THE TINY TEACHER

SMALL INSECTS FOUND AT HOME

SMALLEST AND WISEST

The story of an ant’s life sounds almost untrue. but people

have kept ants as pets and have watched their daily

behaviour closely. So we know a number of facts about

this tiny ,hard working and intelligent creature.

THE TINY TEACHER

Facts1 .An ant uses its feelers or antennae to ‘talk’ to other ants by passing messages

through them.

2. Each ant greets all the others coming from the opposite direction by touching their

feelers.

3. There are many kinds of ants. The commonest among them are the black

and the red ones.

4.They live in their comfortable homes called ‘nests’ or ‘anthills’.

5. Each anthill has hundreds of little rooms and passages. In some of these rooms

the queen ant lays eggs.

6. Other rooms are nurseries for the young one called grubs.

7. Workers have their reserved quarters. They spend most of their time searching for food.

Some rooms serve as store houses for this food.

8. Soldiers have separate barracks. No worker has ever tried to live in a soldier’s

house; no soldier has ever gone out searching for food. No worker or soldier or

cleaner has ever harmed a grub. An ants life is very peaceful. Each does its share of work

intelligently and bravely and never fight with other members of the

group.

9. The queen is the mother of the entire population of the colony. It lives for about

fifteen years. It has a pair of wings but bites them off after its ‘wedding flight’.

This flight takes place on a hot summer day. The queen leaves the nest and goes

out to meet a male ant , or drone, high up in the air. On its return to earth ,it gets

rid of its wings and then does nothing but lay eggs.

10.Eggs hatch and grub come out. Soldiers guard them. Workers feed and

clean them, and also carry them about daily for airing ,exercise and

sunshine.

11. Two or three weeks later grub become cocoons and lie without food or activity for three

weeks more. Then the cocoon break and perfect ant appear. Now it’s time for

teaching and training. New ants learn their duties from old ants as workers, soldiers

builders,cleaners,etc. After a few weeks’ training the small ants are ready to go out

into the big world of work.

12. An anthill is a home not only for ants but also for some other creatures- like

beetles, lesser breeds of ants and the greenfly. Ants wants these alien

creatures to live in their nests because some give off smell pleasant to the

ants senses; others give sweet juices and some are just pets or playthings.

13. The ants train the greenfly to give honeydew ( like milk) with a touch of their

antennae.

SUMMARY:

The ant is a very small insect, but it is very intelligent and hard-working. It is wiser Than any fly or earthworm. The story of an ant’s life sounds almost untrue. But Watching the behaviour of the commonest ant can teach us a lot.

The ants can be black or red. They live comfortably, in large and high homes called‘nests’ or ‘anthills’. Each home has hundreds of rooms and paths. In some of theseRooms the queen ant lays eggs. Other rooms are used as nurseries for the youngOnes called’ grubs’. Workers and soldiers have separate rooms. Some rooms areUsed as store houses. No worker can hurt a younger ants. The live in peace. Eachone does its share of work intelligently and bravely.

The queen ant is the head of the family. It lives for about 15 years. It has a pair of Wings which it bites off after its wedding flight. And then it does nothing but laysEggs.

Eggs are hatched. Grubs come out. Workers feed and clean them. They are carriedAbout daily for airing and sun bath. A couple of weeks later the grubs become Cocoons which break in three weeks. Perfect ants appear. They have to be trainedTo do their duties.

The ants use their feelers to talk to other ants. They pass on messages through them.

An anthill is a home not for ants alone. Some other creatures like beetles,and theGreen fly and lesser breeds of ants also live in it. Some of them give out sweet smellWhile others give sweet juices. The green fly gives them milk.

Human beings can learn a lot from this tiny teacher. We can learn hard work , Discipline sense of duty , cleanliness, care for the young ones and loyalty to the landwhere we live from this little creature.

Humans can learn a few things from this tiny teacher-Hard workSense of DutyDisciplineCleanlinessCare for Young ones

and above all Firm Loyalty to the LAND where they live.

Ants family

TEACHER : MISS SUREKHACHOUDHURYTGT(SS),AECS 2HYDEMPID-2277