Thank you for your patience while we retrieve your images.
Taken 24-Aug-18
Visitors 73


14 of 15 photos
Thumbnails
Info
Photo Info

Dimensions3357 x 1453
Original file size919 KB
Image typeJPEG
Color spacesRGB
Date taken24-Aug-18 10:14
Shooting Conditions

Camera makeNIKON CORPORATION
Camera modelNIKON D5000
FlashNot fired
Exposure modeAuto
Exposure prog.Aperture priority
ISO speedISO 400
Metering modePattern
Digital zoom1x
Single Combat

Single Combat

I notice these two carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) (?), in single combat near the harvest ant nest in the middle of Road F. 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 (the back leg on this side, still useful as a brace); later,the lower, larger one will lose some of her antennae. 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. Why were they fighting? No nest nearby to protect; these two were the only ants of these species I saw here. Predators often take a wide berth around each other; the risk of injury overwhelms any possible gain from combat. Road F near the forest, chaparral, and Trail 15, out of Escobar Gate, 8/24/2018, 10:13:45 am.