ant tv

Last night I was watching something on the Science Channel about driver ants. They are a form of army ant found mostly in Africa. Ever since reading Leiningen Versus the Ants in junior high (and maybe before that) I have always been intrigued by army ants.

In watching the hour-long episode of the driver ant two things occur to me. First, I wouldn't want to cross their path. They were shown systematically ripping apart everything in their path, probably the most disturbing of which was a crab that they dismembered from the inside out.

Second, I have a very pertinent question. I wonder how they recruit the cameramen to do jobs like this. Think about it. This person's job is to get well within striking distance of a swarm of millions of these little animals whose heads are basically just big mandibles. Not only that, they have been known to attack humans, though they don't normally do so. If something went wrong it would be an absolutely horrible way to go. That's enough to give me a new appreciation for my office job.