Tuesday, August 30, 2011 is Day 30 of the Second Global Celebration of:
ANT APPRECIATION MONTH INTERNATIONAL©2010
Said HOLIDATE® is being staged for Today & the Remainder of August only because ANTS are as ANTeresting as can be, not BEE. That’s another Species, Folks.
NEWS FLASH!
Dear Readers, I am going to pre-emp what I was initially gong to tell you today about ANT APPRECIATION MONTH INTL ©2010 to give you some RAN: Real ANT News from the Expert himself on ANTS, none other than:
DR. JAMES C. TRAGER, Ph.D
who works at the Shaw Nature Reserve - Missouri Botanical Garden and is their Biologist/Naturalist. I’m sure he doesn’t consider his JOB ‘work’ tho…but loves every minute of it!
With all the flooding of and on the Eastern Seaboard of the USA during Hurricane Irene this past Weekend, I began wondering and worrying about what the ANTS do under all this water. I wrote to Doc Trager yesterday via FB here as I’m sure many of you may have thought of this, too.
And what a pleas-ANT surprise! He promptly wrote back with this definitive Answer (ANTS-wer):
“Ants retreat into their nests when it's rainy, and get stuck there during floods. They can endure low oxygen levels in the bubbles of air trapped in their nests (or even in water) for much longer than we can even imagine. Of course, if the water persists for too long, they do die. This is why few ants live in floodplains.”
Which reminds me. Living here in Chicagoland, USA we have a floodplain in Des Plaines, IL (one of the nearby suburbs) that gets flooded out quite regularly. Yet, the people continue to move there and then openly complain when their basements and yards get pools of standing water in them for days on end. What’s the matter with People – Humans? There’s something wrong here with their Reasoning and/or Lack of Common Sense. If ANTS don’t live in a floodplain – why can’t Humans take a clue from them?
MY NEXT QUESTION IS: How do ANTS realize and determine they are ‘building’ a Colony or ANT Hill in or on a Floodplain? Is it something in their DNA? Yes, it may be – just that. I find it so intriguing that Mother Nature equips her Creatures no matter what size they are to cope and survive. And, with the erratical Nature of Weather Patterns these days, it takes some doing to get on by!
I whole-heartedly thank Doc James C. Trager, Ph.D. for his fabulous Exposé here! Now, we all know the Answer to a very import-ANT Question thanks to him!
I’m sure that if you write to Dr. T at Shaw Nature Reserve found online, he’ll write back. If you’re a Teacher, who would be better to have come and talk to your Students about Nature than: DR. TRAGER?
Like I always say: When in Doubt, check out THE ANTS to see how they do it…
Cheers,
ASK:
Screenwriter – Author – Eventologist
SKiN: Sacred Kinship in Nature™
How 10 Beloved Plush Toys Redefine Race ©2009
Featuring: iN THE COMPANY OF ANTS ©2009
(that beat out 3164 other Scripts in Scriptapalooza’s International Screenplay Competition: 2010 – based in Hollywood)
Chicago – IL USA
8-30-2011 – 12:40 PM CST
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