|
Chapter 1
Social Life
We mentioned that ants live in colonies and that a perfect division
of labour exists amongst them. When we take a closer look at their systems,
we shall also see that they have a pretty interesting social structure.
It will also come to our attention that they are capable of sacrifice
at a much higher level than humans are. One of the most interesting points
is that – compared to humans – they do not know the concepts such as the
rich-poor discrimination and the fight for power that are observed in
our societies.
Many scientists, who for years have been doing extensive research on
ants, have not been able to clarify the subject of their advanced social
behaviour. Caryle P. Haskins, Ph.D., the president of the Carnegie Institute
at Washington has this to say:
After 60 years of observation and study,
I still marvel at how sophisticated the ants' social behavior is. …The
ants thus make a beautiful model for our use in studying the roots of
animal behavior.1
Some colonies of ants are so extensive with respect to population and
living area, that it is impossible to explain how they can form a perfect
order over such a vast area. Therefore, it is not easy not to concur with
Dr. Haskins.
As an example of these large colonies we can give the
species of ant, called Formica Yessensis that lives on the Ishikari
coast of Hokkaido. This ant colony lives in 45,000 interconnected nests
over an area of 2.7 square kilometres. The colony, which is composed of
approximately 1,080,000 queens and 306,000,000 workers, has been named
the "Super colony" by the researchers.2 It
has been discovered that all production tools and food are exchanged in
an orderly fashion within the colony.
It is very hard to explain how the ants have maintained this order without
any problems, considering the vast area they are living in. We must not
forget that various security forces are needed for enforcing law and maintaining
social order, even in a civilized country with a low population density.
And there is an administrative staff leading and managing these units.
Sometimes, it does not become possible to maintain the required order
without problems despite all these intense efforts.
Yet in ant colonies there is no need felt for police, gendarmerie or
guards. If we consider that actually the duty of the queens, whom we think
of as the leaders of the colonies, is just to maintain the species, they
do not have a leader or a governor. There is thus no hierarchy based on
a chain of command amongst them. Then who is it that lays down this order
and maintains its continuity?
In the later chapters of the book we shall find answers to this question
and similar others in combination.
 |
 |
| Ants, which are very small creatures,
pursue their lives with perfect orderliness in spite of their size |
CASTE SYSTEM
Each ant colony without exception complies strictly with the caste system.
This caste system consists of three major parts within a colony.
Members of the first caste are the queen and the males who make reproduction
possible. More than one queen may exist in a colony. The queen has assumed
the task of reproducing and thus increasing the number of individuals
making up the colony. Her body is larger than that of the other ants.
The duty of the males on the other hand is just to fertilize the queen.
In fact, nearly all of these die after the nuptial flight.
The members of the second caste are the soldiers. These take on duties
like the setting up of the colony, finding a new living environment and
hunting.
The third caste consists of worker ants. All of the workers are sterile
females. They take care of the mother ant and her babies; they clean and
feed them. In addition to all these, other jobs in the colony are also
under the responsibility of the workers. They build new corridors and
new galleries for their nests; they search for food and continually clean
up the nest.
The worker and soldier ants also have sub-groups. These are named slaves,
thieves, nurses, guards and foragers. Each group has a different task.
While one group focuses completely on fighting the enemy or hunting, another
group builds nests, and yet another one looks after maintenance.
Every individual in the ant colonies does his full share of the work.
None of them worry about the position it is in nor the nature of the job
it performs, but it plainly does what is required of it. What is important
is the continuity of the colony.
When we think about how this system could have developed, we cannot avoid
reaching the fact of creation.
Let us explain why: Where there is perfect order, logically we reach
the conclusion that this has certainly been established by a planning
mind. For instance, there is a disciplined order in the military; it is
obvious that the officers in control of the army have established this
order. It would certainly be an absurd idea to assume that all individuals
in the army came together on their own and organized themselves and that
later on they were grouped in different ranks and started acting in compliance
with these ranks. Furthermore, the officers who have established this
order have to keep on carrying out inspections of this order so that it
may persist without any problems. Otherwise, an army left solely to the
troops would soon be transformed into an unruly crowd, regardless of how
well disciplined it might have been at the beginning.
 |
 |
|
Ants within the same colony who belong to
different castes have different physical appearances
as well. Each has a physical build appropriate for its job
|
The ants also have a discipline very similar to that of the military. Yet
the critical aspect is that there is no "officer", that is any organizing
administrator, in sight. The various caste systems within the ant colony
carry out their duties in a faultless manner; although, yet there is no
obvious "central power" which supervises them.
