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Ants: A Model Society

by Biol. Oscar S. Aranda Mena |

The difference between ants and humans is that, while not as intelligent as us, they have still managed to make a perfect society, in search of a common good.

Celebrating Their 80 Millionth Birthday
Although the early ancestors of the ants appeared over 100 million years, it is believed that their success began 20 million years later, even before the first dinosaurs appeared on earth. It may sound like a meaningless number, but not if we believe that our human ancestors appeared just 1.5 million years ago. I.e., these insignificant ants predate us 78.5 billion years. After the same period, will humans then peacefully coexist as they do? That is, assuming we actually survive ourselves that long; I doubt it.

Ants Everywhere
Ants account for 10% of all the land animals of the world. With over 10 thousand species, it is not surprising that we will find ants in every corner of the world; in our houses, on trees, sidewalks and gardens of the city, in forests and deserts.
Because there are so many varieties that are scavengers, hunters, explorers and farmers, all with a very broad hierarchical structure, where every ant occupies posts as complex as those of soldiers, nurses, workers, nurses, queens and even gravediggers, giving their lives to defend their work.

The Ladies Rule
The machismo of many human societies has made us realize the great mistake about which jobs have been occupied by men. However, in nature, it is more common that it is the females who make the important decisions even requiring the males to bow before the females if they so choose.
The ant society is a matriarchy, and the members of the colony are all the sons or daughters of a single mother, who controls the anthill. The male, meanwhile, only serves to pair with a single queen and then die. All the workers are females. They are the ones who take care of the anthill, allowing the queen to devote herself exclusively to egg production.

What Ants Do For Us
There is no human home that has not been invaded by ants. In any house, there may be more than 6 different types of ants, each dedicated to a particular activity. While we may not welcome these visitors, after out food, and we call them "pests", these little creatures have the merit of contributing in part to household cleaning. The black ants seen crawling everywhere are always gathering and carrying off miniature carrion: a fly, mosquito or spider that kills, will quickly be removed and consumed. A droplet of honey or something sweet might be gathered promptly by the thousand tiny mouths of almost invisible ants; the same goes for bread crumbs, or anything that might be edible.

Using Smell
There is no worse tragedy for an ant than to lose its trail. As they walk, they leave an aromatic trail that the others follow, forming a visible trail that all ants use. Have you ever seen what happens when we clean the floor or simply crossed their path with your finger? The answer is chaos. No ant will dare to cross the strange scent trail until a scout ant arrives to trace a new path toward the anthill. Thus hundreds or thousands of ants may die simply by not finding their way back home.

A Perfect Society?
The difference between humans and ants can be summed up with one word: success. W humans do not change our selfish and individualistic lifestyle, our imperfect society will be extinct simply for not having adequately pursued a higher and common good. As such, it would seem our enviable intelligence has not helped us much, considering we continue to live indiscriminately exploiting what we find in nature.
Undoubtedly, ants continue adapting and taking advantage of our mistakes, and someday may even take our place. Perhaps our wisdom has actually blinded us, unable to see how these harmless insects have managed to live through so much that all served a common good. As King Solomon once said: "Look at the ant, watch his ways and be wise ..."

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