Can you imagine The service of a guard without even a small compensation? If there is a case like this, you might suspect that the guard has another motive for his unpaid service. You can also say that no guard will sacrifice himself without benefit. Whatever you have in mind, this story that I am going to share with you is a real-life experience.
However, these guards are not humans but insects. These are the red ants. I have talked about red ants in my previous articles. But a different information is what I mentioned then. Today I will talk about my new discovery of a good thing where the red ants can be a great help, especially in fruiting plants.
Perhaps many of us assume that a red ant is a type of pest that can be annoying to us. But if you know this discovery, your perspective on these little creatures will change. Though its bite is not as painful as the fire ant bites it is still irritating if there is a colony of red ants around us. But what did I discover about red ants?
There are many guava trees in our surroundings. I regularly check if there are ripe guava fruits because we love them so much for their delicious taste and also believe them to be a very nutritious fruit providing many benefits for our health. When I checked the guava trees I was just dismayed because the ripe fruits already contained worms inside them. We won't be able to eat those ripe fruits because of those worms.
But a few months passed, I noticed that the red ants started to make a house to live in the guava trees.
I was bothered watching the red ants. A few weeks passed and I checked again to see if there were any ripe guava fruits.
I got two ripe fruits and I was amazed because there was not a single worm in those ripe fruits when I split them open. I thought it was just a coincidence that the ripe fruit I got was very clean. I checked the other guava trees that are also inhabited by red ants.
The ripe fruits are also clean and free from pest stings. So I observed those trees. I noticed that the pests that carry the larvae cannot sting the guava fruits because of the red ants that live in those trees. They can't even get close to the fruits and seems hard for them to sting. That's why the ripe fruits of the trees inhabited by red ants are very clean.
That's when I really appreciated the red ants because they help protect the fruit. However, I have no idea if this is also the case with other species of plants that they also inhabited. This time my point of view about red ants has changed. Because of my discovery, I was inspired to research more about these insects.
That's when I learned that these insects are eaten by many people in other places. In other places, it is one of the most delicious foods that even children are trained to hunt. All of these facts I learned moved me to have a deeper appreciation for these valuable insects, the uncompensated guards.
That's all I can share with you my fellow Hivers. Thank you for your support.