Gordon Grice's Blog, page 63

What Eats People, Part 16: Ants

In many countries, stinging insects are the wildlife most likely to kill a human being. In the US, for example, ants, bees, and wasps kill more than a dozen people a year, usually because of allergic reactions to the stings. The honeybee is our most frequent killer.


But those attacks are mostly defensive. The imported red fire ant deserves special mention because it's the only insect in the US that preys on people. That's happened several times in nursing homes, where helpless elderly people were partly eaten by fire ants, not necessarily after being killed. Elsewhere in the world, other ant species have attacked infants and hospital patients.


The ants are the smallest predators of people. 

Warring Ants Know Their Enemies

BBC Nature - Warring ants know their enemies

We begin International Ant Week with this interesting research about inter-species fighting. It reminds me of this passage from Walden:


One day when I went out to my wood-pile, or rather my pile of stumps, I observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger, nearly half an inch long, and black, fiercely contending with one another. Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not aduellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black. The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood-yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black. It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed, the only battle-field I ever trod while the battle was raging; internecine war; the red republicans on the one hand, and the black imperialists on the other. On every side they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear, and human soldiers never fought so resolutely. I watched a couple that were fast locked in each other's embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out. The smaller red champion had fastened himself like a vice to his adversary's front, and through all the tumblings on that field never for an instant ceased to gnaw at one of his feelers near the root, having already caused the other to go by the board; while the stronger black one dashed him from side to side, and, as I saw on looking nearer, had already divested him of several of his members. They fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs. Neither manifested the least disposition to retreat. It was evident that their battle-cry was "Conquer or die." In the meanwhile there came along a single red ant on the hillside of this valley, evidently full of excitement, who either had despatched his foe, or had not yet taken part in the battle; probably the latter, for he had lost none of his limbs; whose mother had charged him to return with his shield or upon it. Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus. He saw this unequal combat from afar—for the blacks were nearly twice the size of the red—he drew near with rapid pace till he stood on his guard within half an inch of the combatants; then, watching his opportunity, he sprang upon the black warrior, and commenced his operations near the root of his right fore leg, leaving the foe to select among his own members; and so there were three united for life, as if a new kind of attraction had been invented which put all other locks and cements to shame. I should not have wondered by this time to find that they had their respective musical bands stationed on some eminent chip, and playing their national airs the while, to excite the slow and cheer the dying combatants. I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the difference.

I took up the chip on which the three I have particularly described were struggling, carried it into my house, and placed it under a tumbler on my window-sill, in order to see the issue. Holding a microscope to the first-mentioned red ant, I saw that, though he was assiduously gnawing at the near fore leg of his enemy, having severed his remaining feeler, his own breast was all torn away, exposing what vitals he had there to the jaws of the black warrior, whose breastplate was apparently too thick for him to pierce; and the dark carbuncles of the sufferer's eyes shone with ferocity such as war only could excite. They struggled half an hour longer under the tumbler, and when I looked again the black soldier had severed the heads of his foes from their bodies, and the still living heads were hanging on either side of him like ghastly trophies at his saddle-bow, still apparently as firmly fastened as ever, and he was endeavoring with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg, and I know not how many other wounds, to divest himself of them; which at length, after half an hour more, he accomplished. I raised the glass, and he went off over the window-sill in that crippled state. Whether he finally survived that combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some Hotel des Invalides, I do not know; but I thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter.
Next Time: A startling revelation about ants.
Thanks to J. Rodney Karr for the link.

Malaysia: Wild Boar Injures Two Women

Wild boar attacks two: 


""I was collecting wood when I saw the wild boar walking in front of us. We didn't have time to flee as it came charging at us.


"The animal bit me on my arms and legs before attacking my daughter," she said, adding that Sallek had tried to beat the boar off with a stick but this only sent it into a frenzy.


Dajang said she started shouting for help when the wild boar set upon Sallek. However, no one came."

