Page 89 - The Miracle in the Ant

Woodman Ants and Aphids

Up until now, what you have read about ants has given you a gen-
eral idea about the ant world. But this is just the beginning, because
there are many different species in the world of ants equipped with
characteristics we do not know about. One of them is the "milkman ant"
which is also known as the woodman ant.
The woodman ants in question obtain milk from leaves via aphids.
This cooperation between ants and aphids is one of the most inter-
esting relationships in the whole world of insects.
Aphids which are placed on the leaves by ants extract the sap in the
root of the plant. The plant sap that enters the body of the aphid is trans-
formed into the substance called "nectar". The ants, which like this nec-
tar, have found a way for aphids to give this food to them. A hungry ant
approaches the aphid and starts patting it with its feelers and antennae.
The aphid likes this very much and secretes a drop of nectar and gives
it to the ant. In return, the ants look after their aphids very well. 59
In the autumn, the ants pick up the aphid eggs and keep them in
their nest until they hatch. Later on, they place the young aphids on the
roots of various plants, so that they suck the sap and provide milk to the
milkman ants.
At this point the question would be: When there are thousands of liv-
ing beings in the world, how do the milkman ants know of this charac-
teristic of the aphids? How can they select
them from among all the other creatures?
It is, of course, impossible to eval-
uate as a chain of accidents the flu-
id that comes out of the aphid be-
ing exactly what the ant needs
and the ant’s knowing what
the aphid would