My Ant Wars!
Created | Updated Jan 14, 2003
WELCOME TO ANT WARS, MY CRAZY TALE OF GARDEN INVASION!
[pictures will be added as soon as it's possible to do so]
[this may be never so why not complain to the hosts?]
[in the mean time Amy the Ant has made these <ant> guys for me! Thanks Amy!]
Ant Wars! was first written as a single entry on one of my personal sites for the amusement of my friends. It steadily grew to a short yet thoroughly manic tale and I must confess that for a while I got a little obsessed with the critters.
But enough of my ramblings. On with the War!
*****************
[picture of a yellow meadow ant]
[well ok it's not, but it will be when they let me post it]
<ant> Commander's log 2nd June 2002
I mowed the lawn today and was checking over it when I came across a red-ants nest. Now I hate red ants primarily because their bites sting but also because their nests make a horrible patch of dirt in the middle of my lawn, right? So I bent down to have a closer look, and found that the disrupted nest (which I had run over with the mower only minutes before) was being attacked by some black ants from the garden border. I cheered (in my own head).
I watched for a couple of minutes as the black-ants slowly seemed to increase in numbers as the lines of communication back to the nest brought in reinforcements. I marvelled as the black-ant command squadron ordered a perfect encircling manouver around the enemy fortification. (the black-ants attacked the nest from all sides at once) The tireless red-ants were furiously repairing their nest even as they fought off the invaders. Under seige, they rallied troops from deep within their crumbled citadel. Battles raged at the outer tunnel entrances and daring combatants engaged each other high up on blades of grass. Both sides faught valiantly. The battle was theirs to be won.
....And being the melevolent devil that I am (Mwahahaha) I got hold of a small garden fork and uprooted the red-ant fortifications, revealing the complex catacombs of the now helpless defendants. The result was a slaughter of red-ant civilians as the black-ant army overcame the desperate red-ant defenses, slaughtering the warriors and carrying off workers, grubs and eggs alike. Hooray!
<martiansmile> (Morris & Martin here are keeping track of my editing) <martiansmile>
<ant> Commander's log 3rd June 2002
Today I discovered that the red-ant nest lives on. Repairs have been made over night and fortifications were rebuilt on a smaller scale. Disappointed that the destruction of the enemy was only partial, I took solace in the knowledge that my intervention on behalf of my allies at least reduced the population. That nest will not be spreading out new colonies into my garden for a very long time. (or at least six weeks anyway) Checking the defence capabilities (yeah right!) I prodded the nest and broke the surface. Yup! Those ants are on guard now!
<ant> Commander's note
There is a second and larger red ant nest in my garden which I also dug into on the 2nd of June, but this is far from the black ants and provided no entertainment. However, I shall keep you updated on this nest, too!
[At this point I got a little too interested.....]
*****
<ant> Isn't research fun!?!
[the following 3 little paragraphs were copied from a site. When I remember what site it was I shall be sure to give the credit]
Most British ants, it seems, prefer to make their nests in damp soil as this is much easier to excavate than other materials. Some nests are very simple in construction with only a few galleries, while others are made up of very complex chambers with flat floors and interconnecting tunnels.
[picture of a whopping big nest]
[since they wont let me put pictures in yet, why not try to imagine it?]
[remember, it's really big]
The most skilled nest builder among the ants found in Britain is the little yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus, which can dig down deeper than a metre. These are the ants that may build very small mounds in your lawn during the summer and are commonly mistaken for red ants, in open areas such as meadows and fields, L. flavus builds much larger mounds which normally are covered with vegetation.
[another picture of a yellow meadow ant]
Lasius niger, the common black garden ant, like to cut out nests under stones or against a wall, and sometimes will invade the nests of other ant species that are more skilled at nest building than themselves.
[picture of a black ant]
*****
<ant> Having read up on the ants in my garden I realised that I could be philosophical about the ants and compare them to human history - you all know that I love history, right? I've recently been reading up on Ancient History and there are numerous times when 'civilisation' is attacked by 'barbarians'.
