I have High Hopes for humans.

But then sometimes… we fall short… even to the smallest of tasks.  Follow me here for a moment.

There are some amazing, amazing things in this world of ours.  Most of them, we completely overlook.  Some, we try to do away with. Unfortunately.

So.  When was the last time you bought a can or RAID to get rid of that pesky ant problem in the kitchen?  Well, here is the thing.  Faux Pas, dang it, faux pas.  You should never shake a baby.  And never burn an ant under a magnifying glass.

Here is the deal, people-friends.  In many ways, ants can do WAY more than we humans could ever hope to.  They can outwit and outlast us, for sure.

They have complex and cooperative  societies… which enable them to survive and thrive in conditions that we humans may not be to task for.    Imagine that for a minute.  If HUMANS had complex and COOPERATIVE societies.   Okay, wake me up.  I’m dreaming.

Back at it. Those little dudes are amazing.  I don’t care if they are making off with your food.

I recently read a study on a breed called….(Paratrechina longicornis) … otherwise known as Longhorn Crazy Ants.  Seriously.  They got the “crazy” nomenclature, from the way they move.  Erratically.  But smart as whips, I will tell you.

Anyway, the study showed them cooperating, in large groups, to move things like Cherios, and Catfood.  The videos are truly something to see. And when the “group” gets off course… other crazy ants come running in… to put them back on the right path.  This was “must-see-TV”!

Here are just a few other things.  Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.  Their little muscles are thicker than those of great big animals….  or even humans.  (Relatively, to their size, that is.)   Now.  If WE had muscles in the proportions of ants….. we’d be able to heave a Toyota over our heads!  You asked for it.  You got it.  Toyota.

Guess what else.  Ants started farming long before humans.
Yep.  There is such a thing as Fungus-Farming-Ants.  They began their agricultural workings about 50 million years before humans.

If that weren’t enough, here is what else they did to help their little crops grow…..  These little ants used sophisticated secreted chemicals with antibiotic properties to inhibit mold growth.  And, like our modern-day farmers (down the road from us)… they devised fertilization methods using manure.

One more.  Some ants form Super-Colonies.   There are massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.
And…. each ant colony has a distinctive chemical profile.  This is like a hall pass.  It enables members of the group to recognize each other, and alerts the colony to the presence of strangers.

This is just one little iota of information about our insect friends.  I have spent hours watching them at the Cincinnati Zoo.  They are… well…. Crazy.  But cool.

I think we could learn a lot from ants.  But the biggest thing is cooperation.  Some days, I grow really weary from all our human groups arguing about the world… with other human groups.  And the thing of it is.. in 5 million years… it isn’t going to make one bit of difference.

In 5 million years, our sun will turn in to something called a “Red Giant” and it will begin to burn up the closest planets… one by one.  First Mercury, then Venus… and then.. whoopsie… there goes Earth.  Ants and all.

As the old song goes…

Whoops….There goes another Rubber Tree Plant.

“Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plant” — High Hopes Song Lyrics

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.  —  Mother Teresa