Teamwork - Watching the Ants

I have mentioned before about the fact that every inch of this country seems to be alive. Plants grow vigorously without any particular care being given to them. There also seems to be an endless supply of insects of various shapes and sizes.

Yesterday I came across a whole army of ants who were all carrying parts of leaves. It really is fascinating to see them all, each carrying something that is at least eight or nine times its own size. As one group goes in one direction with the leaves, replacements are endlessly scurrying in the other direction to collect even more.

This spectacle continued all day long, and continues again today. Quite an amazing display of coordinated effort!

One of the things that caught my attention is that the pieces of leaf were being carried right up the driveway of the seminary - a distance of approximately 300 yards!!! To carry the leaves all this distance the ants had to pass a whole array of plants of all types in which they seemed to have no interest at all - so what made them choose the particular leaves that they were carrying???

There was very definitely a smell of eucalyptus in the air so I was inclined to think that the leaves were obviously from a eucalyptus tree. However, having searched on Google, I have discovered that eucalyptus is actually used to repel ants, so that's another theory quashed!!!

I don't know exactly why they were doing it so I think I'll have to be content with watching the spectacle of this amazing coordinated task.

In the photos you will see the leaves - you will also see the ants but you will have to look harder; they are so small that it is hard to photograph them.