Malysia: Wild Boar Injures Two Women

Wild boar attacks two: 


""I was collecting wood when I saw the wild boar walking in front of us. We didn't have time to flee as it came charging at us.


"The animal bit me on my arms and legs before attacking my daughter," she said, adding that Sallek had tried to beat the boar off with a stick but this only sent it into a frenzy.


Dajang said she started shouting for help when the wild boar set upon Sallek. However, no one came."

Animal Attack Movies: The Lost World

The Lost World (1925)


Here's the original claymation dinosaur movie. A group of explorers find a plateau with relict populations of dinosaurs and ape-men. Doyle stayed hip to the latest research and, as Victorian sensationalists go, was pretty accurate about his animals. He's best known as the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but also wrote tales about a cave bear, a jaguar, a gigantic python, and a venomous snake trained to kill. Yes, I said he was accurate by Victorian standards, but that isn't saying much. A modern biologist would scoff at the idea of gigantic animals surviving on a plateau, because giants don't usually do well in isolated geography.


Anyway, Doyle didn't make the film, he only wrote the book. And the filmmakers weren't too invested in this accuracy stuff. Animator Willis O'Brien, however, has a fine eye for the motions of animals. 


Attack Quotient: High. Lots of dinosaurs, plus some ape-man action. 


Cheese Factor: Also high.

Assam, India: Leopards Wound Eight People

Rute Martins/Leoa's Photography/Creative Commons
Eight persons critically injured in leopard attack:

"The leopards were spotted in the field of one Bhagaban Deka this morning and as he raised a hue and cry, one of the animal injured him at Madhukuchi village in Rangiya subdivision.


The villagers rushed out with sticks and sharp weapons to attack the leopards who in turn attacked them and injured seven others.


While the villagers captured one of the leopards and killed it, the other escaped."

The Shape of Things to Come

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. . .


An eBook short. Coming June 5 from Gordon Grice and National Geographic Books

Piranhas Attack Bathers

Piranhas attack bathers in Brazil: report | World | DAWN.COM: "BRASILIA:Carnivorous fish attacked bathers in a river in southern Brazil, leaving about 20 of them with bite wounds on their hands and feet, a news website said Monday, citing lifeguards."


As mentioned in The Book of Deadly Animals, piranhas don't deserve their reputation as unstoppable eating machines. But they do sometimes take a nip, and this time a lot of them did. 

Grice and His Deer on Gizmodo

Photo by Dee Puett

I've been meaning to link this for a while. It's a free sample of The Book of Deadly Animals that ran on Gizmodo. The subject is deer:


Book Excerpts News, Videos, Reviews and Gossip - Gizmodo: 


"When it walked, the muscles rolled beneath its hide. Its antlers had eight points – nine, if I counted one broken short, its splintered end showed like the tip of a whittled stick. The darker fur on its neck looked like five o'clock shadow. Its eyes focused on two-year-old"


*


On a related note, here's an interesting article about a field study of animal personality, with elk as the focus:



The elk shrink: With parks under siege, one researcher tries to unravel ungulate personalities:

"In the past 30 years, more than 600 people have reported being attacked or chased by ornery elk in those mountain parks. Thirty-six of them had to be treated for serious injuries.


Elk also attract wolves and cougars, which can be a problem when such prey species spend a good part of their time in schoolyards, parks and green spaces along the perimeters of town."

Famous Dingo Case in the News Again

New inquest into baby's 'dingo' death - CNN.com: 


"In a dusty campsite in central Australia more than 30 years ago, a mother's cries of "a dingo's got my baby" set the stage for one of the country's most intriguing murder mysteries.


The final scenes are set to be played out in court on Friday when a coroner will hear new evidence that her parents hope will once and for all confirm Azaria Chamberlain's official cause of death.


"We want a finding that Azaria was taken by a dingo," said Stuart Tipple, the lawyer representing Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton and her former husband Michael."