When I think of endangered British animals the Pine Marten springs to mind long before an ant would. However, the red-barbed ant appears to be one of our most endangered species. Scientists are to begin a project to save the ant from disappearing here. Until 10 years ago it was found in nests across Surrey's heathland, but now only one nest, which is all-female, remains on the British mainland.
Emily Brennan, at the Zoological Society of London, and a team of scientists, will go to Scilly to look for just-mated females. for release on the mainland. Last summer an all-male nest at a rifle range in Pirbright, Surrey, was destroyed by slavemaker ants which took the growing red-barbed ant pupae to their own nest, then reared them as worker ants. Fortunately the species does not seem to be threatened elsewhere in Europe.
2 comments:
I think we can safely blame haute cuisine for this. Somewhere, there is an Englishman chef who runs a secret chocolate ant dipping operation and their specialty is the red barbed ant. Saving the ant before something as irresistibly cute as the Pine Marten? What a bunch of antholes!!!!
We read a book for Book Club last year from a German author, called, Inkheart. I didn't much care for it, and it was over 600 pages, which is a lot for a working mom and 2 kids under 12 to finish in time for a bi-monthly club meeting. My girls loved it though, and the movie version is slated for release sometime this year. Anyway, one of the main characters carries around a marten named Gwen through the entirety of the book. Well, until he gets killed off.
But ants perform important functions. They may be tiny but for all we know their loss might have a bigger impact than losing a larger creature..
I haf not heard of the book but I am glad the girls liked it.. A good story is a good story!
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