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Ants


Airehead

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There are big black ants and little black ants. And red ones. I never figured out how the big ones didn't conquer the little ones.  My childhood friends and I watched two apparently different groups of similar ants, hundreds of them, fight to the death (over territory?) on a sidewalk on our street.  We, the children of WW2 and Korea War Vets, knew all about strategies and tactics - we'd get cheap WW2 leftover stuff at the Army-Navy Surplus stores of the day and reenact modern and ancient battles - and wondered if one group would hit the other in the flank or do a double envelopment like Hannibal at Cannae.  At first, we thought one group was getting overrun in the middle, on purpose, so they could attack from the flanks like Alexander the Great against the Persians at Gaugamela.  But the grunts on the edges had no clue what was happening in the middle and they were isolated, outnumbered, and bitten to death while their army got overrun.  Some of them must have been following the scent trails from the retreating front line ants that sent the chemical message, "Run away! Run away!"

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megaponera

Megaponera analis is the sole species of the genus Megaponera. They are a strictly termite-eating (termitophagous) ponerine ant species widely distributed in Sub-Saharan Africa and most commonly known for their column-like raiding formation when attacking termite feeding sites. Their sophisticated raiding behaviour gave them the common name Matabele ant after the Matabele tribe, fierce warriors who overwhelmed various other tribes during the 1800s. With some individuals reaching up to 25 millimetres (0.98 in) in length, M. analis is one of the world's largest ants.

These highly capable warrior ants also rescue and treat their comrades injured in battle. 

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Damn ants

To get the angle for this picture, I had to step between two ant mounds at least 6" high and 8" either side on my shoe. I was more concerned about the ants than the gators that were less than 10' away!

Wetlands De 2022 2500px-21.jpg

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