If Ants Can Do It, So Can We

28th March, 2020

If Ants Can Do It, So Can We

I have a compost pit at the back of my house. I throw dried leaves and cut branches into it and let it decompose. I dug the pit two years ago and have kept heaping cut vegetation in it from time to time.

Now that I have ample time and in dire need of exercise, I decided to dig up  the pit and collect the compost. I saw nice black soil as I cleared the top layer. 

There was an ant nest partially built in the black soil and partially in the yellow soil that formed the wall of the pit. I must have disturbed the nest as little black ants were scrambling all over as I was digging. 

Being the brave warrior that I am, undeterred by the vicious ant attacks, I collected the rich black earth into three large plastic basins. 

I moved the basins to another place and started removing dried twigs from the heap. Ants were still scrambling in the basins as I combed the soil with my garden fork.

As I progressed to the third basin, I noticed something strange happening in the first basin. Tiny white dots, barely noticeable, as if by magic, started appearing on top of the black soil in the first basin. The same thing was happening on the second basin, only this had less white dots but steadily increasing as time went by. Tiny little dots started appearing on the third basin as well as I left it alone.

What unfolded was fascinating. Little worker ants were bringing the white   little ‘dots' to the surface and go back into the soil, probably to bring up more. In about ten minutes, all the three basins were sprinkled with tiny little white dots.

I decided to leave the basins in the garden and call it a day. It was getting dark.

I went back to my garden two days later to check on the basins. All the white dots were gone. So had the black ants from the basins. I looked around and noticed a new ant nest at the other end of the pit. The ants have moved and  were building a new nest. I just destroyed their nest two days ago and they had a new colony up and going in no time.

I googled about the tiny little white ‘dots’. They were eggs. Ant eggs. The little black worker ants had instinctively rescued their unborn young. That’s the first thing they did, besides attacking me. I don’t think the Queen Ant or anyone else in charge gave out the orders. The worker ants just did what had to be done. They saved their eggs or the next generation so to speak.

They must have regrouped over the night or the next day. They are rebuilding now. No complaining. The ants just did what needs to be done. First, salvage. Second, regroup. Third, rebuild.

Those tiny little black ants in my garden, with tiny little brains had survived their equivalent of a Singapore sized asteroid strike.

If ants can do it, so can we. 

Yes, we too will survive this Covid-19 Pandemic and come out of it better. In the long term. Immediate hardship is inevitable. Whatever said about humankind’s stupidity and greed, I believe we have an in-built self correcting system in us, as species. 

At the moment our front-line workers are fighting tirelessly to contain the virus and heal those infected. They are salvaging the situation and securing our future.

We are regrouping was we speak and are pushing back hard. Countries are reaching across borders to help one another. Neighbours are looking out for each other. I see young volunteers stepping forward to feed the helpless. Opportunists are being frowned upon and bigots are told to shut up. Everyone is standing up to be counted and that is by staying at home.

I see light. And rebuild we shall. Lessons need to be learnt. Our arrogance as a species must surely be tempered with humility. 

Mother Nature is holding us accountable. She always does; only we keep forgetting. Today it is this virus, tomorrow it can be another virus, or climate change or something else. Different time, different drama but same lesson - respect and love one another and all of God’s creation. 

Time and love will heal everything, even this. Let time take care of itself. Let love heal mother nature, heal relationships and most importantly heal oneself.

I leave you with the wise words of the Great Master Yoda “Do this, we must, eermmh.”

Muru

P.S. I came across an interesting article whilst googling about ants. A research was done by University of Lausanne, Switzerland on colonies of ‘Lasius niger’ ants. The study showed that when foraging ants were exposed to a fungal pathogen, they reduce their contact with workers inside the nest and thus reduce the spread of infections and protect healthy workers and the queen from disease.