|
Chapter 5
Defence And War Tactics
In the previous chapters we have seen that the social order of ants is
highly advanced. These hardworking, productive and sacrificing beings
have yet another feature: They defend themselves very successfully against
enemies and they use very interesting techniques to fight for the survival
of the colony.
 The
small size of the ant at first gives the impression that they are defenceless.
One cannot even imagine that these creatures, which can be crushed easily
by stepping on them, can achieve tasks that seem far beyond their capacities.
Yet, Allah within the unique ecological order He has created on earth
has designated their place and has equipped them with the necessary defence
mechanisms.
By Allah's inspiration ants use seemingly incredible tactics and strategies
to defend their colonies and to protect themselves against the enemies
that they meet during the search for food. While developing hunting strategies,
they fight not to become a prey to others. One battle of this type is
the one between the ant colonies.
War Between Colonies
One of the most important reasons for inter-colonial wars is the difficulty
in sharing food resources. In such wars, the ant species that first finds
the food source usually wins. This is because the discovering ants surround
the food, thus preventing others from getting at pieces of the food. They
also leave their odors around, so that members of the following colony cannot
show the way by odor trails.
While some of the workers that first reach the food source maintain the
blockade operation, another group does not join the war immediately, preferring
to return home, and leaving odor trails. When they arrive home, they warn
their nestmates by moving their bodies back and forth, and touching the
antennae of the other ants with their own antennae. With this smart tactic,
reinforcements are gathered for the fighting workers.
 Apart
from ordinary sieges during the day, the ants become so aggressive during
a famine that they may destroy each other completely. One colony may destroy
another completely within 10-14 days.
Another cause of war is one colony entering the territory of another.
Ants mark their territories with a pheromone. When another colony comes
to the area, it notices this pheromone and normally does not settle here.
But if it does, this will be a cause of war.
In such situations, for instance, weaver ants run to the nearest leaf
while leaving a secretion behind. When they find their nestmates, they
tell them about the fight by their movements. Their mates start moving
upon this invitation and travel towards the war zone following the workers.
In half an hour, more than one hundred ants reach the arena.
In short, ant colonies lead a sophisticated existence with their natural
boundaries, security and information systems against danger and armies
that are strong enough to defend the whole colony. To found such a system
and to have the colony members adopt the system, an intelligent and conscious
will and education are needed. Yet, there is no apparent planner and no
apparent education. The system has been designed by an invisible will
and has been bestowed upon all ants when they first arrive on earth. In
other words, Allah Who has created the ants has chosen a complex defence
system for them and has inspired in the ants the program needed for performance
of this system.
Now let us see the details of this system, which is an open system of
creation.
Defence Tactics
In wars among different colonies, there are certain
tactics resorted to by ants. They walk about with legs stretched out in
a stiltlike posture while lifting their heads and abdomens and occasionally
inflating their abdomens to a slight degree. The total effect is to make
each ant appear larger than it really is.72
 |
On the right and left are seen ants that try to
seem taller and bigger than they actually are. |
 |
Another defence tactic they use is "pacifying the enemy". An ant species
(S. Invoila) gives out a venom during a fight by vibrating its belly
and opening up its mandible slowly. Its enemies, who try to protect themselves
from the venom open their mandibles and drop some sugar water onto the open
mandible of the venomous ant. The reason is that the venomous ant's aggression
decreases when it has access to food. In short, the object is to draw the
attention of the other side somewhere else and pacify it.
Tactics, of course, are not limited to these. The ants use many more
sophisticated techniques in the war zones with the physical features they
have and the intelligence that has been inspired in them.
Acid Producing Ants
Another very important defence technique of ants is their producing in the
venom sacs in their bodies venom or formic acid as required. They use the
venom they produce in a very successful way against their enemies. They
can even have an effect on human beings with their venom. When they sting,
they cause allergy shocks in certain people. Formic acid is, too, used effectively
in chasing away the enemy.
If we accept evolution, we then have to admit that primitive ants did
not start out with a poisoning system in their bodies, it having been
formed somehow later on through the process of evolution. Yet this is
a hypothesis against logic because, for the poisoning system to work,
both the venom itself and the organ to keep it in have to be formed. It
is necessary for this organ to have an insulated structure to prevent
the dispersal of the venom to other parts of the body. Furthermore, an
insulated pipe that extends from this organ to the mouth of the ant must
exist. But this is not all. A muscle system or a mechanical arrangement
has to exist which will allow this venom to be spurted on to the enemy
(In fact, a separate gland is needed also to "lubricate" that area for
the rotation of the abdominal section from which the venom is squirted
)
These organs could not have developed gradually through the process of
evolution because, if even one piece were lacking, this would render the
system unworkable and cause the ant's death. Therefore there is just one
explanation: The "chemical defence system" in question must have been
in place from the moment the ants came into existence. This in turn proves
that a conscious design also exists and its other name is "Creation".
