Once upon a time, there lived a king, named Solomon, who advised a sluggard to go and study the ways of the ant.
Ants are worth studying, and the better we become acquainted with these insect neighbors, the more we understand what Solomon meant, and also, why he was called "a very wise ruler."
There are many kinds of ants. Some are masons and carpenters; some are farmers and herders, while others are warriors. All are inhabitants of dark places and have a kind of village life in which each ant has a definite bit of work to do.
No matter what the type of village, the ants will be divided into three distinct classes. There will always be queens, males and workers. The queen ant is really not a ruler at all. She is almost a slave, for after she has married a winged male ant, she pulls out her own wings, goes into a dark hole and starts a new ant village.
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The first eggs she lays are all of one kind and hatch into workers. As soon as these workers are fully grown and able to care for the eggs and the larvae which come from the eggs, the queen becomes a prisoner in a special part of the village. She is fed and carefully cleaned and tended, but she must do as the workers wish. She must lay eggs.
From these eggs will come other workers, some males and some queens. When the males and queens are growing they receive the best of food and care, but as soon as grown, are driven from the village by the workers. For a time they fly about in the air, find mates and have a joyous honeymoon. Then the males drop from sight and soon die, for they do not know how to feed or care for themselves.
As among bees, the workers are the ones upon whom the success of an ant village depends. If the village is to be guarded, the soldiers take their places; if slaves are needed, an enemy stronghold is attacked and the young larvae stolen.
Sometimes, the workers are large, and again they may be dwarfs. But whatever the size or color, each worker does his definite bit of work without having any commander or leader to direct that work.
Perhaps when crossing a pasture, you have turned over a large flat stone and discovered to your amazement that underneath was a network of paths and tunnels leading into the ground, and that hundreds of ants were disappearing through those passageways tumbling over each other in an effort to carry some tiny bundles into the village below.
Oh! what confusion you caused by lifting that stone. The ant nurses had brought the baby antlings up where they might feel the warmth of the stone above and yet be in the darkness. There may, too, have been aphids, hidden under that stone.
Aphids are sucking insects. With their hard, round beaks they pierce plants and draw out the juices. These are changed into a milky substance in the aphid's body.
Ants are very fond of aphid milk, so the aphids are carefully herded that there may be food for the queens and young ants when needed.
A large community of Honey Ants is found in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado. The rock here is a red sandstone. Often, wind and rain have carved the upstanding cliffs into grotesque shapes which give the place its name. Between the higher ledges lie many lower ridges, and it is on these the workers of the Honey Ant colonies have mined the rock and built their villages.
Such a village will often be as much as eight feet long, three feet high and one and a half feet; wide and will consist of wide hallways and numbers of galleries. Sometimes the floors and ceilings of the rooms will be smooth. Again the floor will be smooth, but the ceiling will be rough.
Could you look into a room of the latter kind you would indeed be surprised. Hanging with their feet clasping the rough rock ceiling are hundreds of ants, so full of honey that their little bodies look like little barrels of gold.
This honey is secured during the darkness of night, from galls growing on a kind of scrub oak tree. Drop by drop a sugary sap drips from the gall cases and is collected by the workers who feed it to the ants hanging upside down from the rough ceilings in the red sandstone villages near-by. They are the holders of the honey until it is needed. Then by muscular movement it is squeezed out of the golden barrels, and fed to males and queens, to worker or antling, as the case may be.
Natives and Mexicans long ago discovered that this ant honey was delicious as a relish and useful as a medicine for bruised limbs.
Watch ants whenever you have an opportunity. The things they do place them very high in the insect world. Cornell
Watch More Video About Ants:- Yummy Honey Ants. Aboriginal women digging for honey ants...
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