Siafu. Safari ants also referred to as ‘driving ants’, ‘legionary ants’, or ‘visiting ants’. They exhibit extremely aggressive nomadic behaviours and indiscriminately kill by overwhelming prey with their massive numbers. True to their name, they are always in large numbers on safari, visiting or attacking. They do not stay. They pass through an area like a swarm of locusts and wipe out anything in their path. The only way to escape their attack is take off or remain motionless.
The safari ants’ society has three main castes each with specific roles and responsibilities.
Soldier ants, the large ants with an oversized head and gigantic mandibles, are the defense force. The defend the family. Their mandibles are actually so large that soldier ants can't feed without assistance from the smaller worker ants.
Worker ants are smaller in size and have smaller mandibles. They are responsible for everything from fighting on the front lines to carrying food back to the nest to caring for the queen and her eggs. Workers tend to live about a year.
Queen is the only reproductive female of the colony. She is protected and cared for by her colony, as she is what unites the nest and so her survival is very key. She can live up to 20 years. She is the largest of the ants, with an oversized abdomen for accomplishing her reproductive needs. As the only reproducer, the entire colony (some 300,000 to 50 million ants) are most likely all her offspring.
The entire colony made of females. The male ants are bred for reproductive needs only. These alates (winged drones) are formed during mating season. They are larger than solders, have wings and bloated sausage like abdomens. No wonder they are sometimes referred to as Sausage flies. They leave the colony soon after hatching. Once they reach sexual maturity, they are drawn to the scent trail left by a column of siafu. When a colony encounters a male, the tear off his wings and carries him back to the nest to mate with the queen. The male dies about 48 hours after mating with the queen. The queen lays up to 1 million eggs per month.
The safari ants are blind. They can only sense light intensity, but not discern anything in front of them. They rely on a form of chemical communication called pheromones, which they taste and/or smell with their antennae. They use up to 20 different pheromone cues to communicate with their colony as well as discern friend from foe. Some beetles, wasps, and millipedes are able to produce a chemical that mimics the army ant pheromone scent. This way they can actually conceal themselves from safari ant detection and avoid being attacked and eaten.
The siafu bites are used as natural emergency sutures (wound stitches). The solder ants are allowed to bite on both sides of the gash, then break of the body leaving ants head act as makeshift surgical staples creating a seal that can hold for days allowing natural healing to take place
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