|
“Go to the ant.…, consider her ways and be wise,” wrote the wise
Solomon, “which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and
gathereth her food in the harvest” (Prov. 6:6-8).
These words of King Solomon were said to be one of the “puzzles of the last
century” because scientists had no evidence that ants actually store food. But late in the
19th century, a British naturalist, making a study of ants in Europe, showed that Solomon was right
after all. He discovered what are known as harvester ants that gather grain in the harvest for use
during the dry season when food is not available. Not only do they gather grain and store it, but
should some of the grain sprout, they remove it from the mound to a place where it can take root
and grow then harvest any seeds it produces.
|
|
|
Every ant colony begins with a queen. As with bees, the queen ant is much larger
than her workers. After mating she chooses a site for her nest, sometimes under a rock for a start,
and immediately begins laying eggs. She feeds and cares for her first offspring alone, producing a
few workers who immediately go to work. As the colony grows, they eventually tunnel in the earth
to a depth of as much as 20 feet. Using their feet and their strong jaws, ants mine tunnels and
chambers and carry the soil to the surface, usually dropping it near the entrance where it forms a
mound we call an anthill. After workers are produced, the queen does nothing but lay eggs to
perpetuate the colony. A single colony of ants has been known to attain a population of more than
a million individuals—all the offspring of one mother.
|
Wikipedia
an ant queen |
|
Like all insects, the ant's body is divided into three distinct sections, which are
connected by flexible joints. The head contains the insect's eyes, feeding apparatus and feelers,
or antennae, which are sensory organs needed to make contact with its world and each other.
The thorax, or center section, is the locomotion center which operates its six
legs, while the rear section houses the respiratory system, digestive and other organs. Ants can eat
only liquids, hence they chew seeds and grains and ingest the liquid. Because they live mostly
underground in the dark, they have little need for vision, depending upon their feelers to guide them.
When outside, their eyesight is limited to about two feet, but they compensate for it by their antennae
in which is located a keen sense of smell and touch. And they have a strong instinct to recognize
others of their own clan. When one ant meets another they exchange strokes of their feelers to know
if they are of the same colony, and if they are they pass a drop of fluid to one another.
In some instances ants have shown an amazing ability to outsmart humans. In South
America, ants were found to be climbing coffee trees and chewing on the coffee beans. Men tending
the trees placed sticky ant repellent bands around the trees, but within an hour the ants had
discovered alternate routes up tall grass blades that reached overhanging branches of nearby trees,
thence establishing a new route to the forbidden coffee trees.
An anthill is a busy place. Solomon had observed the ways of the ant, and pointed
to their industry in contrast to the lazy or indolent behavior of the human race. Their only
overseer is another ant, yet they are ever working. Every kind of ant known in the world is a
social creature. They never live alone. They establish communities so beautifully regulated and
operated that it has been said that man's by comparison seem blundering. If an anthill is partially
destroyed, and many of the ants killed, the survivors immediately set to work mining and rebuilding
their home. There are many different species of ants, but all are noted for their industry in
providing and caring for their own.
Wikipedia
Leaf-cutter Ants
Among the ants are “engineers” who construct elaborate tunnels and
carry out complicated building operations within the anthill, and guards who keep enemy ants out
of the colony. Also there are ants that are “agriculturists” that carefully clear the
ground of all but certain grasses to prepare the area where they store their seeds or grains. There
are “soldier” ants that are larger and stronger, with especially strong jaws that crush
seeds for feeding the young. The workers carry on the housekeeping for the clan. There are workers
whose sole job is to care for the queen, who is literally an egg-laying machine. Other workers tend
the larvae until they hatch into workers. Unlike the bees, ants do not encase the eggs in cells,
but simply leave them lying on the floor, or stacked in a corner of the nest. Thus they have what
we would call “low overhead.” The energy that would be spent building cells is diverted
to more profitable uses, and should conditions become unfavorable the ants can move out, carrying
their young with them to a new location.
So called Tailor ants are able to “sew” their nests. To begin the job,
a group of them pulls two leaves together until their edges touch, then the ants use fine silk
strings to sew the leaves together.
Army ants are bridge-builders. When a group of them come to a span they cannot
cross, some of the ants link their legs together forming a type of ant-link chain across the chasm,
which the other ants use to literally walk across.
Probably the most fascinating and most industrious of the ants are the Parasol ants,
so called because they may be seen in parade form, each one carrying above his head a big piece of a
green leaf. These ants are farmers in the ant kingdom. They carry these leaves into their
underground tunnels where they use them to make compost on which they sow spores for growing
different kinds of fungus. These little farmers sow, weed, harvest and eat, and sow again to provide
for themselves and the colony.
Do we wonder that the wise Solomon wrote, “Go to the ant, … consider
her ways and be wise”?
Scientific Data in this Article is From:
- All About Ants by M.W. Larson
- The Insects by Peter Farb & the editors of LIFE
|
|
