An online festival is turning the spotlight on ants all through December.
Called MyrmeCarnival, it posts interesting trivia about ants, and hosts expert talks each week.
Ashoka Trust For Research In Ecology And The Environment (ATREE) has organised festival in collaboration with the Travancore Natural History Society from Kerala. In our race to save the tigers, the lions and the bigger wildlife, we barely talk about ants, of which, we have 13,979 species, 847 in India. Are their numbers declining?
Aswaj Punnath from ATREE says deforestation and urbanisation are affecting their habitat, and so they must not be ignored. “Most people find them annoying because they create trouble in kitchens. But they are important for the environment. They help in seed dispersal, pollination, and pest control. They are excellent predators. They eat both dead and live organisms,” says the project associate from the Insect Biosystematics and Conservation Lab, which is overseeing the festival.
The lab, led by Dr Priyadarsanan Dharma Rajan, discovered two ant species in Karnataka, Discothyrea Sringerensis in Sringeri in 2004, and Anochetus Daedalus in Sirsi in 2016.
“In India, tribal people make chutneys from weaver ants, and also medicines for cold, cough and malaria using ants, though their efficacy isn’t scientifically proven,” Aswaj says. Jumping ants can, well, jump. Spiny ants can hook to each other’s spines to defend against predators. Ghost ants are called so because they are pale and hard to see in kitchen and bathroom sinks, where they commonly thrive.
“Ants are as old as dinosaurs. Some studies say they came much earlier. That is how important they are. Without them, the planet would dry up,” Aswaj signs off.
Follow @atree_org on Twitter for daily trivia, field photos and expert talks till December 30.
Teeny-weeny ant facts
Ants take 250 power naps a day on average.
They work and sleep by rotation.
Ants work in shifts, through the night.
They yawn as they wake up.
Many underground ants are blind.
Not all ants forage in big numbers, some do it alone.
Weightlifting champs
A new study suggests certain ants can withstand pressure 5,000 times their body weight.