My observation of Aussie ants

There are many kinds of ants in Australia. Recently, the Queensland government warned the spreading of fire ants. Fire ants are an invasive species and aggressive. However, I think domestic ants are aggressive as well. I know ants in Japan, they are sometimes aggressive and bite but usually, they don't bite like Australian ants.

In the beginning, when I moved from Japan to Australia, I didn't know much about Australian ants, and I was curious about the workaholic insects and observed them in the backyard sometimes. Then, what happened was that I was bitten a lot and I realised that Australians are friendly but not ants.

My image of ants' nests is complex holes under the ground, but there is an ant that builds a nest on the branch using leaves in Australia. One day, I saw a strange shape lump of a leaf. Each leaf was pasted with a white thing that looked like a fine bubble. I was so curious and had no idea what it was and got closer to it. Looking back now, that was a big mistake. I think I gave it a little vibration and the ants in the nest seemed to understand that it was an emergency. While I was gazing at the nest blankly, combat-ready ants had already reached my legs and climbed my legs and bitten. They were tiny, but it was painful. When I saw them climbing my legs, that sight recalled one of Dali's paintings.

So, the Australian ants overturned my common sense in various meanings. I had a hurtful experience many times but am still interested in ants. 

One day, I noticed that lots of ants were running on the hose on the backyard lawn. It looked like cars passing on a highway. Then I considered. Ants are very small and for them, the lawn leaves are big and tall. I can walk on the lawn without caring about anything but for them, they have to avoid leaves or stones while walking. If you have seen the movie "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids", it may help to imagine their life.

In the movie, there is a scene of an ant walking on the front yard lawn. It looked like walking in a forest. So, I can understand why they prefer to walk on the house. The hose in the backyard is the same as a highway, it's easy to walk and faster. You know, they are workaholic creatures and want to save time. Time is food.

As I have done before, I still pay attention to ants. They are interesting creatures. If my neighbor saw me watching ants, they might wonder what I'm doing because they can see me but not ants. Well, I might be misunderstood as a strange person who is watching the ground for a long time, but I cannot stop watching them.