Another question to which evolutionists cannot find the answer is how
– apart from their using this venom without any harm coming to themselves
- they have learned to produce such a poison in their bodies (in
venom sacks). In fact, the answer is very clear and obvious: Like all
creatures in the universe, these ants with their perfect systems have
been created all at the one time. The One Who has created the venom production
centre in their bodies and Who has inspired them to use it in the most
logical manner is Allah, the Creator of the worlds.
Ants Who Can Count
How is a simple insect able to assess the strength of the enemy? Interestingly
enough, this is realized by the mathematical knowledge of the ant.
There are several ways the ant workers might indirectly
assess the enemy strength. One of them is that they can "count heads"
while shifting from one combatant to another. If their nestmates outnumber
the enemy – say three to one – they will be subjectively aware of the
imbalance in their favor and more inclined to press forward. If the reverse,
they will retreat. A second method is to poll the enemy. If a high percentage
of the alien workers encountered are majors, the other colony is probably
large, because majors are produced in high numbers only when colonies
approach maturity.73
Walking Bombs
The ultimate sacrifice in public service is to destroy enemies by committing
suicide in defense of the colony. Many kinds of ants are prepared to assume
this kamikaze role in one way or another, but none more dramatically than
workers of a species of Camponotus of the saundersi group living
in the rain forests of Malaysia.
Discovered in 1970 by two entomologists, these ants
are anatomically and behaviorally programmed to be walking bombs. Two
huge glands, filled with toxic secretions, run from the bases of the mandibles
all the way to the posterior tip of the body. When the ants are pressed
hard during combat, either by enemy ants or by an attacking predator,
they contract their abdominal muscles violently, bursting open the body
wall and spraying the secretions onto the foe.74
Such a serious sacrifice by the ants cannot, of course, be explained
by either natural selection or by the "evolutionist socialization process".
As emphasized many times before, the creature which carries out this very
important sacrifice is not a man of a certain intelligence, education,
sense and conscience, but an ant. Even if we think that ants may have
gone through some physical change – there are ant fossils nevertheless
that have remained unchanged for 80 million years – it is quite obvious
that physical changes alone would not equip it with such features. No
mutation experienced by a living being can cause its sudden transformation
into a thinking, judging, feeling and sensing individual.
Even if we assumed that there had been an ant one day who decided to
sacrifice itself to put up such a defence, it would of course be impossible
for it to load this idea into its genes and transmit it to other ants.
Slave maker Ants
The relationship between (Formica Subintegra),
the parasitic ant and its slave (Formica Subserica) is interesting
because it indicates the effect of chemical signals on the social lives
of ants. "Slavery" is one of the intelligent war tactics of ants
and maybe the most interesting one.75
Sometimes, if the soldiers of a colony realize that they can easily crush
another colony, they may start hunting for slaves. They invade the nest
of the other colony, kill the queen and take as loot the nectar-filled
"honey pots" – those ants that fill their bodies with nectar. The most
important point is their stealing the larvae of the queen. These larvae
later on turn into young ants which will become "slave ants." They will
look after the growing children of the colony queen and will search for
and store food for the dominant colony.
 |
The most important feature of slave trading ants is to steal the
larvae of the colony they fight, and to make these larvae "slaves"
for their own colonies. On the left, an ant capturing the larva of
the competitor colony is seen. |
| Slave maker ants do not steal only larvae from
the competitor colony. Honey ants also steal the "honey pots" of the
other colony and take them to their own nests. |
 |
When parasite ants attack another ant colony, the reason that the soldiers
of the other colony cannot prevent the theft of their eggs and cocoons
is a type of pheromone given out by the parasite ants. This pheromone
is similar to a warning substance that exists in that colony and when
it is secreted in large quantity by parasite ants, it results in the ants'
running away instead of protecting their colonies.
As we know, there is a different pheromone secreted by each ant species.
These pheromones are used for the designation of boundaries, the obtaining
of information on the location and size of the enemy, as an attack command
during war and as an alarm system.
