Home»Gallery»Jasper Ridge Galleries»A Day at a Time: Individual Visits»8/24/2018 Adventures at Different Scales: Ant Combat, Persistent Pigeons, and More»Single Combat at Ant Scale

In the middle of Road F, industrious harvester ants (Veromessor andrei) move in and out of their nest, carrying the harvest. The light is good and diffuse for macro work: I lower myself to their level and pay attention.

Then I notice two carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) (?), in single combat near the harvest ant nest. They may be of the same genus but different species: is the lower, larger one C. semitestaceous? The upper, darker one has lost part of a leg; later, the lower one would lose a piece of one antenna. They were still locked in combat when I returned here two hours later, when I was able to witness the escape of the lower one. They limped off on their separate ways.

I wonder: did I distract the upper ant, with my moving about above, focusing, and clicking?

I also wonder: Why were they fighting? I saw no nest nearby for them to protect; these two were the only ants of these species I saw. Predators often take a wide berth around each other; the risk of injury overwhelms any possible gain from combat.