Weaver Ants

April 27, 2007

Everywhere, if one looks up into the trees, one can see the handiwork of Weaver Ants . These industrious creatures build really marvelous nests, “weaving” leaves together to make nests….read about it on the Wiki entry.

We saw some lovely weaver ants’ nests, while we were visiting the beach at Kannur, Kerala, after the wedding of . (Yes, can you beat it, we actually went in the middle of a hot summer's day to a humid beach..and it was well worth it-- it is the Cantonment area, with many old, lovely buildings and trees, and a very beautiful, squat old lighthouse!) DS snapped them with the macro function of his camera...those little cameras they make now are superb....and here's a bunch of the weaver ants, busy building their home:

Pic by Derek Shaffer

Weaver Ants building their nest, Kannur Kerala, 21 Apr 07

Obviously, a lot of work goes into the construction. Here’s a view of one of the complete nests:

Pic by Derek Shaffer

Weaver Ants' Nest

The leaves of the eucalyptus are so deftly folded over, and a lovely home built by co-operation, hard work and diligence…which is the way lovely homes get built, all across the animal kingdom, from Homo Sapiens to Oecophylla smaragdina!