Saturday, August 22, 2009

This is the Answer

With the help of this macro view, I am able to identify the holes or nests must be owned by the ant colony. Ants can be seen clearly at the right side of the hole.

So the answer is not so right if you think they are belonged to my lovely crabs, crickets or termites. If your answer is Martian or micro rabbit, I cannot help much but to send you back to the Mars.

But then come my new problem. What type of species do they belong to? (Ahhh! Life is really full of problems.)

I have spotted these tiny ants in the neighbourhood. They looked nothing similar to those in the first picture. I shall be right to rule them out.

I saw a giant ant nearby. If you observe carefully, it was on the way back to its home, the hole on top of the picture. Do you think this hole and the earlier one look alike? You can see the back part of an ant inside the hole if you enlarge the picture.

"This giant forest ant or Camponotus gigas is a large species of ant, native to Southeast Asian forests. It is one of the largest ants in existence, measuring in at 20.9 mm for normal workers, and 28.1 mm for the soldiers. Honeydew makes up 90% of their diet, but they will also consume insects and bird droppings." --Wikipedia

Before I end this post, there arise another problem again. Why did the ants need to make a sharp turn and travel in a long way, instead of creating a short cut, just like what we human are used to do?

Does this call discipline or unimaginative?

22 comments:

Ginnymo said...

Yikes! I wouldn't want all those ants. I have these tiny little black ones that get into the apartment sometimes. I hate them. Nice close ups of them!!

Harshi said...

So the 2nd one was also an ant hole. =D By the way nice pics of ants Rain. They're my most favorite insects. =D

If I remember right.. ants do seem to follow each other like robots, but they do calculate their paths and sometimes wander off from their paths to discover food or to explore new territories. And while walking one after another, they also tend to slightly straighten their curvy paths, and find shortcuts.

They also know instinctively to create ladders, bridges, towers, etc with their tiny bodies to assist other worker ants. Which means, they can be imaginative if they want to. ^__^

Icy BC said...

Great questions, rainfield, and a wonderful post that keeps my curiosity at peek.

The Retired One said...

Ok. Now you made me ITCHY showing all of those crawling ants everywhere....EEK!!

Heather Dugan ("Footsteps") said...

Interesting discoveries! It's rather fascinating when two very separate worlds momentarily touch.

betchai said...

oh, great questions for the mind rainfield, i however do not know the reason why the ants want to go the long way, maybe, they figure out they do not need to save the calories :)

Kirigalpoththa said...

That is quite gigantic for an ant!

Anonymous said...

hmmm...you made us thoughtful...ants are really one of hardworking creatures...lovely post

Rick (Ratty) said...

Great post about the ants. And very informative. I thought before that they must be very large if they were ants. Ants are very interesting creatures. Sometimes even humans have to make sharp turns too. I'm sure the ants have a good reason.

Anonymous said...

Beware of those ants that give stinging bite. I got bitten one time before.

George said...

You got some nice captures of the ants and raised some very interesting questions. Just be careful when photographing them. We have fire ants over here that deliver a painful sting.

Bangchik and Kakdah said...

Ants travel in ants little highway with speed limit, and traffic lights.... They will make sharp at junctions... Hmmm. ~bangchik

Joanne Olivieri said...

I agree with Betchai, maybe they needed a workout :D There are colonies of those ants.

rainfield61 said...

Ginnymo: I need to close my container tight enough, otherwise black ants will enjoy the sugar inside. Then, I have difficulty to differentiate sugar from the ants.

Harumi: You are right. They may need sophiscated mathematics to calculate the paths, the strength of ladders, towers or bridges. To follow instruction like robots is so right in order not to jeopardise the structure. ^__^

Icy BC: This keeps your curiousity at peak, but my white hair to maximum.


The Retired One: Don't mention that. I am feeling the same now. Yikes!!

Heather Dugan: This is a close encounter of the x kind.

betchai: I see. They are burning their calaries as what you do during hiking. These dead logs must be their mountain.

kirigalpoththa: Though they are big, somehow I think they are gentle. Have not heard any attack by these ants to us.

flyingstars: Your icon is very thoughtful as well, it spins and flies, up to the sky, looking for wonder.

rainfield61 said...

Ratty: Human not only make sharp turns, we apply emergency brakes, illegal U-turns, and hope for no traffic police around.

Mei Teng: These giant ants can only be victims smashing by our shoes.

George: I did post a story on weaver ants. They are big and the stings can be fatal.

Bangchik and Kakdah: I can see you are still busy traveling in the highway of blogoshere at 2:46AM. Cheer!! ^__^

Poetic Shutterbug: Then, investment in gym in the ant colonies should be a good idea.

cherie said...

okay, i got the ant answer right. and i googled the answer to your question: while humans tend to beat traffic jams and take short-cuts, ants tend to keep constant speed, and stay in their lanes. what a smartsy-antsy post! thanks, rainfield!

Unknown said...

Funny I was just researching ants to write an article and lost all my notes. There is something going on inside my computer that causes me to lose files - ants maybe?

cherie said...

hey rainfield, i'm back! are you ok with awards? then please grab the Cupcake award i'm giving you from my sidebar! be a good eat for when you trek!

rainfield61 said...

cherie: Thks for your award, I'll be as strong as the ants, hiking low and high with the piece of cupcake.

Judy Sheldon-Walker: Very interesting to know that my ants travel to your computer and bite all your notes.
In order to get them back, you may need to wait until the ants have digested the content, understand fully, and line up to reform the notes again.

Bengbeng said...

oh i was wrong, i thot it was a form of crab or something

Willie a.k.a Reptoz said...

yea yea i got it right!

Ayie said...

i hate red ants...so ouch when they bite!