Try, Try Again: Ants at Work

When I was in fourth grade, my younger brother wanted an ant farm. He hounded my parents for it until they finally bought one for his birthday. The farm came complete with ants, and it was a quick setup.

I became so obsessed with watching their progress, I'd check it every morning before school, after school, and before I went to bed. I credit that simple little ant farm with nourishing my sense of wonder and instilling in me a love for nature. This ant farm is just like my brother's. No, it doesn't come with a queen, so it isn't an exact replica of a real ant world. It's not meant to be.

But if your kids or grandkids would enjoy watching the worker ants build tunnels and cooperate in creating order out within their living space, it's a fascinating lesson in nature.

Check out the ant farm at Amazon.com

Ants are "programmed" (I believe by our Creator) to form nests and colonies that are so highly organized, they're like mini cities teeming with millions of citizens.

Did you know, aggressive ant species will sometimes team up to form what scientists call "super-colonies," and spread out across a wide swathe of land! In fact, in a tropical rainforest, these ants can add up to 15% of the total animal population!

It's safe to say that the rainforest is not somewhere to take a leisurely barefoot stroll.

A colorful print to motivate and inspire...






Buy at AllPosters.com

Ants aren't sluggards. They don't sit around waiting for the world to come to them; they go out into the world and use their skills in amazing ways.

In fact, according to University of Bristol professors Dr Scott Powell and Professor Nigel Franks, we could learn a lot about building super highways and plugging potholes from ants. Ants don't wait for city, state, or federal approval; they get the job done quickly as a team of experts.

In the rainforests of Central and South America certain types of arm ants conduct raids in order to bring food back for their developing young. After these predatory attacks, they must return quickly, along the trail leading back to the nest. To travel quickly, they need a smooth path. Worker ants go ahead, using their bodies to plug any potholes along the way.

Researchers conducted experiments to see how the ants would react when they came upon depressions in a board. "We did this by getting the ants to literally 'walk the plank', said Powell. "We inserted planks drilled with different sizes of hole into the army ants' trails to see how well different sizes of ant matched different sizes of pot hole. Indeed, they fit beautifully", explained Franks.

The hole-pluggers worked until the job was done, and their efforts benefited the group as a whole. Hmmm. Seems there's a valuable lesson in there.

Source: Aha! Jokes

Leaf cutter ants are well-fed, living off a special fungus from the Lepiotaceae family. The fungus grows in the underground chambers of their nest.

It's amazing how the ants literally feed the fungus, by haulingDay in, day out they do the same thing. Sounds boring...but they still cooperate for the betterment of the colony. certain types of leaves onto the fungus pile. They know which leaves are good for feasting and which leaves will make them sick.

If any of the ants bring toxic leaves into the nest, the ever-growing fungus starts secreting a chemical. The chemical warns the ants to steer clear of that type of leaf next time. The relationshiop they share with the fungus is pretty amazing. Technically, it's called a symbionic relationship, like a special partnership where each looks out for the other.

Known for their painful sting, these reddish ants live in the tropical forests of Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Solomon Islands. Maybe you've seen pictures of their elaborate nests, built in the leaves of trees.

Those nests don't just happen. Weaver ants work together and communicate effectively, to the point where revently hatched larvae provide a sort of "thread" that helps stitch the nest together.

Working as a team, several ants line up to inspect a leaf. This single leaf must be pliable and soft. Using their strong mandibles, this initial team of ants work to bend the leaf until its edges touch. Other workers then deliver several sticky larvae and drop them inside the bent leaf, where the larvae ooze a sticky silk. The ants then scramble to stitch the leaf edges together.

Each leaf is stitched to another leaf, and then another. Some weaver ant nests extend from one tree to the tree next to it.