Page 236 - Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

Allah's Miracles in the Qur'an

The Qur'an indicates, when recounting Prophet Sulayman's (as)
life, that ants have a communication system:
Then, when they reached the Valley of the Ants, an ant said: "Ants!
Enter your dwellings, so that Sulayman and his troops do not crush you
unwittingly." (Qur'an, 27: 18)
Scientific research into ants has revealed that these tiny animals
have very organised social lives and that, as a requirement of that
organisation, they also have a very complex communication network.

For example, National Geographic reports that:
Huge and tiny, an ant carries in her head multiple sensory organs to pick
up chemical and visual signals vital to colonies that may contain a million
or more workers, all of which are female. The brain contains half a mil-
lion nerve cells; eyes are compound; antennae act as nose and fingertips.
Projections below the mouth sense taste; hairs respond to touch. 172

Even if we are not aware of it, ants use a variety of methods to
communicate, thanks to their very sensitive sensory organs. They use
these organs at all times, from finding prey to following one another,
and from building their nests to waging war. With 500,000 nerve cells
squeezed into their 2-3 mm bodies, they possess a communications sys-
tem that astonishes human beings.
The reactions in their communications have been divided into sev-

eral specific categories: alarm, recruitment, grooming, exchange of oral
and anal liquid, group effect, recognition, caste determination… 173
Ants, which establish an ordered society by means of these reactions,
live a life based on the mutual exchange of information. To bring about
this exchange, they sometimes exhibit more flawless communication in
areas that human beings often cannot resolve through speech, such as

coming together, sharing, cleaning, and defence.

234