The MGS Forum
Gardening in mediterranean climates => Wildlife in the garden (birds, butterflies, and how to attract them) => Topic started by: Umbrian on April 23, 2013, 07:02:25 AM
-
The industry of ants never fails to amaze me and I took this 'photo the other day. Between the edge of a path and the gravel adjoining it I noticed a pile of seeds and on closer inspection discovered that ants were busy transporting them in ever growing numbers. Those able to gain access were taking them into a small hole created between the path and the gravel whilst the others were being deposited around it. Now, several days later, a few remain in the area but obviously the majority have been safely taken underground. They looked liked the seeds of Agnus Castus but as the nearest one is quite a long way away I wonder just how far they had carried them - at the time it did not occur to me to follow their trail.
-
Hi Umbrian,
Here is a 'pet' for your ant collection. Well, it almost looks as if you could put a collar and lead on it and take it for a walk. Oh yes, as big and nasty as it looks too. This is an Australian Red Bull Ant. You will find a lot of interesting information by doing a basic net search. I found this one wandering about in a nearby nature reserve where I live about 12 months ago. I suspect 'she' might have been a recently mated queen; just lost her wings; searching for a place to start a new colony.
-
Wonderful pet ant, helenaviolet.
I sometimes wonder if ants are always that smart. This medium-sized ant found a breadcrumb next to our table while we were enjoying our breakfast some weeks ago, the crumb was actually bigger than the ant, but it didn’t seem to stop it. Then a second ant climbed on to the crumb and actually got a free ride for quite a while; the first one didn’t do anything to chase it to lower the burden, it patiently pushed forward. After a while the second jumped off, it probably got tired of the slow speed. The first ant then found a small piece of plastic cut off from a wire and carried it off. It seems as if a lot of the ants’ struggles are rather random and not all of them very productive.
-
:)
I know what you mean about ants' stupidity. I think the colony owes its success to its numbers and to statistics. That is, on average it gets things right, despite some individuals being way off the mark.
I wonder if the ant mistook that piece of plastic for a piece of alphabetti spaghetti!
-
It was probably an ant which plans to rewire the anthill.