Ants That Set a Bad Example

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The Old Testament Book of Proverbs cites hard working ants as a good example for sluggards to follow.  But not all ants set such a fine example.  Some species of ants are slave makers and social parasites, who exploit the labour and resources of other species of ants.

Slave making ants like the Amazon ant steal pupae from the nests of neighbours of a different ant species.  When the pupae mature they embark on a life of labour for their captors.  In fact Amazon ants rely on slaves to forage for food, dig and maintain nests, and tend their young.  When Amazon ants are separated from their slaves they starve to death, even if food is present.

Amazon ants have other unpleasant traits.  They often swarm a much larger bug, stretch it out on a scaffolding of plant fibres and torture it.  The "torture racks" they build are designed to hold their prey still while they pull it apart over the course of a day or so.

To build the traps, the ants cut out thousands of little plant hairs from a leaf, which they weave into a sponge like structure, glued together with a fungus.  Then they hollow out holes in the spongy mass and hide inside them.  When a bug walks across the trap, its feet step into the holes where ants are hiding.  Immediately hundreds of ants swarm it, hanging on so that it can't move.

So next time you apply a proverb, keep the author's intention in mind.