| |
|
Army Ants
AUGUST 2006
|
|
 |
|
| Army Ants |
Field Notes
From Author/
Photographer
Mark W. Moffett |
|
|
|
|
| Army ants migrate every night to a new nest site, and hundreds of thousands of them will move along in a dense column. One night at about ten o'clock while I was watching them move, I saw a mass of soldier ants surrounding something. So I brushed them aside and discovered that they were protecting their gigantic queen. I ended up getting one clean shot of her face, which is rare to capture in nature (see NGM August 2006, page 143). |
The kind of storm you only see in the tropics exploded within a couple minutes of taking a picture of the queen. Meanwhile a couple dozen of her soldier ants locked their fish-hook mandibles into my face. A half hour later and completely soaked through, I was back in my cabin with a mirror and literally cutting the solider ants off with my Swiss army knife. I then used tweezers to remove their jaws. With my face completely scarred and inflamed, I didn't look so great for the next few days. |
You have to get down real close to watch ants, which is tricky because you also don't want them to notice you. They'll notice warm air instantly, so I got in the habit of holding my breath for as long as possible. Then I would have to turn away from the ants and gasp for air over my shoulder.
One of the times I was doing this, I had a sweat bee shoot right up my nostril and, well, I'd rather forget the rest. |
Top
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