Then the only explanation is that the central will in question is an
"invisible" one. The inspiration which is mentioned in the Qur'an with
the statement "And your Lord revealed to the bee" (Surat Nahl:
68), is this invisible power.
This will has achieved such tremendous planning that people are in awe
of it when they try to analyze it. Such awe and wonderment have been expressed
from time to time in various forms by the researchers as well. Evolutionists,
who claim that such a perfect system has developed as a result of coincidences,
are not able to explain this sacrificial behaviour which is at the core
of this system. An article written on this subject in the Journal of
Bilim ve Teknik indicates this incapability once more:
The problem is why living beings help each other. According
to Darwin's Theory, each living creature fights for his own survival
and reproduces. Since helping others would relatively decrease the probability
of survival of that living being, this behaviour had to be eliminated
by evolution in the long run. Yet it has been observed that living beings
may be ready to sacrifice.
A classical form of explaining the fact of sacrifice is that the colonies
which are made up of individuals who are ready to sacrifice for the
benefit of the group or the genus shall be more successful during evolution
than those which are made up of egotistical individuals. However, the
point, which is not explained in this theory, is how the societies which
can sacrifice may maintain this characteristic. A single egotistical
individual who may come up in such a society should be able to transfer
its selfish characteristics to the later generations, since he is not
going to sacrifice himself. Another vague point is that if evolution
happens at the level of societies, what should the dimension of this
society be? Should it be the family, species, genus or class? Even if
there is an evolution simultaneously at more than one level, what will
be the result when interests are in conflict3?
As we can see, it is not possible to explain the sense of sacrifice
in living beings and the social systems based on this sense with the theory
of evolution, that is, by assuming that living creatures have come into
being by chance.
Can the Ants Be Doormen?
When we analyze the details of the system in the ant colonies, we feel the
power of the invisible will, which establishes and governs this system,
in a more concrete way. Now let us take a look at these details.
The connections to the outer world of the ant nests are usually via a
small hole large enough for an ant to go through. Passing through these
holes is by "permission". There are ants within the colony whose numbers
are not very many with the duty of "serving as a doorman".
"The doormen" serve as living gates with the shapes of
their heads fitting right in the nest entrance. Furthermore, the colour
and design of their heads are the same as that of the tree barks in the
close surrounding. The doorman sits for hours at the entrance hole and
allows free passage only its nestmates.4
This means that the idea of keeping a doorman to guard the buildings
has been put into practice, before men, by doorman ants, who cover the
entrance with the strongest part of their bodies, who also camouflage
themselves and who do not let in those who do not say the right "password".
It is quite obvious that that the head of the doorman ant that we mentioned
above fits right into the hole, that its colour and patterns conform to
the environment, and that it does not let in anybody that it does not
know, cannot be up to its own will. There certainly is an owner
of intellect who has designed the body of the ant in this form and who
inspires the job it is doing. To say that the ant can figure out these
duties on its own and serves as a doorman without running out of patience
and without giving up, would certainly not be a sensible explanation.
Let us think: Why would an ant want to be a doorman? If it had a choice,
why would it pick the job, which is the most cumbersome and that requires
the most sacrifice? If it did have such a chance, it would certainly pick
a job that would provide it with the most comfortable environment and
the best service. The choice, in fact, has come about with the determination
of Allah. And the doorman ant performs its duties in full obedience. Only
the creator of the ants may have designed such a perfect colony life to
show the striking side of His art and given particular duties to the ant
colony which abides by this system.
According to the theory of evolution, however, the ants should be developing
in every respect and they should be trying to get into a caste where they
could live a lot more comfortably. However, the doorman ants make no effort
in this direction and they perform their inspired jobs faultlessly throughout
their entire lives.
