Not groundbreaking, but something I observed, almost scientifically. I saw a huge ant that was bigger than any I ever saw in the region before (except queen ants of course) and I got it into a very smooth ceramic container to study it. At first, it had much trouble doing even basic climbing. But, I noticed it stopped and did something with it's front two or four legs like running them through its mouth. I assumed at first that the ant was just cleaning its legs due to residual water from rain, but I noticed that it stuck a little better. It stopped another time and repeated this process, it stuck to the sides even better. When I looked to see what it was doing each time it stopped, I noticed its mandibles were extended and it was secreting an orange-substance from its mouth wile rubbing its legs through its mouth. After doing it for more than a few seconds, its legs were finally sticky enough to climb out of the ceramic jar, and thus I learned that ants put some kind of saliva on their legs to make them stick better.

Edited May 30, 201312 yr by SamBridge

Do it again and again. Take some photos. Try similar ants in rough sided but similarly shaped containers etc Write it up - see if it is new(ish) - publish, be a real scientist and gain bragging rights!

I'm not sure where you live but where I live giant ants are really solitary wingless wasps and can sting very badly so be careful...

Do it again and again. Take some photos. Try similar ants in rough sided but similarly shaped containers etc Write it up - see if it is new(ish) - publish, be a real scientist and gain bragging rights!

Based on the fact that I observed this phenomena so easily it is my guess that this trait of ants was discovered at least a decade ago. I did some googling and it appears this phenomena was already known. Still interesting though.

Edited May 31, 201312 yr by SamBridge