I realised that I could see my war as a conflict between 'civilisation' (the great nest-building yellow meadow ants or red ants) versus the lesser cultured 'barbarians' (nest-raiding black ants) with a bit of divine intervention (me!) thrown in. I could therefore see it as my duty to protect civilisation from the invaders.
I could. On the other hand I could simply say that those red ants make little piles of dirt in my garden! The B*****ds! Death to the Red (Yellow Meadow) Ants!
*****
<ant> I must admit, maybe I'm warped but I'm finding this damn funny. Here's an update: I checked up on the nest for a second time today and watched some red ant scouts attack a little beatle, so they're doing ok now. I also saw a red ant carry a red ant corpse away from the nest. Most of the corpses have now disappeared but it's obvious that the black ants carried the field even if they didn't conquer the base.
*****
<ant> Commander's Log 22 June '02
There is very little happening at the moment, but the last week has been very eventful. When I returned from my excursion to Florida (a covert mission to spy on the fire ants over there, obviously <tongueout>) I discovered that the ants had spread. There were now 7 yellow meadow ant nests in my garden.
[a diagram will be added here as soon as they let me]
[it's a really nice diagram. It took me ages to do it]
[I'd give you a link to the site but it's private and only members can enter]
[sorry]
[why not complain to the hosts again? :)]
Nest 1..... the first large nest that spawned all the others but previously provided no entertainment. This nest showed considerable evidence of repairs and there was now plenty of surface activity. Nest 1 would soon become my most intriguing target.
Nest 2..... the original Ant Wars nest that was attacked by the black ants. This nest must have suffered heavy casualities because surface evidence of repairs was minimal. A new crop of ant corpses were discovered leading me to suspect more recent attacks by the black ants.
Nest 3..... a resonably small nest that was quite extensive in it's construction. Major earth works provided seemingly solid defence against invasion. My scouts continued to survey the site for weaknesses.
Nest 4..... a new nest at practically equal distance from nests 1 & 2. I am unsure of it's origins but watch closely. Not much activity.
Nests 5 & 6..... a new colony on the far side of the garden. Origin unknown. The two nests are quite close together. I suspect they are the same nest underground. The ants here are tiny. Perhaps this is a new Queen? A different colony from the first?
Nest 7..... out on it's own a rather large new colony had been constructed, but appeared to be under attack from a seperate body of black ants.
<ant> Initial Manouvers
The first action was immediate and swift. Having identified the extent of my enemy I employed one of my most devastating weapons against all nests......the incredible Giant Stomping Foot !!! The destruction to enemy structures was emmence. Surface construction completely wiped out. Casulties many. In this first attack I used a powerful Stomping Level that must have crushed many subterrainean levels of each nest. The earth above each nest was packed hard in small craters (dents). However, despite the obvious success levels of this manouver the United Nations council (otherwise known as Mum <bigeyes>[replace]) declared that further attacks of this Stomping magnitude would not be tollerated. The day was done and ant casualities were massive.
<ant> Subsiquent Manouvers
Over the next few days I watched for surface activity and saw that nests 2, 6 and 7 would not recover. They had been so thoroughly decimated by my stomping and by black ant attacks that there seemed to be no life remaining. Small proding and occasion light level stomping reduced the remaining nests still further, plus there had been further black ant attacks on these now poorly defended nests, as evidenced by fresh corpses of both species. For some reason I left the new colony of nest 5 alone for now. However, when the it was becoming clear that this war might be won over the next couple of weeks the United Nations interveened and declared peace between myself and the ants.
<ant> Peace
So I could no longer fight. Instead I began to take an interest merely in watching the gradual reconstruction of these decimated nests. Nest 1 initially recovered well and fast and provided some considerable entertainment both in red ant activity and in black ant attacks. It seemed clear that this nest would probably remain supreme and recover most. Nests 3, 4 and 5 also showed varying degrees of recovery. Surface activity at nests 3 and 4 was minimal. The young new colony at nest 5 which I had not attacked in the latter part of the war showed some signs of vigourous activity. However, the population here is very small and so are the young ants!
