Hello Explorer!

Over the last two weeks I've been asked the same question numerous times: "Where do the ants go in Winter? Because all the ants that usually scouted throughout the kitchen have been missing in action the last few days/weeks!"

This question has multiple answers to it and it is not as simple and straight forward as you might expect! The ants are not hibernating and just staying inside their nests, but they are still active just in different ways.

During Winter the ants go through a period of less activity and foraging (known as brumation), along with which the ants have also changed what, when and where they are foraging.

In the Summer rainfall regions throughout Southern Africa the ants are now searching more for available water sources than for carbohydrates (sugars), because water is currently the colonies limiting resource and not the carbohydrates. The reason for this is the food stores they have in the nest, in the form of repletes, or storage ants. These ants are fed as much sugar sources as possible during summer and then used as a living "fridge" that is keeping the carbohydrate from spoiling and keeping it away from pests, such as mites!

The ants will also not be foraging for the water inside the house, but rather outside in sunny areas during the hottest times of the day, such as on north facing windowsills and walls. The number of scouts that will be outside the nest foraging will also be much less than during the summer months, as the risk of death from cold if they don't get back to the nest before sunset is much greater!

Thus, the ants have not moved off, not to return, but they will be returning hungry and in numbers during Spring when the temperatures start to rise again!

Weekly Top Shot: Raptor Fly!

I think we should coin a new common name for this fly sub-family:

THE RAPTOR FLIES!

The upcoming video: Something NEW!

This Thursday the video about the Ants and how we're going to save them will be going live at 19:00 GMT+2!

If you would take a moment to comment on the video, telling me how you enjoyed it and whether you would like to see more of this type of content I would greatly appreciate it!