BBC:
[W]hile it is well known that army ants kill and eat numerous insects and other arthropods on their raids, less well known is how many animals actually depend on the ants for their survival…
So-called antbirds, for example, follow ant raiding parties, picking up arthropods flushed out by the marauding ants. One species of African army ant even has a snake that follows it… 557 separate species have been recorded associating with this single type of army ant. Of those, more than 300 are known to depend on the ants in some way for their survival….
At least 29 species of bird, including “typical” antbirds, ground antbirds and woodcreepers feed on arthropods flushed out by the ants, such as millipedes, cockroaches and stick insects, rather than the ants themselves.
At least 239 butterfly species have been seen or collected at ant swarms, feeding on bird droppings laid by birds that have been attracted by the ants, while springtails run with the army ant columns at night.
Even the army’s garage supports life:
Army ants create refuse deposits, or garbage dumps, which contain all the hard bits of prey items, such as insects’ legs, that are inedible to them and their larvae. However, these deposits are teeming with life.
Beetle, mite, wasp and springtail species all depend on them as a habitat and food.
What do these ants remind me of? Alexander the Great’s army, which was huge, moved across continents, and destroyed and supported all sorts of life along its massive war path. Alexander made a mobile city out of war and destruction.
Alexander, one of histories greatest generals, was a flaming homosexual. But a communist? Noooooo!
Ooops! I meant to say “history’s,”
Good thing those ants haven’t invented nukes.
@ Vince,
Actually, it’s more likely that Alexander was truly bisexual. Most of the writings on him describe his love for both women and men.
But yeah, that gets conveniently left out by conservatives who can’t imagine their heroes to be anything but ultra-macho heterosexuals.
Marxism? Mr. Mudede, you imply Communism but you’re talking about anarchism! In Peter Kropotkin’s famous treatise “Mutual Aid”, he analyses animal behavior and interdependence as distinct from the Darwinian “survival of the fittest” model. To impose the human concept of dominance on animal relationships is to anthropomorphize them, to distort nature in order to fit a preconceived idea of “human” nature.
Another way to view to 557 species of animals being supported by the calvary of army ants is as a closed system of harmony in birth and violence, each species interacting, reproducing and sacrificing both life and energy in a network that creates balance and long term sustainability despite containing nearly innumerable elements and factors.
Animal relationships are not burdened with the ego of human relationships and to compare a complex system of balance with a human system of war and dominance is to speak metaphorically, but miss the point.
That said, I love everything you do.