<ant> Natural disasters
By freak occurance the most active nests, 1 and 5, were then subjected to natural disasters. They were trodden on by my mum, grandparents and by the kids that my mum takes care of. I also witnessed little Charlie unintetionally run over nest 1 with his car.
<ant> The Current Peace
So nest 1 - the largest nest and initially the site of the strongest recovery - has been reduced to almost negligable activity. Some signs of reconstruction are evident, but I estimate the worker population able to work upon to surface to be about 4 ants. Pitiful.
Nest 3 shows signs of significant recovery although surface worker population here is estimated at.......1 ant. No black ants attack this nest and I suspect that at this site most of the subterrainean levels survived. If this nest has it's own queen then it will soon rise in surface population as the younger ants are replaced in service of the queen by new hatchlings and are free to forage and build above ground.
Nest 4 shows minimal recovery. I'm not sure about this ones future.
Nest 5, the young new colony, having suffered natural disasters and ant attacks since peace was declared has suffered massive loss of life. Estimated surface ant worker population stands at about 2 or 3 and these guys are tiny. However, the nest itself though small remains now in good condition so it's future looks promising.
And so ends my crazy little Ant War. <tongueout> [only it didn't: keep reading]
*****
<ant> Commander's Log 19th July 2002:
The ants have survived. I have been fired. My second in command (my brother) was appointed to the post as my replacement. He initiated a devastating attack within hours using the awesome power of boiling water from the kettle. As expected with such a terrifying weapon this method had side effects. The natural vegitation died. This did not please the United Nations council.
My second in command was immediately dismissed from the post. The United Nations council has now offered an amnesty to the enemy. I fear peace only furthers their evil ends. We are losing territory daily in political bargaining. However, the military is paying me a sizable pension. I have moved to a third world country where I have begun a secret operation. Details are withheld for my own protection.
*****
And that really is the end. I hope you enjoyed it. <biggrin>
Posted by Marcus Aurelius
[pictures will be added as soon as it's possible to do so]
[this may be never so why not complain to the hosts?]
[in the mean time Amy the Ant has made these <ant> guys for me! Thanks Amy!]
Ant Wars! was first written as a single entry on one of my personal sites for the amusement of my friends. It steadily grew to a short yet thoroughly manic tale and I must confess that for a while I got a little obsessed with the critters.
But enough of my ramblings. On with the War!
*****************
[picture of a yellow meadow ant]
[well ok it's not, but it will be when they let me post it]
<ant> Commander's log 2nd June 2002
I mowed the lawn today and was checking over it when I came across a red-ants nest. Now I hate red ants primarily because their bites sting but also because their nests make a horrible patch of dirt in the middle of my lawn, right? So I bent down to have a closer look, and found that the disrupted nest (which I had run over with the mower only minutes before) was being attacked by some black ants from the garden border. I cheered (in my own head).
I watched for a couple of minutes as the black-ants slowly seemed to increase in numbers as the lines of communication back to the nest brought in reinforcements. I marvelled as the black-ant command squadron ordered a perfect encircling manouver around the enemy fortification. (the black-ants attacked the nest from all sides at once) The tireless red-ants were furiously repairing their nest even as they fought off the invaders. Under seige, they rallied troops from deep within their crumbled citadel. Battles raged at the outer tunnel entrances and daring combatants engaged each other high up on blades of grass. Both sides faught valiantly. The battle was theirs to be won.
....And being the melevolent devil that I am (Mwahahaha) I got hold of a small garden fork and uprooted the red-ant fortifications, revealing the complex catacombs of the now helpless defendants. The result was a slaughter of red-ant civilians as the black-ant army overcame the desperate red-ant defenses, slaughtering the warriors and carrying off workers, grubs and eggs alike. Hooray!
