Learning from ants

Shabnam Nasir in The Dawn:Ants_1

One evening, while contemplating on the subject of my future article, I was rather amazed to see a cake crumb moving shakily across the floor. As I focused my eyes to get a better look at the object in question, I saw two tiny ants struggling with the crumb — which in ratio to their own size would make it equivalent to a heavy boulder being lifted by two children. It seems that these amazing insects have all the virtues that are needed by any society to function effectively.

* Ants can carry up to 10–20 times their body weight working in teams to move very heavy objects.

* Their brains are amongst the largest of the insect kingdom and it has been estimated that their brains may have the same processing power as a Macintosh II computer.

* The combined weight of ants is greater then the combined weight of all humans.

* Ants have specific duties and division of labour is the key to their successful society.

* When the situation calls for it, ants can easily adapt to a new skill or job.

* They take great care of their young and feed and teach them their skills.

* The tiny creatures are capable of organizing and executing massive group projects where they raise an army of specialized soldier ants that defend the nest.

* Ants build nests which are highly complex structures that are built in the dark and construct two tunnels from different directions that meet exactly halfway. They also build water traps to keep out the rain water.

More here.