The ant warrior

In Japanese, the word ' ant ' is compounded by the words " insect " and " faithful ". With altruism and solidarity, ant colonies are always ready to fight to protect their fellow people when attacked. Biological researcher Edward O. Wilson, who has devoted his life to observing the life of ants, leads us to explore the living world of this particular species.

Ection burchellii and Ection hamatum are two ant groups always confronting each other. Although the body is more muscular, the Ection burchellii species are always encroached by Ection hamatum because the descendants of Ection burchellii are less than the Ection hamatum. These two groups of ants are always ready to fight whenever they encounter each other and then retire to win the next appointment . to continue. What is special is that although they fight fiercely with each other, they never kill each other But don't be so happy, but these warriors can kill other animals a thousand times larger than they are. Therefore, there is a proverb: " Ants kill elephants"! (Photo: nationalgeographic)

With about 10,000 billion " people " around the world, ants are everywhere except on ice peaks and polar ice regions . Wherever it is, from deep within the earth or on a tall tree, they all live like a leader of insects. Although there are only 12,000 groups, accounting for about 1.4% in the world of insects, their synergies can generate several thousand times their weight.

Edward O. Wilson said: Ants always stimulate my curiosity. As a 13-year-old boy living in Washington, I was very interested in the stories of Fank Buck and dreamed of the adventures of exploring the wildlife of animals. At that time, I decided to make my " expedition " on the " rainforest " at Rock Creek Park .

Unaware of anyone , whether it is the lord of the jungle, tiger, bear or other aggressive animals, this army of ants will surprise you to sweat if you witness the " war " of them. With the sharpened gear, these warriors can completely " re-eat " their much larger opponents. As for spiders or scorpions, they can " make meat " about 10,000 names a day. However, they have a huge disadvantage, which is that there is no such expertise as other animals. The reason E.burchellii was named warrior because they are very large, about 300,000 to 700,000. They are very mobile, moving from one team to another. Each ant has no specific characteristics, the only characteristics to distinguish their family lines are horrifying hunting plans. The other ants themselves personally go to find food alone or use detective soldiers to detect the bait and then signal to other members to bring the bait to the nest. But E.burchellii is completely different, they will overwhelm any animal that unintentionally or deliberately blocks their path and if they find that prey " tastes good " they will " eat " immediately or leave. team to save. It is worth mentioning that these ants do not see the road, they do not see anything in the foreground, only if they are blocked in the way they must attack to overcome. They can kill but do not eat lizards, snakes or frogs if these ill-fated animals fall into their " ranks ". Their offensive strategy is " to rape her ". Imagine how 200,000 ants will fill a 13m ² yard.

By connecting with each other, the warriors of Ection burchellii took themselves to make materials to build the nest and this nest was very stable, not inferior to a barracks. Particularly for warriors wandering tomorrow, they do not build a nest in that fixed structure, but build a " joint " inside the log items or on the branches.

Ants trenches : When larvae are born, ants will station in somewhere for 20 days to wait for larvae to develop into pupae.Once a princess ant can produce 300,000 eggs.And then the ants deployed protective barriers to avoid the attack of others.When the soldiers unraveled from the cocoons, they immediately formed a new barrier to protect the newly hatched ant eggs and newly hatched larvae.In the next two to three weeks, ants will multiply countless times and build up everywhere throughout the journey they pass through.

Organizational structure : Became a tradition, the group of E.burchellii wanders and the group lives on a constant rotation "to rule " their subjects. And when the successor of the group wanders, right from the time of being a pupa, this young child will be taken by warriors to "headquarters" wherever he is. In their organizational apparatus, there are only 4 types of worker ants who are qualified for " physical strength " to take the responsibility of taking care of and protecting princess ants.And in these four categories there is a clear hierarchy: the three smaller sizes are responsible for searching for prey for larvae and larvae.Whether an officer or a soldier, all must follow a certain discipline.The soldier soldiers can only live for a few months but the queen ants can live up to several years.The queen will declare "the throne" before the child is born and this message will be announced everywhere for known "subjects".

 

" Pro " level warrior : Fight with the enemy is the forte of E.burchellii warriors. Their powerful weapons are larger and more pointed and sharp ones as shown in the picture. However, they are not aggressive fighters. They only attack those who make them " annoying ".The Amazon tribes use the slime produced by these warriors to cure body wounds caused by biting insects.

 

"Everyone for one person, one for everyone" : The ants are "cleaning" each other.They "clean" the stains on their friends and vice versa.The worker ants released a fluid to mark other children on their way to the nest.From that marked trail, the other ants spoiled the food in the nest.The other uncle is responsible for the maintenance of that road, cleaning up debris, pieces of rock blocking it . And the wandering uncle E.burchellii does not get that stability.For them every day is a new terrain with new roads.

For nature, ants have important impacts on the environment . They have a very strange lifestyle unlike any other animal on the planet. They maintain the " feminist " regime from one generation to the next: queen ants reproduce, " produce " ants who manage all other ants. Male ants are bred and raised for a short time to wait until the " help " ants fertilize. The communication system of ants is completely non-verbal. Their communication is mainly based on pheromones and secretions from each body or a way of sniffing according to the smell of the nest. The ant's brain is less than a billionth of a human's brain so it is not surprising that "watching" an ant and counting him can only yield between 10 and 20 movements. Unlike human language, all their communication is based on instinct.

This wonderful little creature is present on the earth for over 140 billion years. There is a complex organization in their world, like warriors and builders. Ants are easier to live than dinosaurs and even longer than humans.

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