Expert Ants
Ants are beings
that can only
live in groups.
They cannot
survive alone.
|
 |
The organization, specialization in certain fields, and communications in
the ant world is almost as successful as among human beings. This is true
to such an extent that human beings are patterning their systems today
on the harmonious system of the ants. The excerpt below illustrates this
point:
Computer experts today are trying to reproduce in laboratories
the collective behaviour forms of ants in robots. Instead of very advanced
programmes, they are focusing on robots that cooperate devising between
themselves on the basis of "simple" information elements. In these studies,
the basic principle is the same. Instead of forming a highly advanced
robot, the intention is to develop a herd of robots that are less "intelligent"
but which will undertake the most "complex" tasks, just as the ants
do in the ant colony… These robots will not be very advanced from the
point of "intelligence" when taken one by one, but they will achieve
the division of labour by collective action motivation. This will be
possible because they will have the capacity to exchange the simplest
information with each other. The life and cooperation in the ant colony
has also influenced NASA… The organization is planning to send many
"ant robots" for research on the planet Mars instead of a single advanced
robot. Thus, even if some of them are destroyed, the surviving members
of the team will be able to complete their tasks5.
Let us now take a look at an interesting example from the world of "expert
ants".
How Does Living in a Group Affect Ants?
The most obvious example of cooperation among ants is in the behaviour of
a worker ant species called Lasius emarginatus. The individuals of
this species have interesting affiliations with each other. The activities
of four worker ants belonging to the group that works with earth go on when
they are separated from the big group. However, when there is a substance,
like glass or stone in between which prevents them from seeing each other,
their rate of work slows down.
Another example is that when the fire ants are separated from their groups
by a thin barrier, they try to reach the other members of their colony
by piercing this obstruction.
Many variations occur also in the behaviour of ants when the number of
individuals in the group changes. When the number of ants in the nest
increases, it is observed that the activity of each one of the individuals
also proportionally increases. When the worker ants come together as a
group, they get together, calm down and spend less energy. It has been
determined that as the population increases in some ant species, there
is a drop in the amount of oxygen spent.
What all these examples show us is that ants cannot survive on their
own. These small creatures have been created with characteristics that
allow them to live only in groups or even colonies. And this proves to
us how out of touch with reality are the claims by the evolutionists with
regard to the socializing process of ants. It is impossible for the ants
to have been living alone when they were first created and to have socialized
later on to form colonies. It would have been impossible for an ant facing
such an environment to have survived. It would have had to reproduce,
to build a nest for itself and its larvae, to feed both itself and its
family, be a doorman, be a soldier and also a worker who took care of
the larvae… We cannot claim that all these jobs requiring an extensive
division of labour could have been performed once upon a time by a single
ant or even a few ants. Furthermore, it is impossible to think that they
worked hard towards socialization while performing these mundane tasks.
What is deduced from all this is the following: Ants are creatures who
have been living under a social system and in groups since the day they
were first created. This in turn is proof that ants have come into existence
in one single moment with all their characteristics intact and, if we
wish to phrase it better, that they have been "created".
A Model Headquarters
Let us expand a little the example of an army that we gave previously. Just
think that you arrived at an army headquarters that is enormously large,
but in which there is complete order. It looks as if you cannot go inside,
because the security guards at the gates do not let in anybody they do not
know. The building is protected with a security system that is strictly
supervised.
|
In the picture above, we can see the underground
city ants have built in the roots of a tree. In time, the roots
of the tree have been damaged and the tree has fallen to reveal
this secret city.
|
Let us just assume that you found a way of getting in. Various systematic
and dynamic activities will catch your attention inside, for thousands
of soldiers are performing their duties in a strictly orderly fashion.
When you search for the secret of this order, you notice that the building
has been designed in a form entirely suitable for the inhabitants to work
in. There are special departments for each job and these departments are
designed so that the soldiers can work in the easiest manner. For instance,
the building has floors underground, but the department which requires
the sun's energy is located where it may get sunlight at the widest possible
angle. And the departments which have to be in constant touch with each
other are constructed very close to each other so that access would be
facilitated. The warehouses where the surplus materials are stored are
designed as a separate department in one side of the building. The warehouses
where such requirements are kept are comfortable, accessible locations
and there is a wide space right at the centre of the building where everybody
may gather.