<martiansmile> (Morris & Martin here are keeping track of my editing) <martiansmile>
<ant> Commander's log 3rd June 2002
Today I discovered that the red-ant nest lives on. Repairs have been made over night and fortifications were rebuilt on a smaller scale. Disappointed that the destruction of the enemy was only partial, I took solace in the knowledge that my intervention on behalf of my allies at least reduced the population. That nest will not be spreading out new colonies into my garden for a very long time. (or at least six weeks anyway) Checking the defence capabilities (yeah right!) I prodded the nest and broke the surface. Yup! Those ants are on guard now!
<ant> Commander's note
There is a second and larger red ant nest in my garden which I also dug into on the 2nd of June, but this is far from the black ants and provided no entertainment. However, I shall keep you updated on this nest, too!
[At this point I got a little too interested.....]
*****
<ant> Isn't research fun!?!
[the following 3 little paragraphs were copied from a site. When I remember what site it was I shall be sure to give the credit]
Most British ants, it seems, prefer to make their nests in damp soil as this is much easier to excavate than other materials. Some nests are very simple in construction with only a few galleries, while others are made up of very complex chambers with flat floors and interconnecting tunnels.
[picture of a whopping big nest]
[since they wont let me put pictures in yet, why not try to imagine it?]
[remember, it's really big]
The most skilled nest builder among the ants found in Britain is the little yellow meadow ant, Lasius flavus, which can dig down deeper than a metre. These are the ants that may build very small mounds in your lawn during the summer and are commonly mistaken for red ants, in open areas such as meadows and fields, L. flavus builds much larger mounds which normally are covered with vegetation.
[another picture of a yellow meadow ant]
Lasius niger, the common black garden ant, like to cut out nests under stones or against a wall, and sometimes will invade the nests of other ant species that are more skilled at nest building than themselves.
[picture of a black ant]
*****
<ant> Having read up on the ants in my garden I realised that I could be philosophical about the ants and compare them to human history - you all know that I love history, right? I've recently been reading up on Ancient History and there are numerous times when 'civilisation' is attacked by 'barbarians'.
I realised that I could see my war as a conflict between 'civilisation' (the great nest-building yellow meadow ants or red ants) versus the lesser cultured 'barbarians' (nest-raiding black ants) with a bit of divine intervention (me!) thrown in. I could therefore see it as my duty to protect civilisation from the invaders.
I could. On the other hand I could simply say that those red ants make little piles of dirt in my garden! The B*****ds! Death to the Red (Yellow Meadow) Ants!
*****
<ant> I must admit, maybe I'm warped but I'm finding this damn funny. Here's an update: I checked up on the nest for a second time today and watched some red ant scouts attack a little beatle, so they're doing ok now. I also saw a red ant carry a red ant corpse away from the nest. Most of the corpses have now disappeared but it's obvious that the black ants carried the field even if they didn't conquer the base.
*****
<ant> Commander's Log 22 June '02
There is very little happening at the moment, but the last week has been very eventful. When I returned from my excursion to Florida (a covert mission to spy on the fire ants over there, obviously <tongueout>) I discovered that the ants had spread. There were now 7 yellow meadow ant nests in my garden.
[a diagram will be added here as soon as they let me]
[it's a really nice diagram. It took me ages to do it]
[I'd give you a link to the site but it's private and only members can enter]
[sorry]
[why not complain to the hosts again? :)]
Nest 1..... the first large nest that spawned all the others but previously provided no entertainment. This nest showed considerable evidence of repairs and there was now plenty of surface activity. Nest 1 would soon become my most intriguing target.
Nest 2..... the original Ant Wars nest that was attacked by the black ants. This nest must have suffered heavy casualities because surface evidence of repairs was minimal. A new crop of ant corpses were discovered leading me to suspect more recent attacks by the black ants.
Nest 3..... a resonably small nest that was quite extensive in it's construction. Major earth works provided seemingly solid defence against invasion. My scouts continued to survey the site for weaknesses.
Nest 4..... a new nest at practically equal distance from nests 1 & 2. I am unsure of it's origins but watch closely. Not much activity.
