By Suleiman Juma, Tracker - Greystoke Mahale
I was out in the forest trekking for chimpanzees when I came across an assemblage of Matebele ants hunting for termites. The Matebele soldiers were attacking and killing the termites; they then brought them up above the litters’ surface on the forest floor. After the Matebele ants collected a large number of termites, they walked away in a single file with each Matebele ant carrying a termite in their open mouth. They carried the termites to their nest which was underneath the root of an Albizia tree.
About a week later I passed by the same site, and at the ingress of the Matebele ant’s nest; I saw white things scattered around near the entrance of the hole. I got closer and I found out they were the larvae of the Matebele ants. When they sensed my approach they quickly started to pick up the larvae and put them back into their nest.
A nutritive food source is very essential for reproducing of both big and small animals.
