With our last classes taught (although I still have fun Fridays at the elementary school), Kate and I have taken up a new and exciting hobby. We watch ants. That's right, ants: Phylum, Arthropoda; Class, Insecta; Order, Hymenoptera. It started innocently enough. We were lying outside on the sidewalk leading up to our front door enjoying the sunshine, when we noticed that we were right next to an anthill. Coming from this hill were thousands of ants, parading in an organized line across our front yard. The line actually branched off into two lines about a meter from the nest, and the ants seemed to instinctively know which line they were to merge into. There was no hesitation at the crossroads. They each knew their job and did it as best as they could. The ants would set off with nothing and return with bits of plant that they took down into their nest. Being the clumsy giants that we are, we accidentally killed an ant or two in our clamboring around. These ants weren't abandoned though; another ant would come and take the injured or dead ant back to the nest. That set Kate and I to pondering whether any animals besides humans could comprehend death. It's amazing the deep thoughts that ants can inspire.
This ant-watching started up a while ago, and we have yet to become bored with it. As a matter of fact, yesterday Kate and I went for a run and as we were going up a mountain by our house, we came to a dead stop. Crossing the path (about the size of a narrow two-lane road) was a huge line of ants. A colony was situated on the side of the road, and it had at least five or six different openings into it. Millions of ants must have lived there. It was a true metropolis. Anyhow, the ants were crossing the road and picking up bits of grain that they were dragging back to the nest. Each piece of grain was at least twice the size of the individual ant and some were much much bigger. Each ant grasped the grain in its mouth and trotted it back. One or two ants, with gigantic pieces of grain, were actually walking backwards, dragging the grain. To see how dedicated they were to their grain, I picked up one piece and found that the ant hung on for dear life. No saving itself. As a reward, I let the ant down close to the nest, and although it seemed a bit dazed for a while, it got itself together and got back to the business at hand. While the majority of the ants were carrying grain to the nest, some were just marching back and forth along the line. Kate and I decided these were the motivator and traffic-directing ants. They were doing quite a good job because hardly any ants got off task, and the ones who did end up a ways from the line (mainly thanks to a gusty wind) always made their way back. We did, however, witness a bit on ant hanky-panky, as two ants snuck out of line and proceeded to get it on (or at least that's our best guess for what happened). Another ant must have caught wind of the activities, because it headed out for a look, but the ants had separated by then and gone opposite directions, acting as in nothing at all had happened. Anyhow, we eventually left the ants to their work and made it back home, a number of times having to do some tricky footwork to avoid stepping on any of our new friends. You see, Kate and I have become so attached to these six-legged creatures that we hate to kill any of them, even the ones that are invading our kitchen. Walking itself has become a moral dilemma.
Anyhow, if you'd like to know more about ants I suggest you go to this website. There are lots of links to ant information, and you can join Kate and me in our fascination with this marvelous insect. Here are some nifty facts to get you started.
*Worker ants can live up to seven years, and queen ants can live up to twenty-five years.
*All worker ants are female. Yeah, that's right, the tough guys doing all the work are actually tough girls.
*Male ants have wings. They mate with the queen and then die. They really aren't good for much.
*Some ant colonies can have a million residents.
*Ants are some of the most successful insects in the world.
Fascinating, isn't it. Really, you should give them a chance. Watching them work is motivational. If they can do what they do, think about what we can accomplish. No, really, think about it. As a final note, if you need to buy either Kate or I a present anytime soon, think ant farm.
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