Monochrome Monday ~ Schteinn's Faibles*: The Ant And The Ivy ~ Original Photography and Short Discussion About Very Small Bugs With Large Muscles ~

in #noxiousweedantwrangling6 years ago (edited)

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A Small Ant On A Large Leaf


Scurry Scurry, Toil and Hurry

I was wandering in the park the other day, and noticed all this Ivy growing on some Cottonwood trees. Clicking away in the incredibly bright sun, I failed to notice this little ant crawling all about, doing her daily chores. (Most of the ants you see are females). Soon, she wandered into my viewfinder.

Actually, 'wandered' would be an action understatement. She SCURRIED in and out of view, continually disappearing and re-appearing out from beneath the shadows of the leaves. I finally got a few snaps of her, though focusing was a bit of a chore. Patience and luck being as much partners of photography as skill, I did finally manage a few decent photos.

Watching her work, got me to thinking of the age-old question: "How much weight can a little ant lift?" So I went home and read a few things online. And it's amazing. These little creatures are now thought to be able to lift loads up to 5000 times their own body weight. I did some higher math, and discovered--that's like me hefting two to three small cars on my back, as I traipse across town.

Don't try THAT at home, human kids!

Somebody Needs To Write A Book On Ant Wrangling

Amazing little creatures indeed. Now if we could only train the ants to eat all this invasive English Ivy, that takes over the trees and fences and park-lands. Or at least get them to pull it all down, put it on their backs, and haul it across town to the lawn-waste recycle center.

They train goats to eat blackberries, and the goat wranglers bring them out to your farm or homestead to eat and clear the invasive brambles. Maybe there's a future in training hordes of ants along these same lines. At least the pulling down and hauling part.

They'd certainly be easier than goats to move to the remote locations for work. You'd only need one large truck with a GIANT ant farm in the back, propped up on the flatbed with thick cables tying it down against the driving winds. Something I should look into as a future, money making endeavor.

Then again, maybe I'll just stick to writing, photography, and messing about on Steemit.

( :

~ Finto ~




*Faible: A cross between a Foible and a Fable



Thanks for stopping in and viewing the wonderful world of the Monochromatic bug and invasive weed. If you have any thoughts about the much-photographed standard ant, Ivy as an ornamental, B&W Photography, or anything else this post reminds you of, please feel free to comment away in the spaces below. I'd love to hear from you.



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Please UPVOTE, COMMENT and FOLLOW if you enjoy my works.

And go to @ddschteinn -- There's a whole lot more...

Posted: 03/19/2018 @ 15:26



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Excerpts From Late-Night Conversations With A Mechanical Cat

Fact Number 50

Monochrome Monday Ants and Ivy  Stinky holding tail up.PNG

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You who had a lot of patience to photograph that ant, they stop us from moving around and they walk very fast. I did not imagine getting a picture of her as I had not asked myself that story question weight can load an ant I see that they have a lot of strength with those crumbs of food or leaves now why are you going to limit yourself to publishing?

Well, there is probably not a lot of money in ant wrangling ( : Though I guess I could try. Steem is sure down right now. Maybe to supplement my meager income.
They are interesting little creatures. I'm glad they're not larger, like in the horror movies. Supposedly it would be impossible for them to ever get huge, as they would collapse in on themselves. We can only hope they never figure that one out.

Hahahahaha if they get bigger they will eat us all and their bites will surely be bigger. I'm also with little income in steemit but little by little

We'll hope for always having the small ants. Better for us, that's for sure.
It does take awhile to build up power on here, but if you can not cash it all out, it does grow. I'm looking forward to one day being a dolphin....but am still a ways off. As you say, little by little by little. Have a nice day today.

You ever notice ants are very industrious. You dont usually see a group of them just laying around swapping ant stories! No, my friend, the ants are seemingly constantly busy!!

They are busy little doober's. And as you say, they don't BS much and lay around shirking ant work. That cracked me up. Wonder if they ever do get tired? Or cramp up?

You're always teaching me something. I did not realize that most ants are female.

They do have a complicated life. It's fun to read about. Very interesting little creatures. And STRONG. Glad I can lend some knowledge out now and then. I guess I DO do Science reports. Though some may be a bit...ahem, suspect. Not this one though ( :

fabulous photo @ddschteinn...whew
and I love your tribute to the amazingness of ants who we underestimate everyday. They are truly admirable.

Thanks so much, glad you enjoyed the image. Aren't they the oddest little creatures...a real success story, that's for sure. Though I'm still glad they're not big, and probably never will be. Hope your weekend is going along well, and you're not working TOO hard. Cheers

omg if they were big, we'd be in trouble!!

Yeah it's a shame that kind of strength doesn't scale up. Goddamned exponential limitations of three dimensional geometry!

Bio-engineering ants to clear plants seems like a great idea. Getting rid of the poison ivy around this place would be a blessing.

But how to program them to eat only one species? And if they work that out, it's only a matter of time before Monsanto produces ants that go around devouring non-compliant crops.

Bio-engineering ants to clear plants seems like a terrible idea.

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