Teamwork
Today's photo of the day is in no way a remarkable shot. It was taken in a very dark space, with a faulty lens. The focusing was sheer guesswork. Nor is it a pretty picture. Ants and cockroaches are not commonly the subjects of inspirational photography -- although there are some notable exceptions, such as in the definitive work The Ants, but much less so cockroaches.This photo was taken, simply, because we were amazed and even somewhat inspired by what we saw. It's hard to see it in the photo, but these ants are actually pulling the dead cockroach up a wall, a 90-degree slope. We were trying to estimate how many times larger the cockroach is than an individual ant - 500X? 1000X?
This was a moment where a more conventional digital camera with video option would have come in handy.
The phenomena reminded Cindy of another remakable ant accomplishment she witnessed. In her old kitchen in Chiang Mai , she once came back from holiday to find that acid-spitting ants had obviously repeatedly, in a coordinated fashion, aimed their toxic spit at a few select spots on the lid of her Tupperware thus penetrating the inpregnable. Clever clever ants. Everything in Empire of the Ants must be true.
So here's to the ants - a reminder to us all that with good teamwork, anything can be accomplished!
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 07, 2005 at 10:49 p.m..
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August 08, 2005 9:09 a.m.hi you guys! so sorry i missed you last time you rolled into town. this is a wonderful way to catch up with your adventures.
i've got a little photo blog: http://www.flickr.com/photos/beebs/
hope yr well
heather
August 09, 2005 10:17 a.m.
That sucker is ~15 times as long as one of those ants, and maybe ~12 times wider. Can't tell what the third dimension is but 2000 ants wouldn't be far off the mark. Looks like at least 100 ants doing the lifting. But what I'm wondering is, where were they taking the thing? Is this an inside or an outside wall? This isn't in your house, is it?
August 09, 2005 10:10 p.m.
Dear Observer,
At this time, we are choosing to keep the exact location of the above photograph confidential, for the safety of the ants, among other things... Let's just say that we can keep close tabs on new developments.
We have strong hunch about who you are, but maybe you don't want to give it away to the world. Didn't know that you had a blog...
If you can answer this question, then we know who you are:
"What do you know about the fate of guinea pigs left in the summer sun, and their enduring psychological effects?"
Welcome to The Long Trek Home!!!
August 10, 2005 8:15 a.m.
quite mindblowing,
the microcosm of the insect world IS a great example to us for things such as teamwork :0)
August 11, 2005 3:00 a.m.
J&C,
Everyone has a blog.
You didn't find out the answer for years.
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