The features of the headquarters are not limited to these. The building
is heated uniformly in spite of its vastness. The temperature stays constant
all day long thanks to an extremely advanced central heating system. Another
reason for this is the building's extremely effective external insulation
against all weather conditions.
If the question of how and by whom this type of headquarters was designed
was asked, everybody would say that it is by superior technology and by
a professional team work. Such a headquarters building can only be built
by people who have a certain level of education, culture, intellect and
logic.
However, this headquarters building is actually an ant's nest.
To accumulate the required information to build such type of a headquarters
building would take quite a long part of human life. However, an ant coming
out of the egg knows its duty at that moment and starts work without losing
any time. This shows that ants possess this information before they are
born. All this information has been inspired in the ants at the time of
their creation by Allah, the Almighty Who created them.
Self Organization in Ants
|
|
|
In the first stage of nest building, members of the colony
open a tiny hole, then expand into a labyrinth of chambers.
In most of these sections, there are fungus gardens. These
gardens fill the chambers, which are located near the surface.
Larger, deeper pits hold decomposing plant detritus and waste.
A few of these pits, oddly, contain more soil than organic
matter, as if a soil cover is needed for especially noxious
waste. Hot air rises from these refuse chambers. Cool, oxygen-rich
air is drawn into the nest. Openings directly above the nest
are used only for excavation and ventilation. Cavernous perimeter
tunnels form a beltway some 7.5 meters from the nest. The
most important point here is that this metropolis has been
constructed by ants who have not taken any architectural or
agricultural courses what so ever .
|
|
There is no leader, planning, or programming in the world of ants. And
the most important point is that there is no chain of command as we mentioned
before. The most complex duties in this society are carried out without
skipping a beat due to an immensely advanced self-organization. Consider
the following example:
When food shortages occur in the colony, the worker ants are immediately
transformed into "feeder" ants and they start feeding others with the
food particles in their reserve stomachs, and when there is surplus food
in the colony, they shed this identity and again become worker ants
The sacrifice displayed here truly is at an advanced level. While human
beings have not succeeded in fighting hunger in the world, the ants have
found a practical solution to this problem: to share everything, including
their food. Yes, this is a real example of sacrifice. Giving without hesitation
everything it owns including its food to the next ant, so that it may
survive, is just one of the examples of sacrifice in nature which the
theory of evolution cannot manage to explain.
There is no overpopulation problem for ants. While today, the metropolises
of man are becoming hard to live in due to migration, lack of infrastructure,
misallocation of resources and unemployment, ants can manage their underground
cities, with a population of 50 million in a fantastically orderly fashion,
without the feeling that anything is lacking. Each ant immediately adapts
to changes occurring in its environment. For such a thing to occur, the
ants must have certainly been programmed physically and psychologically.
For the emergence of such extremely well organized systems, there has
to be a "master will" to give them the inspiration to do their work and
to give them orders. Otherwise, great chaos would ensue rather than order.
And this master will pertains to Allah, Who owns everything, Who is Almighty,
Who directs all living beings and orders them by inspiration.
The fact that ants perpetually strive without any consideration of benefit,
is proof that they are acting on the inspiration of a certain "supervisor".
The verse below fully confirms that Allah is the master and supervisor
of everything and that every living creature acts on His inspiration:
I have put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your
Lord. There is no living being He does not hold by the forelock and inspect!
My Lord is on a straight path. (Surah Hud: 56)
1 National Geographic, vol.165,
no.6 , p. 775. 
2 Bert Hölldobler-Edward O.Wilson, The Ants, Harvard University
Press, 1990, p. 1.
3 Bilim ve Teknik Dergisi (Journal of Science and Technics), sayý:
190, s. 4.
4 Bert Hölldobler-Edward O.Wilson, The Ants, Harvard University Press,
1990, p. 330-331.
5 Focus Dergisi (Focus Magazine), October 1996. |
