This is from the scene of reading the information packet, because the time has passed 2 months, and the ant who memorized it at the beginning did not record it deliberately, but simply retained the memory information because he was deeply impressed, so although it is not critical information (such as the sky, the distant view) etc.) is still modeled on the lake, but the main information still makes Zhu Jue feel as if he is actually there.
Be part of this spring's most successful hunt to capture a wasp queen!
Spring in the mountains is nearly a month later than in the valley. There is already a lush green line down the mountain, and there are still large expanses of green rocks and soil on the mountainside. The dead trees and dry grass that had taken root here last winter seemed to remain unchanged as they were half a year ago, except that the snow covering them had disappeared.
But if you look carefully, you can see the hidden vitality: small green buds or flower bags have sprouted on the seemingly green branches, and on the ground covered by hay and sand, there are dots of green. Flashing everywhere like flames about to start a prairie fire. In some sunny and humid places, faster-growing vegetation has been greedily devouring sunlight and water vapor, transforming it into an obvious elevation every day, announcing the rebirth of its own species.
In just a few days, the mountains that were frozen in late winter will quickly transition into spring. Green lawns will cover half of the mountains, competing with the other half of rocky desert beaches. They will remain vibrant and desolate. On this mountain range, there are such opposites but unity.
Among the rocks, hay and green buds, as spring begins to emerge, animals are gradually becoming visible. The fast-moving thing in front of us is a hunting team composed of a small group of Japanese Campoback ants.
The hunting team is led by the eldest worker ant, and there are about 20 ants in total. In fact, the oldest worker ant hunter in the entire tribe is only 2 years old. Workers working outside can easily die unexpectedly, either from accidents caused by wind and rain, or from attacks by natural enemies and hostile tribes. Workers who can live to be more than 2 years old The ants will automatically leave their dangerous jobs outside the nest and become laborers inside the nest. Their experience is valuable to the entire tribe, but there are very few Japanese ant hunters who can live to "retire" this long.
The Japanese ants were arranged roughly in two columns, some were lightly armed, and some were carrying some bulging straw bags. Under the leadership of the worker ants who were responsible for the guide, they moved very quickly, shuttling quickly between large and small rocks. The shapes come and go, enough to dazzle the ants watching.
Because the pheromones were left yesterday, and it didn’t rain last night. Since the weather was dry, there wasn’t much dew condensation this morning. Even the short-acting pheromones that evaporate the fastest are clearly visible. The role of the team leader is The ant's skillful tentacles touched everywhere while leading the companions behind it, and soon reached the target.
This is a barren hillside, only dotted with clumps of wild grass. Most of the grass leaves are still withered and yellow, but a few have begun to sprout new shoots. A "mushroom"-shaped object was hidden among a clump of hay. It was an object in the shape of an approximately circular top with a slight handle on top. It was actually the new nest of the golden-ringed wasp.
Different from the hives that are usually hidden in rock crevices or hung upside down under branches or under cover, building this kind of hive standing on the ground is a helpless solution for new queens who cannot find a more suitable nesting site. We can only hope that the earth-colored hive under the cover of grass will not be destroyed during the most vulnerable period. However, this kind of hive is generally difficult to develop and grow. Once the undefendable new hive is exposed, it is easily destroyed by natural enemies.
This new hive is very small, and the queen bee, which is about 40 meters long, takes up a lot of space when she lies down there. However, she was not allowed to get into the beehive in the first place. The hexagonal honeycomb inside was so small that it could only accommodate bee eggs and young bees. But compared to the so-called big guy among ants, the 12-meter-long Japanese Camponotus worker ant, both the hive and the queen appear huge.
The leading worker ant leads the team to approach in a concealed manner, and then hides in another bush of grass near the target. There is no need to assign a task. Under the leadership of an older and skilled hunter, the team spontaneously divides into groups after gathering, and then begins action.
One after another, the Topoback ant workers came out and surrounded the target in two ways, quickly developing an encirclement line. The workers carrying straw bags were basically evenly dispersed in the middle of the team.
Golden-ringed wasps have excellent eyesight. The queen quickly noticed the approaching ants. She flapped her wings anxiously and realized that the ants were approaching.
He has been exposed, and the black and yellow concealing colors no longer have any effect. If it left like this, the trapper ant hunters would obviously be unable to do anything to it, but the queen was reluctant to part with the eggs she had just laid, and she felt that she could defeat this small number of ants, so she chose to stay and fight.
The number of ants in this hunting team is strictly limited. Too many ants will scare away the queen, and too few will cause excessive casualties. This is the experience accumulated by this bee-hunting tribe from generation to generation.
Soon, an encirclement was formed, and the ant hunters were approaching the hive. Each ant was staring at the target, and the queen was also ready. But the ant hunter was not in a hurry to pounce on it, and the queen had no intention of leaving the hive. She just circled around the surface of the hive without even taking off. The two sides faced off in silence for a while.
After a brief assessment of the wind direction, the ants located upwind began to cooperate in pairs, opening rough grass sacs woven with grass fibers and lifting up some yellow powder inside.
These pungent-smelling powders blew toward the queen bee along the wind. The queen bee avoided some of it, but it was inevitable that some of it would be stained on her body. The discomfort coming from her body greatly irritated the queen bee. If the queen chooses to fly away regardless, the hunting team will only take away the eggs in the hive, but the enraged queen chooses to fly down and fight.
The queen wants to kill all these annoying black ants in front of her, but the Japanese ant is very flexible and does not intend to fight head-on. In addition, due to the interference of this bush of weeds that originally protected the hive, the swooping of the queen who relies on flight is not always possible. It works every time.
It only killed one ant, but was bitten by two Japanese ant hunters. Fortunately, in panic, she flew and rolled, shook off the ant, and flew back to the nest.
The ants continued to spread irritating sulfur powder in the upwind vent, which is a mineral not uncommon in the mountains. Other ants avoided the downwind vent and tried not to be contaminated by the sulfur. This mineral is irritating to both hunters and prey. .
The stimulation of the sulfur powder made the queen more and more irrational, and her attacks became more and more violent. Although she caused some damage to the ant hunters, she also suffered wounds from the bites on her body!
