Animal of the week - week 5

African weaver ant (Oecophylla longinoda)

Weaver ants are so-called because of the intricate homes of interwoven leaves, or nests, that they produce. The larvae of these ants produce a sticky silk-like material and the adult workers hold these grubs gently between their jaws moving them back and forth between neighbouring leaves so that the fine threads glue their edges together. It is this process that is used to create the nests that the weaver ants live in.

The red-orange ants do not sting, but can deliver a vicious bite, as I have often found upon accidently passing too close to their well-camouflaged nests. Despite their biting tendencies, weaver ants are eaten in some parts of the world, such as in Indonesia where the local species of weaver ant is used to flavour sauces.

Indeed the Semliki chimpanzees appear to consider the African weaver ants a delicacy and will brave their powerful jaws to feast upon them. The chimpanzees will often grab a tree stalk loaded with an entire nest and eat this ants, grubs, threads, leaves and all like a stick of forest candyfloss with a bite to it. The discarded piles of partly chewed nests that provide evidence of this risky feeding habit are occasionally found on our forest visits.

I find the behaviour of social insects, such as ants, truly fascinating, and so the weaver ants and their complex nest-making technique are of great interest to me. Therefore, despite the pain that they have often inflicted upon me, these tiny forest architects are my fifth ‘animal of the week’.