An giant forest ant (Camponotus gigas) from Gunung Mulu National Park, Borneo.
These giant forest ants are pretty interesting critters. First, they are about an inch long, which is a darn large ant. Second, they have a number of ways to make a foe uncomfortable, including a strong bite, a poison gland, and can also spray acid!
And they fight to the death with any bordering colonies which often have massive losses on both sides, and the fight ritualistically within the colony at particular "arenas."
They are nocturnal, which is why I was able to spot this one at night in the rainforest. There is a nice little blog post on these guys that sums up their ecology in spiffy fashion, so if you want to learn a little bit more try ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN SINGAPORE
And they fight to the death with any bordering colonies which often have massive losses on both sides, and the fight ritualistically within the colony at particular "arenas."
They are nocturnal, which is why I was able to spot this one at night in the rainforest. There is a nice little blog post on these guys that sums up their ecology in spiffy fashion, so if you want to learn a little bit more try ECOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS IN SINGAPORE
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