Do you know them really well?

INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT ANTS






1
Like all insects, ants have six legs. Each leg has three joints. The legs of the ant are very strong so they can run very quickly. If a man could run as fast for his size as an ant can, he could run as fast as a racehorse. Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. An ant brain has about 250 000 brain cells. A human brain has 10,000 million so a colony of 40,000 ants has collectively the same size brain as a human.

2
The average life expectancy of an ant is 45-60 days. Ants use their antenae not only for touch, but also for their sense of smell. The head of the ant has a pair of large, strong jaws. The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces of food. They throw away the dry part that is left over. The ant has two eyes, each eye is made of many smaller eyes.

3
They are called compound eyes. The abdomen of the ant contains two stomachs. One stomach holds the food for itself and second stomach is for food to be shared with other ants. Like all insects, the outside of their body is covered with a hard armour this is called the exoskeleton. Ants have four distinct growing stages, the egg, larva, pupa and the adult. Biologists classify ants as a special group of wasps. (Hymenoptera Formicidae) There are over 10000 known species of ants. Each ant colony has at least one or more queens.

4
The job of the queen is to lay eggs which the worker ants look after. Worker ants are sterile, they look for food, look after the young, and defend the nest from unwanted visitors. Ants are clean and tidy insects. Some worker ants are given the job of taking the rubbish from the nest and putting it outside in a special rubbish dump! Each colony of ants has its own smell. In this way, intruders can be recognized immediately. Many ants such as the common Red species have a sting which they use to defend their nest.

5
The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites. The Slave-Maker Ant (Polyergus Rufescens) raids the nests of other ants and steals their pupae. When these new ants hatch,they work as slaves within the colony. The worker ants keep the eggs and larvae in different groups according to ages.

6
At night the worker ants move the eggs and larvae deep into the nest to protect them from the cold. During the daytime, the worker ants move the eggs and larvae of the colony to the top of the nest so that they can be warmer. If a worker ant has found a good source for food, it leaves a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food. Army Ants are nomadic and they are always moving. They carry their larvae and their eggs with them in a long column.

7
The Army Ant (Ecitron Burchelli) of South America, can have as many as 700,000 members in its colony. The Leaf Cutter Ants are farmers. They cut out pieces of leaves which they take back to their nests. They chew them into a pulp and a special fungus grows it. Ants cannot digest leaves because they cannot digest cellulose.

Info from : http://www.lingolex.com/ants.htm

Do you really know them well even though they are all around us.
I was doing one of my Chinese workbook exercise when they ask what I want to be after reading a story.

The Summary of the Story is like this :
A boy doesn't like to do homework so he "became" a carpet. He knew that after being a carpet, he wouldn't do any homework. The story continues....

I first thought that being the most deadliest animals/creatures in the world can live long. But when I turned on the computer and research about the deadliest animal0s in the world. I found out that it is unbelievable.

Top Ten Deadliest Chart in the World :

10:Poison Dart Frogs (10 humans deaths)

9:Cape Buffalos

8:Polar Bears

7:Elephants (500 human deaths per year)

6:Australian Saltwater Crocodiles

5:The African Lion

4:Great White Shark

3:Australian Box Jellyfish

2:The Asian Cobra (50,000 snakebite deaths each year)

1:The Mosquito (two million people deaths each year)

Info from : http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/10695/the_top_ten_most_deadly_creatures_in_pg2.html?cat=7

I don't know if it's reliable actually.
Then I thought that why don't I be an hardworking ants.
So I did some research about it.
I am currently still doing the homework once I post this.

"Nice creatures" :)

Piranha

From the moment tiny baby piranhas hatch from their microscopic eggs, they come into the world armed and dangerous. Baby piranha will feast on tiny crustaceans, fruits, seeds, and aquatic plants. Once they reach about 1.5 inches in length they begin feeding on the fins and flesh of other fish that wander too closely. As they grow larger they begin to venture out in groups (shoals) of about 20 fish where they use a variety of hunting strategies to kill and eat their prey. Heck, they don't kill their prey first, they just start eating the victim alive - that's what makes them so ferocious. Adult piranha have been known to eat their own babies. Talk about brutal!

When a school of piranha are in a feeding frenzy the water appears to boil and churn red with blood. They attack with such ferocity that they strip an animal of its flesh within a matter of minutes, even taking bites out of each other in the process.

There are approximately 20 species of piranha found living in the Amazon River, with only four or five of them posing any danger. Most piranha species are quite harmless and docile, but the ones with the nasty reputation for aggressive behavior are the red-bellied piranha, Pygocentrus nattereri.

Adult piranha will eat just about anything - other fish, sick and weakened cattle, even parts of people. Sickly cattle that have stooped their heads down to drink from the river have been grabbed by the mouth and nose and pulled into the water, completely devoured minutes later. As wicked as it all sounds, piranha have a useful function in the Amazonian jungles just like any other predators in the wild. They are part of the checks and balances Mother Nature employs to eliminate the weak and sick so only the strong survive.

Razor Sharp Teeth

Piranhas are world-famous for their razor-sharp teeth. Native peoples of South America will catch the piranha and use their teeth to make tools and weapons. Even the fisherman who catch these vicious little predators have to be careful when the fish is out of water. A single piranha out of water is still dangerous enough to take off the flesh, or the odd toe, from an unwary fisherman.

Predator Becomes Prey

As ferocious and fearsome as the piranhas are, they are not invulnerable. As young the piranhas are a tasty part of many other creatures' diet. As voracious adults the

piranha feed on young herons that fall from the trees while learning to fly, or young caimans (a type of small alligator) that are too little to defend themselves. When the floodplains of the Amazon run dry during the dry season the piranha are stranded in isolated lagoons, where they languish and die from lack of oxygen. The adult herons will then feed on the piranha that once ate their young. Caimans will feast on the piranhas that ate their young kin, as they lay dying in their shrinking pools. Such is the circle of life.

Believe it or not, there are people who actually keep piranhas as "pets". Piranhas aren't good pets in the traditional sense because you can't hold or pet them, and they aren't affectionate. Piranha owners still must be extremely careful of the fish's sharp teeth and aggressive nature. Keeping them well fed is probably the key to keeping them mellow.

Pet Piranhas?

People who fancy piranhas as pets may be more attracted to the grisly reputation and aggressive manner of these world-class predators, perhaps keeping them for their "entertainment" value. That's O.K. - it's human nature to be fascinated with morbid and gruesome creatures. But piranhas are also very beautiful fish. As long as anyone desires to take a creature out of the wild and bring into captivity they must take the responsibility of treating it with respect and good care.














A Piranha











A sick and dying cow had been taken down and finished off by a school of ravenous piranha during the dry season when they are notoriously aggressive.

info from :www.extremescience.com/zoom/index.php/.../100-piranha

My first reaction when I read the "Pet Piranha?" section is "Are you kidding me?!".
I remember about a month or two ago (that time I was watching documentary sometimes), I watch a show called "Deadly 60" (8.30, every Tuesday, I think). At night while they are looking out if any deadly creatures / animals were around. Then one of the team spotted a group of tiny looking Piranha. The guy who always introduce the animal ran to the side of the boat with food.
He put it into the water. If I am not wrong, it takes half a minute to eat the food.

Imagine.... if there was a big group of large adult Piranha swimming nearby, you are in the water and you are lost.

*Suggestion : Swim for your life!!!
Or Else..
It will eat you ALIVE. Hahhahahah
Not funny actually but they will laugh at you when you are their meal.