Some among you may be more than aware of my passion for the insect world. I`ve been known to have weird pets and chase after some dangerous creatures which most people would take pains to keep away from!
In those days back in India..I`ve often wished I could capture some of these subjects on film, but a lack of resources made it a far away dream. This time however as I headed home I was well aware that my digital camera had a macro mode and no matter how basic it was, couldnt wait to try it out.
Here I`m finally getting to share with you all some of my results!
I find ants to be among the most fascinating of all insects. Like us they are social creatures and have a well organised society with division of labour. The most interesting among the ants to me are the weaver ants, simply because they are among the most fierce and I have suffered endless bites while dabbling in their affairs.
However, these are by no means the most painful ant bites....that distinction goes to the black fellow down here, because unlike most other ants this guy doesnt bite ..he stings you with a sting found on his posterior...and god know what he injects into you but its among the most painful bites I`ve ever known...enough to make me cut its posterior off! but hey even that didnt stop it, cause it had a life of its own for quite some time after I chopped it off! honestly!
Coming back to our friends the weaver ants, they are so fierce that any enemy or prey is sprayed with an attack of acid... and before the victim realises it , it is covered by an army of these ants and is eaten up dead or alive!
Another species which looks similiar but is much more harmless is these ones down here. They are the ones that get into your sugar container and I call them "Ticklys" because when disturbed they move so fast , mostly up your hands onto parts of your body where they are bound to tickle you!
In these pictures I`ve managed to catch them in the midst of a colony swarming..which is a phenomenon during which they look for a new place to build their nest...and during this process they have to carry all their belongings with them..that includes their eggs larvae, pupae, food e.t.c et.c. In this pic they have with them a lot of pupae. ( they were quite hard to focus on as they move very fast.)
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An interesting fact about ants is that like us they are farmers too..like we keep cows, they keep bugs! no joke this...the ants keep the bugs , protect them from danger and move them from plant to plant if necessary and ..heres the interesting part..milk them! Yes the bugs when milked, produce a sweet stuff which are eaten by the ants! if you look closely at this picture you can see an ant tending to her cows!
Now, an ant`s life is not all about eating..it is also about being eaten and among its few enemies are the ant-lion.
This is an elusive creature which very few amongst us would have seen, cause he spends most of his life under the mud. well not exactly under the mud...he lies in wait at the end of a cone shaped pit made of mud.
...and should an unfortunate ant fall into the pit, his life doomed , because the sides of the pit cave in and the mud covers him..in addition the jaws of the ant-lion are waiting at the bottom to suck him dry!
Here with a great deal of effort (and not that great a result) I`ve managed to capture an image of a hapless ant just before it was being pulled underground in the jaws of the ant lion!
Well, if you though that was interesting, then listen to this..after a few weeks the antlion turns into a cocoon and sleeps...and when he wakes he emerges into this creature - a beautiful ant-lion fly!
You might say its a dragon fly, but no, its different..these things are ant lion flies..I`ve been playing with ants and ant lions all my kid life but it took me about 18-20 years before I finally figured out from books that this amazing transformation occurs. Anyway....after eating a lot of ants..one day the ant lion fly also has to die and most probably it will end up as food to ants...thats the cycle of life..here I`ve caught the weaver ants in the midst of an antlion feast!
Well it looks like I`ve run out of pictures of ants...so I`ll share a few non ant-ique ones.This fellow down here is a millipede...well what do I say about millipedes...except that someone got fed up counting its legs and named it the fellow with a million feet. Oh yes..milipedes produce cyanide gas..especially when annoyed..in very small doses! But there was this collector of millipedes who had millions of them and slept in a closed room full of them and didnt wake up ever after!!
But apart from the common ones that are above I managed to click away at a few variations..here is a dwarf species..it only grows that big.
...and the one below is a different colour..
and this one down here..is truly amongst the most gigantic ones I`ve ever seen...found near the Thommankuthu waterfalls which I mentioned about in one of my previous posts.
O.k. thats enough of milipedes..here`s some other random creatures about which I wont preach much..This one is some kind of a fly..which decided it was`nt afraid of me and let me get real close!
...and these two..which are amongst my favourite ones, are of a slug..but dont ask me whats happening because I dont know if its coming or going and I dont know if the white stuff is food, eggs or excreta..any ideas?
Moving on we come to a ferocious predator in the insect world..the praying mantis...it looks like a joker and it looks like its praying ..but it gets its food alright!
This one is another species, just for a bit of variety.
...and finally these were these two funny looking creatures busy mating, and blissfully unaware that I was spying on them and catching it all on film.
Thats it from me...Macro photography is difficult, especially when all I had was an automatic Nikon coolpix 3200 digital camera....but maybe someday when I get back to the insect rich life in India, I`ll have a better camera and will be able to capture some of that spectacular life!
It takes time, patience and dedication to build a career. Few are the people who chase after dreams and make their passion their work...but there are some who dare to go against the flow; Recognition may be slow in coming but at some point, the world will be forced to turn its head and acknowledge their contribution.......
CBS has described him as one of India`s top Tiger scientists, and rightly so. Those of you who would like to view an internet edition of the documentary , do click on the above picture. (It will take you to CBS`s video)...A write up on the same is available on the following link - Shooting Tigers .
