Since this is a miltary forum, might as well post what I
observed.
My house is currently infested with 3 colonies, one being black
& yellow, another red and medium size, another orange and
extremely small. It all started beginning Nov, the orange tiny one
expanded its territory from balcony to kitchen, which is more than
half of my house. The black and yellow residing in kitchen, so a
border conflict began.
The orange ants went to and fro in straight line, and pretty soon,
I saw a yellow black one rush made contact with the line and almost
got killed (sheer speed allowed it to live). It brought back a
group of comrades and pretty soon, they stared disrupting the line,
escaping pursuers by speed. The orange ones evacuated with several
limping. Then watchful peace occured. Both colonies posted border
guards and those that intruded got killed at once (my finger
escaped). Tensions were running so high that several "friendly
fire" incidents occured. i.e. running away and biting each other if
antenna hits rear end of another comrade.
In the midst, the red ant suddenly invaded the kitchen and pretty
soon, the tides turned against the orange one, which has kept a
very low profile till now. The yellow black and red ants did not
attack each other. For now. They merely get a shock every now and
then when they meet. That was till 3 days ago, I found the ground
littered with red ant bodies. The invasion must have occured at
night. The red colony suffered worse fate, not a single soldier
survived and to confirm that, I found the queen ant outside, and
almost kneeling over. The yellow black ones feasted at the rubbish
bin openly that day.
Quite apparently, I think they won through speed, high-running
tensions, and attacking when the fight between the orange and red
was over. The yellow black ones were not attacked bcos before the
other ants could find out the intruder, they lost contact with it.
The bites and stings they used did not seem lethal, (in contrast to
the red ones). Most likely, the aggressive nature allowed it to
win, they were the ones who kept biting their own. What was more
important, was that they summoned their forces quickly upon meeting
an intruder, often killing it before it could contact its own. This
allowed it to live without the knowledge of the powerful reds and
over-run them when the reds were down on their guard.
Hope you guys enjoyed my story, and learn what
you can.
PS: The orange ones, defeated they may be, but do not
under-estimate them, though they have withdrawn. They still hold
the toilet (defeated the yellow blacks), and the balcony, and have
the numbers. And they stink whenever they feel threatened, so it
seems unlikely they'll be dislodged soon.
