Day 43: Cannibal Ants

Jen and I were on our way to bring water to the kids, who were playing outside at Camp, when I came upon this sight. I was totally transfixed, as was Jen. I was so happy to have company while I observed the tiny insects because usually no one else cares. Jen is a science teacher so I think maybe that is why she took more of an interest.

We watched these guys for 15 minutes or so - there were two pairs of ants. In each pair there was an aggressor and a victim. The aggressor was tearing the shit out of the victim. For what reason, I have no idea. I don't even know what kind of ants these were. They'd fight for a while and then the meanie would go off and lick his chops for a bit, then come back for some more brutality. We were totally enraptured by this and couldn't figure out what was going on. I told Jen, "See, if we were somewhere with the internet, I'd be all over this." So now that we're back home I think I should go try to figure out what was happening here.

In the meantime, if you know anything about ants and why they might commit such an act against one another, please enlighten me!