Insect Cowboys

teamracephotos

This is my first time seeing (noticing) the way these ants herd and then feed off these plant lice (?). I had watched a show on the science channel and was amazed that they did this but it show didn’t talk about other types of ants doing this (it was about a rain forest). If you watch them long enough you get to see the lice excrete a clear liquid (like fructose) and then one of the ants runs and slurps it up. The ants even seem to be grooming the lice… It was very cool to watch. Sorry for the crappy pictures… I was out walking the dog and did not bring all my gear. These are hand held with a 50mm + 20mm tube and the pop up flash from my d200. MM

Lord Vetinari

Good shots- yes ants do a good job when farming aphids for their "honeydew" - they even move them to new pastures as well as protecting them from predators.
Brian V.

ColMofed

That's excellent, ants herding aphids Must watch out for that.

Great captures MM, and not crappy at all.

Rod.

canon400d

ColMofed wrote:

That's excellent, ants herding aphids Must watch out for that.

Great captures MM, and not crappy at all.

Rod.

I like the shots and well done. I am looking forward to taking similar shots.
Regards
Bob

Skippy

teamracephotos wrote:

This is my first time seeing (noticing) the way these ants herd and then feed off these plant lice (?). I had watched a show on the science channel and was amazed that they did this but it show didn’t talk about other types of ants doing this (it was about a rain forest). If you watch them long enough you get to see the lice excrete a clear liquid (like fructose) and then one of the ants runs and slurps it up. The ants even seem to be grooming the lice… It was very cool to watch. Sorry for the crappy pictures… I was out walking the dog and did not bring all my gear. These are hand held with a 50mm + 20mm tube and the pop up flash from my d200. MM

The food chain works well for all involved
The aphids get fed, the Ants get fed, and everyones happy.
Now if you put a Lady Bug into the equation, this really upsets the apple cart.

I hope you get to see what happens when a Lady Bug enters the scene,
it's really interesting to watch.

You did really well, we all know how tiny those Aphids are.
....Skippy
.

teamracephotos

Thanks Skippy!

Skippy wrote:

The food chain works well for all involved
The aphids get fed, the Ants get fed, and everyones happy.
Now if you put a Lady Bug into the equation, this really upsets the apple cart.

I hope you get to see what happens when a Lady Bug enters the scene,
it's really interesting to watch.

You did really well, we all know how tiny those Aphids are.
....Skippy
.

I will keep my eye out for a lady bug stopping by. MM

CassisP

wow that is cool. not bad at all... I will have to keep my out for that now. I want to see it. never heard of ants doing that.