
Mariposa's original daily updated online newspaper
Mountain Shadows
By Guest Editorial Writer James Heth
|
Ants There are many interesting creatures on this earth but few as fascinating as ants.They are on every continent on earth and come in many different sizes and shapes. An ant colony can have over a half a million members. Each ant hill has different functioning members. First is the queen who is the most important one in the colony. Everything evolves around her and her principle function is to lay eggs and that she does. The next classification are the workers and they are the ones that dig the underground tunnels, take care of the queen and do all of the work that needs to be done. Then there are the soldier ants and they protect the colony and all of the other ants. There are also scouts and those are the ones you see scurrying about. They are looking for food and when they find food they chemically mark a trail back to the colony so the workers can find the food. If you watch this process you will note that along side of the long line of workers dragging the food back to the colony, on either side of the workers are lines of soldier ants protecting them. If the food is too large to transport easily the workers will cut it up into smaller pieces. When watching this process take place one cannot help but admire the fine organization that is taking place It appears that no one is really in charge but somehow this process moves along without a hitch and is the envy of many corporations who would wish that their operations might move along as smoothly as those within an ant hill every day of the year.
|
Sunday August 3, 2008