Sunday, May 18, 2008

amazon ant

in today's nyt syndicated puzzle, the clue at 107D was amazon. the answer? ANT.

huh?

never heard of 'em. so i looked it up and found it to be absolutely fascinating. did you know they "are incapable of feeding themselves, and must rely on captured worker ants to care for them"?

me either. check out the wikipedia article here. (aw go ahead. it's short and Very interesting. then come back and read the rest of this post.)

oh & speaking of ants...

have you heard about the houston-area invasion of "crazy ants?" no, no, no, not crazy aunts...ants.
they're called crazy because they move so so fast and erratically. there are apparently billions of the tiny critters taking over a 5 county area in southeast texas. yikes!

the good news? they eat fire ants. unfortunately, they also eat plants, beneficial insects, the hatchlings of small birds, and fiercely infest electrical equipment, have multiple queens and are resistant to pesticides.

"...when you do kill these ants, the survivors turn it to their advantage: They pile up the dead, sometimes using them as a bridge to cross safely over surfaces treated with pesticide."

brilliant.

and creepy.

i'm thinking an anteater would make a great pet for houstonites.


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8 comments:

Annie said...

As with Lonestar bottle caps, sometimes trying to figure out what the picture actually is, is the hardest part. That first picture has me stumped. I must go back and stare some more. Add that to my long list of things to do!

DONALD said...

Ah! Nice picture of a polyergus eater!

Susan M said...

OK Rick, now I too will be having nightmares. One because the pictures are creepy. And two because I can't figure this one out and it will drive me nuts.

Love to read your blog, and admire your talent so much. Keep'em coming. Glad Flinty directed me in your direction.

Hope your Mom continues to do well.

Wishing you the best, Susan

cornbread hell said...

so, annie...give up?

donald, coming from you, the master of visuals, i'm flattered.

susan m, thanks. (give up? and i thought it would be too obvious...)

Susan M said...

Never will never say die. But if you will send a clue, then I will reconsider. Don't give it away, please.

Think you should look at the latest AARP Mag. NO, you're not old enough, but I've been reading through the 1968 stuff and I think you and Flinty would find it fascinating.

Yes I did some of the stuff mentioned, and my future hubby was in Viet Nam. Well whatever.

Hope all is well. Susan

cornbread hell said...

susan, the clue is: re-read the post.

Anonymous said...

Crazy Ernie's Aunt!

muah!

cornbread hell said...

who's ernie? (you got it.)