactions with one another. Their specific tasks may have something to do with the queen, like gathering food for her in particular, but that is a natural task that is basically just a way to make sure the colony survives.

At the end of the episode, Candace is literally kicked out of the ant farm and is no longer the queen. This is the result of the ants forming a democratic system, but the whole deal actually is not too outlandish. Not the part with the ants in a senate chamber, because that’s almost definitely a work of fiction. But real ants can also overthrow their queen if they so choose! This seems strange, since ants are completely loyal to their own colony and queen by default. But the two main reasons for a queen being usurped are if she is not super fertile or if there are multiple in one colony. The overthrow is likely more violent than it was for Candace, and at least she got a crown, throne, and fun decorations. But considering the fact that real ants won’t achieve true enlightenment any time soon, their need for a queen being fulfilled is essential to the survival and longevity of the colony.

Worker Ants

Just like with the queen ant, the worker ants are based in reality in this episode. They start out as normal ants, who work as a unit and work quickly because they are so strong and collaborative. During the quick “Ants” song, Phineas, Ferb, and their friends work with the ants to dig tunnels and collect materials. Ferb even directs ant traffic as the ants scurry through the tunnels carrying leaves in their mouths. This is all relatively realistic to real worker ants, who don’t stop all day as they gather food and build up their anthill. Some sectors of workers also defend the anthill from predators, but we don’t get to see that here, as fun as that would be. They serve the queen for most of the episode, which is very true-to-life. The ants are kind enough to bring Candace a bowl of breadcrumbs and grasshopper legs, which she doesn’t want at first but later tries and admits that the breadcrumbs aren’t bad. 

The overall functions of worker ants are to defend the anthill, gather food and materials, and help the queen with food and grooming. Since the ants in this episode are constantly busy with some kind of task, even if it’s beating Baljeet in an online game, this also lines up with the real busybodies. The way that the fictional ants adapt and evolve their talents could be realistic in general, since creatures are constantly adapting to different environments and threats that could end their colony if they don’t learn how to do things a little differently. This is why ants, among other pests, have evolved to resist some of the older, supposedly reliable pesticides. But this adaption is not an overnight process, which this episode hints at. Even after the worker ants learn farming and make Candace her salad, they still leave in those dreaded grasshopper legs! 

Pheromones

Going back to the earlier synopsis of the episode, Phineas places a lot of importance on using ant pheromones to get inside. This is because these invisible chemicals are how ants communicate and determine the safety of another creature. Ants secrete pheromones at all stages of life, including after they die. But each kind of pheromone has a completely different meaning that only the ants know. Pheromones can be used for telling their fellow ants to stay away, attack, come get the food, and a myriad of other messages. Ants smell the chemicals with their antennae, which is why the cartoon ants don’t talk until later once they’ve evolved beyond the need for a queen.

Speaking of queen, Candace predictably does exactly what Phineas warned against in the beginning. While the group of friends only does one spray of “ant cologne” to get inside, Candace accidentally coats herself in about six. This makes the ants love her even more, hence why she becomes queen. Real ant queens release a ton of pheromones so that the colony always know where she is, so this lines up with science. Another interesting detail is that Buford (and inexplicably Candace) says that the ant pheromones smell like his grandma’s house. Since real ant pheromones can smell like anything from citronella to chocolate to blue cheese, depending on the species, this is quite the house scent to imagine.

Super-Organism Mind

Worker ants are already strong as individuals, but the reason behind the rapid growth and success of their colonies is because they always work together. This helps them to make choices that benefit the colony as a whole and survive longer, like choosing where to make a new anthill if they need to. Their physical strength is also a huge part of their productivity, though this episode majorly downplays that. The “Ants” song says that the ants lift 10 times their body weight, but this isn’t true. Ants can actually lift about 5,000 times their body weight! Considering the size of some of the crumbs they carry in real life, this strangely large number makes sense. We don’t get to see Phineas and the gang exhibit superhuman strength because they are still technically humans when they are in the ant farm. They might be covered in ant pheromones and wearing antennae headbands, but they are still our favorite cartoon humans the whole time.

Long story short, the ant colony in “Gi-Ants” is not far off from a real one. There are some creative liberties taken so that the ants can go from being normal to achieving total enlightenment, but that’s for the best since it’s so much more entertaining. If you want to teach your kids about the structure of an ant colony but need to make sure their attention is captured the whole time, this episode is a great way to include a little education with their TV time. 

Pest Control Keeps Your Yard Free of Ants

While these ants look like they would actually be fun to have around, we’re thankful that there are not any real ants the size of humans. But normal, tiny ants pose large problems when they invade our homes and yards. Anthills are eyesores that double as a factory of food-stealing pests, and they are very difficult to eradicate once they find their way inside the home. Thankfully, our pest control technicians know all of the tricks to getting rid of these pesky insects without the use of harmful chemicals. Contact us today to learn more about our EPA-approved ant control services and how we can make your home ant-free before the idea of building a massive ant farm even becomes an option. 

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Citations

Amazing facts about queen ants. (2020, March 24). Maggie’s Farm. Retrieved June 28, 2022, from https://maggiesfarmproducts.com/blogs/bug-help/queen-ants 

Bernstein, J., Kearsley, S., & Milo, M. (Writers) & Hughes, R., Elliot, G., & Oliver, K. (Directors). (2012, February 10). Gi-Ants (3, 17) [TV series episode]. In Povenmire, D. & Marsh, J. (S.) (Executive Producers), Phineas and Ferb. Disney Television Animation. 

Holbrook, T., Clark, R., & Haney, B. (2009, September 27). Secrets of a superorganism. ASU – Ask a Biologist. Available at https://askabiologist.asu.edu/explore/secrets-superorganism (Accessed on June 28, 2022).