Wednesday, February 19, 2014

"High Hopes"

"Once there was a little old ant
Thought he'd move a rubber tree plant
Everyone knows an ant can't
Move a rubber tree plant!"

A familiar song which, until now, I didn't take too seriously.  However, after being called to watch a neighbour's interesting discovery during his daily morning walk, I am having second thoughts about those lyrics. 

Ever hear of leaf cutter ants?  That was Jerry's discovery!  He took us to watch a fascinating display of tenacity, determination and strength.  Just down the road from our trailer, under an orange tree, Jerry had spotted a wide, deeply etched trail created by these industrious insects as they travelled to and fro from the orange tree to an unseen nest which could be anywhere on the other side of the park fence, over in the long grass bordering a low lying drainage area.  From our vantage point we couldn't see where they were hauling their booty.  What we could see was about 30 yards of the path they had created, winding from the tree, under the fence, into the tall grass where we lost sight of it.  The path was about two inches wide ... the majority of it strewn with pieces of  glossy, green leaves which had been stripped off the tree. The little bug- eyed, long legged insects formed two continuous lines. Heading toward the fence, a line comprised of ants bearing chunks of leaves much larger than they.  One ambitious worker was even lugging a seed from a decaying orange!  It had to be much heavier than the ant itself.  I watched mesmerized as that amazing little thing followed the smooth path of leaves, struggled over a rocky obstacle course of pebbles, maneuvered  the over-sized load under a twig and continued determinedly to the assigned destination point.  The second line consisted of workers returning to pick up yet another piece of leaf and retrace their steps.  We noticed how they often greeted one another by touching antennae.   

Examining the tree itself, we saw several ants crawling up the trunk out onto the branches.  Many of them were not carrying anything so we wondered if perhaps their job was to cut the leaves off the branches allowing them to fall to the ground where another crew could chew them into manageable pieces.
A piece of decomposing fruit also attracted a lot of attention.  Several ants swarmed over it working diligently at breaking the pulp into individual cells.  While observing the ants meandering toward the fence we saw morsels of the fruit being carried along the trail.

Apparently (according to Goggle research), these insects carry all this interesting "stuff" to the underground nest of the colony. The leaves are chewed into a pulp which is left to decay, along with other foraged organics, thereby cultivating a fungus which provides a substance the ants eat for survival. Interestingly, it is the female members of the species that do all the work!  The males are for reproduction purposes only.  Sound familiar??

As for moving that proverbial rubber tree ... I'm still not convinced.  But I do know that "little old ant", and her female relatives, can strip a tree of its leaves, put them to good use, and, in so doing provide a fascinating study of nature for several curious humans.