Nests 5 & 6..... a new colony on the far side of the garden. Origin unknown. The two nests are quite close together. I suspect they are the same nest underground. The ants here are tiny. Perhaps this is a new Queen? A different colony from the first?
Nest 7..... out on it's own a rather large new colony had been constructed, but appeared to be under attack from a seperate body of black ants.
<ant> Initial Manouvers
The first action was immediate and swift. Having identified the extent of my enemy I employed one of my most devastating weapons against all nests......the incredible Giant Stomping Foot !!! The destruction to enemy structures was emmence. Surface construction completely wiped out. Casulties many. In this first attack I used a powerful Stomping Level that must have crushed many subterrainean levels of each nest. The earth above each nest was packed hard in small craters (dents). However, despite the obvious success levels of this manouver the United Nations council (otherwise known as Mum <bigeyes>[replace]) declared that further attacks of this Stomping magnitude would not be tollerated. The day was done and ant casualities were massive.
<ant> Subsiquent Manouvers
Over the next few days I watched for surface activity and saw that nests 2, 6 and 7 would not recover. They had been so thoroughly decimated by my stomping and by black ant attacks that there seemed to be no life remaining. Small proding and occasion light level stomping reduced the remaining nests still further, plus there had been further black ant attacks on these now poorly defended nests, as evidenced by fresh corpses of both species. For some reason I left the new colony of nest 5 alone for now. However, when the it was becoming clear that this war might be won over the next couple of weeks the United Nations interveened and declared peace between myself and the ants.
<ant> Peace
So I could no longer fight. Instead I began to take an interest merely in watching the gradual reconstruction of these decimated nests. Nest 1 initially recovered well and fast and provided some considerable entertainment both in red ant activity and in black ant attacks. It seemed clear that this nest would probably remain supreme and recover most. Nests 3, 4 and 5 also showed varying degrees of recovery. Surface activity at nests 3 and 4 was minimal. The young new colony at nest 5 which I had not attacked in the latter part of the war showed some signs of vigourous activity. However, the population here is very small and so are the young ants!
<ant> Natural disasters
By freak occurance the most active nests, 1 and 5, were then subjected to natural disasters. They were trodden on by my mum, grandparents and by the kids that my mum takes care of. I also witnessed little Charlie unintetionally run over nest 1 with his car.
<ant> The Current Peace
So nest 1 - the largest nest and initially the site of the strongest recovery - has been reduced to almost negligable activity. Some signs of reconstruction are evident, but I estimate the worker population able to work upon to surface to be about 4 ants. Pitiful.
Nest 3 shows signs of significant recovery although surface worker population here is estimated at.......1 ant. No black ants attack this nest and I suspect that at this site most of the subterrainean levels survived. If this nest has it's own queen then it will soon rise in surface population as the younger ants are replaced in service of the queen by new hatchlings and are free to forage and build above ground.
Nest 4 shows minimal recovery. I'm not sure about this ones future.
Nest 5, the young new colony, having suffered natural disasters and ant attacks since peace was declared has suffered massive loss of life. Estimated surface ant worker population stands at about 2 or 3 and these guys are tiny. However, the nest itself though small remains now in good condition so it's future looks promising.
And so ends my crazy little Ant War. <tongueout> [only it didn't: keep reading]
*****
<ant> Commander's Log 19th July 2002:
The ants have survived. I have been fired. My second in command (my brother) was appointed to the post as my replacement. He initiated a devastating attack within hours using the awesome power of boiling water from the kettle. As expected with such a terrifying weapon this method had side effects. The natural vegitation died. This did not please the United Nations council.
My second in command was immediately dismissed from the post. The United Nations council has now offered an amnesty to the enemy. I fear peace only furthers their evil ends. We are losing territory daily in political bargaining. However, the military is paying me a sizable pension. I have moved to a third world country where I have begun a secret operation. Details are withheld for my own protection.
*****
And that really is the end. I hope you enjoyed it. <biggrin>
Posted by Marcus Aurelius
