Page 18 - The Miracle in the Ant

Ants, which are very small creatures, pursue their lives with perfect orderliness
in spite of their size.

CASTE SYSTEM
Each ant colony without exception complies strictly with the caste
system. This caste system consists of three major parts within a colony.
Members of the first caste are the queen and the males who make re-
production possible. More than one queen may exist in a colony. The
queen has assumed the task of reproducing and thus increasing the
number of individuals making up the colony. Her body is larger than
that of the other ants. The duty of the males on the other hand is just to
fertilize the queen. In fact, nearly all of these die after the nuptial flight.
The members of the second caste are the soldiers. These take on du-
ties like the setting up of the colony, finding a new living environment
and hunting.
The third caste consists of worker ants. All of the workers are sterile
females. They take care of the mother ant and her babies; they clean and
feed them. In addition to all these, other jobs in the colony are also un-
der the responsibility of the workers. They build new corridors and new
galleries for their nests; they search for food and continually clean up
the nest.
The worker and soldier ants also have sub-groups. These are named
slaves, thieves, nannies, construction workers and collectors. Each group
has a different task. While one group focuses completely on fighting the
enemy or hunting, another group builds nests, and yet another one
looks after maintenance.
Every individual in the ant colonies does his full share of the work.

Kar›nca Mucizesi
18 THE MIRACLE IN THE ANT