Page 130 - The Miracle in the Ant

will probably get lost. In the meantime, it will be necessary for him to
look around carefully and think about which would be the best way to
go. Yet, ants act as if they are encoded on the matter of path finding. In
the evening, they can easily find and follow the road they took to find
the food in the morning, even if all the conditions have changed.

The Perfect Hunting Technique

Certain ant species use their teeth to eat spider eggs, caterpillars, in-
sects and termites. Many ants (for example Dacetine) specialize in non-
winged insects. These insects live in groups in the ground and in de-
cayed leaves. The bugs have extensions under their bodies in the form
of folded forks. When they rock and get up, this organ throws them in-
to the air and forward like a miniature kangaroo. Dacetine ants use their
jaws like an animal-catching trap against this very effective manoeuvre.
When the food-seeking ant receives the scent of an insect with its an-
tennae, it lies in wait, opening its jaws 180 degrees. It locks the small
teeth in its jaw by pressing onto its upper palate. It inspects its sur-
roundings by moving its antennae forward. Then the ant approaches the
insect slowly. When its antennae touch it, the little insect is at a distance
where its lower jaw teeth can reach it. When the ant lowers its palate,
the jaw suddenly shuts down and the insect is squeezed between the
teeth as if impaled. 87
The above-mentioned ants never miss their prey, because they have
jaws with the fastest reflex in the world.
Our speed of blinking the eye is very slow compared to the biting
speed of the trapper ant. While the opening and closing of the eyelid
takes about one third of a second, the jaws of these ants (Odontomachus
bawi) work almost 100 times faster. The fastest hit observed took in 0.33
milliseconds. 88
The jaw structures of trapper ants are approximately 1.8 milimetre
long. In the interior sections, there is a sac full of air attached to the tra-
chea. This system ensures exceptionally fast movement of the teeth. The
jaws act as a miniature mouse trap. When hunting, the jaw is fully
opened and ready to close any time. The biting speed slows down near
the end of the biting process. To prevent the teeth hitting each other
very hard, the jaw movement is slowed down by the special muscle sys-
tem. 89

Kar›nca Mucizesi
130 THE MIRACLE IN THE ANT