Here there is a very interesting point. Parasite ants know the panic
alarm of the enemy ant colony. They simulate this alarm and use it for
a certain purpose. As a result, the enemy colony loses its present discipline
because of the mimicry pheromone secreted by the parasite ant, and runs
away in panic without resorting to its defence system. That is, parasite
ants cause the collapse of the enemy defence system by using very smart
tactics. A masterfully prepared war strategy has come into operation.
Furthermore, parasite ants have had all the chemical production and information
infrastructure necessary for the implementation of this strategy since
birth – since the time of their creation.
Some ant species lead their lives by having their slaves
do everything for them. The red Amazon ant (Polyergus) is an example.
All Amazon ants are soldiers. They have large sharp mandibles made for
war. They can neither gather food nor look after babies. These ants attack
the nests of certain small-sized black ant species and steal their cocoons
and larvae. Ants emerging from cocoons are carried home to take on the
jobs of the Amazon ants and stay with the Amazon colony, even if their
own nests are nearby. In fact, when Amazon ants move to their winter nests,
most of the transport is ordinarily conducted by their slaves, thus they
are able to emigrate very swiftly.76
Ants can defend themselves against even very large living beings due
to their ability to leave traces. A good example of this is the ant's
struggle with the dragon fly. Ants who spot the dragon fly gather together
thanks to their tracing systems, then they attack and kill it. In another
example, they are able by the same method to beat a caterpillar that attacks
another member of the colony even if it is much larger in size than themselves.
It may seem normal for one living being to attack another or to fight
with it for the purpose of defending its life, or for food. However, if
a creature is acting together with others in its species while fighting
the enemy, and if they communicate war tactics to each other, then we
must inevitably focus on this subject.
To decide upon tactics, to fight accordingly with a certain order and
discipline, and to use a communication system to protect such order and
discipline, are all acts that need intelligence, planning and judgement.
For instance, today's war strategies have been determined on the basis
of the life-long experience of human beings. Army officers go through
training in academies to learn such tactics. They also need specifically
developed communication systems for the implementation of their strategies.
However, the soldiers that we talked about above, who determine the discipline
and attack tactics with chemical communication systems, who attack the
enemy together and who, if necessary, sacrifice themselves at times for
other individuals of the army have not had any training and do not have
any accumulation of information. These beings we are talking about are
ants that are only a few milimetres long and do not have the ability to
think.
Masters Of Camouflage
The secret of the ant species "Basiceros" was not solved until recently.
Researchers had come across these only once and had never found any ant
similar to them again. Therefore, they were thought to be a very rare species.
However, a researcher solved the secret of these ants in 1985. He found
out that they are not a species that is rarely found at all. The researcher,
named La Selva, who solved this secret, described the Basiceros
ants as master illusionists, because they were able to become "invisible"
whenever they wanted.
What was it that made them invisible?
The Basiceros species, unlike other ant species,
are covered with two layers of hair with splintered ends. When they walk
on the ground, all kinds of dust, earth and bits of straws, etc., stick
on these hairs. Another difference between these and other ants is that
they do not clean the dirt off their bodies very often. Therefore, as
shown in the pictures, they display total harmony with the environment
they are in. When looked at from outside, it is almost impossible to locate
them. They only become a little visible when they start walking. Yet,
even in this case, they take precautions to protect themselves from birds,
lizards and even the human eye. They are the sluggish ants in the world
and may be observed to stand perfectly still for minutes at a time when
they are disturbed.77
The camouflage technique applied by this ant species is very striking,
because it is impossible for an ant to have developed a defence system
by determining all its physiological characteristics by itself. All these
features (body covered with hair, not cleaning often unlike other ants
and moving very slowly) must have been defined beforehand so that the
ant came into this world already equipped with the characteristics discussed.
As a result, again, we are facing a great truth. This ant species has
also been created by Allah with all its features designated beforehand,
thus showing us His attribute of Creator.
|
In the pictures on the left and right, we see
the masters of camouflage of the ant world. The bodies of these
ants of the Basiceros species are covered with two layers of hair
with splintered ends. Thus, it is impossible to locate them |
 |
72 Bert Hölldobler-Edward O.Wilson,
Journey to The Ants, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1994, p.
70 
73 Ibid, p. 71
74 Ibid, p. 67
75 Venomous Animals of the World, by Roger Caras, p. 84
76 Bert Hülldobler-Edward O.Wilson, The Ants, Harvard University
Press, 1990, p. 284
77 Ibid, p. 185-186
|
