Western Exterminator is an American company that offers pest control services and they know their onions. I receive their regular bulletin which they share by mail and they recently gave us an article about the ant colony that should be a huge tenet for us. It encompasses nearly everything and leaves me wondering if we are really wiser than the ants; after all, they were created before us, we are told in the account of creation. We learned how to organize our societies from these little insects.
With full credit to Western Exterminator, I am only paraphrasing their article to buttress my point.
Ants are social. In other words, they reside in groups. When you see ants all over the ground, you might not view these insects as very orderly, but their society sure is. Just like humans learnt from them, ants have separate castes, which are groups of ants that complete a certain duty. Ant castes are queens, workers, and males.
Just like humans, the queen ant lays the eggs. In like manner, as it is with humans, where most men die before their female spouses, male ants die not long after they mate. The worker ants are female ants and most of them stay in the ant nest and complete tasks like tending to the young. We can infer there-upon that the work of tending to the young is largely a natural feminine role.
A colony of ants can contain more than one queen, but this depends on what species it is. Is that monogamy or polygamy or polyandry? That depends on the race and cultural values of the human. Any of them can be meant for some people and none is suited for everyone.
Queen ants are usually the biggest ants in the colony. Actually, it’s noteworthy that queen ants receive more food and attention. That is why the women must be properly pampered and taken care of, so they can be the biggest in the clan. They carry the largest burden in procreation.
A queen ant has wings but removes them after mating. Just like our women have wings to fly, and have their dreams and aspirations to pursue, but the moment they mate and become pregnant, they drop those wings for procreation.
Male ants have wings too just like men too have their dreams and aspirations to pursue. Worker ants are junior females and do not have wings. They are likened to young female humans who aren’t allowed to fly yet but are still under tutelage.
Just as what is referred to as, age of maturity, differs across human races, continents, and cultures, it is the specie of the ants that dictates what time of the year a colony is established. And as horny human lovers who have come of age will isolate themselves in privacy, ant swarmers also commonly leave ant nests and go to a specific place. After they mate, queen ants take off their wings and begin a colony.
The queen ant uses eggs, fat, and wing muscles for nourishment when beginning the colony. The earliest workers come into existence and tend to the young and make the nest larger.
How many ants are in a colony? This brings in the issue of population control that humans are grappling with. But if we take a lesson from the ants, we will learn a lot.
In the ant colony, population is also determined by specie. Depending on what species you’re talking about, the count can be in the thousands. Like the ants, there are several races in the world suffering acute population shortages and there are other races with population saturation. Let every race that sees the need, grow, or reduce the growth of their population per their own needs as the ants do.
Ants can also be hostile to ants from other species or other colonies. That is akin to immigration constraints and threats of war over territory amongst humans. This is a characteristic we learnt from the ants. Humans are equally territorial. Ants also have superpower colonies like our superpower countries with some colonies that are capable of stinging very badly for defense from predators and to protect their area.
The gender war amongst humans about who takes care of the home is not an issue in the ant colonies. The female worker ants clean the eggs and usually feed the larvae. Worker ants that tend to the brood, just like underage female humans, do not often depart from the nest. Additionally, it is the female worker ants that build the ant nest, and even when the ant population grows, they make the nest bigger.
Other ants leave the nest to forage for food. So going out for the males should not just be for going out for the sake of. It should be for a purpose that will be beneficial for the whole family. The biggest ants go the farthest away from the nest.
Interestingly, these ants typically leave chemicals behind that help them know what route to take. They also use their antennae to sense the chemicals; this is part of how they share information. The lesson here is that, when you are going out of the brood, like the ants, don’t form superman. Always leave your trail with someone in the brood. You never can tell what is out there.
And like intoxicated teenagers ready for mating, these insects also have flying ants who emerge when it’s time for them to breed. A queen ant and several male ants will leave the original colony on a nuptial flight. That is polyandry amongst humans. When the ants find a suitable spot, they land, discard their wings and begin building a new nest. Eventually, the female worker ants will build the colony around the queen who will set about laying eggs so the colony can grow.
Flying ants are known to swarm throughout the course of a year when the young ants determine it’s time to mate and start a new colony. This is why you’ll suddenly see dozens of flying ants or ants with wings clinging to walls, curtains, windows, and elsewhere around your house. Flying ants are in search of an ideal location to begin this new colony and also for suitable mates.
Soon, after they find a suitable place to set up their new nest, their wings will drop off and they’ll go into hiding. Isn’t that what humans who have come of mating age do? Young teenagers, who fly all over your faces, seeking all the attention they can get in a bid to get a place where they can go into hiding and then drop their wings?
These and more are the many lessons to learn from that intelligent insect you may not like.
Citizen Agba Jalingo is the Publisher of CrossRiverWatch and a rights activist, a Cross Riverian, and writes from Lagos.
NB: Opinions expressed in this article are strictly attributable to the author, Agba Jalingo, and do not represent the opinion of CrossRiverWatch or any other organization the author works for/with.