Ant in Drop of Sap

Ant Trail

At first glance I thought this was just debris across a paved walkway, but then I realized it was an anthill (lighter brown area at bottom) with a trail leading to it that was lined on either side with dried cedar bits. The trail is about two feet long. It reminds me of the way ants bury the bones when finished with the meat on them. Ants are so amazing. I love them. 

The Rich Ants Live in the High-Rises

What is this craziness?

The Poor Ants Live in the Low-rises

Ant Takes Moth

Why I've Been Wondering if Ants Ever Sleep

I'd like to think that the ant collective name is a "madness" of ants, but it probably isn't. There is a crazy gang of ants that emerges from a tiny hole in our patio, far (for ants) from the house. The gang's trail crosses the patio; it climbs the porch steps; it runs along the porch to the center area, where it climbs the right-side post; it runs along the upper beam and down onto the hummingbird and oriole feeders; it runs back up the feeders and along the other part of the upper beam and down the other, left-hand post; it comes back toward the direction it came from, with a big giant swarming pool at the sugar-water drippings beneath the feeders (the focus of these photos); and then it goes back to the original trail, running back over the porch, down the steps, across the patio, and into the hole. There are approximately 10 million ants involved and they are tiny as can be. They are not fire ants or other biting ants, nor are they Crazy Rasberry Ants (all the rage here in Texas lately).


I seem unable to capture in photos the teeming coverage, the sheer numbers, of these ants. They are legion. (THIRTEEEEEEEEEN!)


Here is my index fingertip for scale.




Who are these two? What are they doing? Where are they going? Do they like one another, or are they civil co-workers, or sworn enemies forced to labor side by side?


What's going on here? Why is the ant at the left on its side? Is it dead? Is the other ant feeling its pulse?

Do Ants Sleep?

Ever?