264 Self and the Phenomenon of Life
b2726 Self and the Phenomenon of Life: A Biologist Examines Life from Molecules to Humanity “9x6”utilize the ants as a natural pest control. Upon seeing the scout ants, the
natives will vacate the village and return a few days later, whereupon
their premises will be free of spiders, snakes, rats and other noxious
pests, all eaten by the ants. Direct encounter with the army, of course, is
life-threatening to people.
Slave-maker ants are a different breed. They make their living by
capturing the worker caste from other colonies to work for them. In
extreme examples, a slave-maker queen produces only soldiers, whose
only task is to enslave foreign workers to feed the colony. These soldiers
are fierce fighters, using their strong mandibles to tear the enemies in a
gruesome battle. Typically, the queen sends out raiding parties to attack
other ant colonies. The raiding parties slaughter the adults and carry the
pupae back to the home queen, who then raises the adopted children as
her new slaves to work for her colony. Another tactic used is for a new
slave-maker queen to sneak into the invaded colony during a confusing
fight and replace the enemy queen by killing her. The new queen mimics
the old queen by consuming the latter and acquiring her scent (phero-
mones) to attract and subdue the attending ants. (Some invading queens
will feign death at the entrance of a foreign nest and let the host workers
carry her to the queen’s chamber, where the invading queen will spring
to life and murder the resident queen.) Subsequently the new queen
(invader) produces more soldiers of her own, which are again sent out to
raid other colonies to capture more slaves. It is interesting to note that in
a slave-maker colony the enslaved workers care for the eggs and young
that are not their genetic relative, often not even their own species.
Termites are also enormously successful eusocial insects. But
please note that although they appear like ants, the two are genetically
and evolutionarily very distant. Termites belong to the order Blattodea,
which includes cockroaches. Like ants and honeybees, termites con-
form to a strict caste system with division of labor including reproduc-
tion. Termites typically live in the soil and consume cellulose from dead
plants and wood. They are able to thrive on wood fibers by harboring
cellulose-digesting microbes in their guts. Their food habit leads to their