I remember as a kid, mom would open up the cereal boxes and pour the contents in our bowls for breakfast. One morning we noticed little black bugs embedded in the puffs, and would come out and float in the milk. They were about the size of a pinhead, and had a hard shell. When you squished them, they made a little "pop" sound. We couldn't tell if they were alive, because they never moved. I don't know where they came from or how they got there. It was months before they seemed to disappear. Mom called them "skebeeps".
We also used to buy those big cans of Kraft Strawberry Jam. Then we noticed little red ants floating on the jam. How the heck did they get in there in the first place, since the lid was always kept tightly shut. Mom solved the problem by sprinkling nutmeg around the perimeter of the lid. Ants just don't like nutmeg.
Also, I remember as a kid sitting on the front step and squishing red ants, one at a time. After each one I squished, I would put them in a pile. I noticed a lot of them in the pile were still wiggling. Then I waited and watched. First, all the red ants scurried for cover. They ran between the cracks of the front steps, so I assumed they had their anthill inside the cement, underground somewhere. After a few minutes, one of the ants would rush out towards the pile and grab one of the bodies, and carry it back to its "nest". Then another one came out and did the same thing. So then, as each one rushed out, I would squish it and put it in the pile too. Pretty soon the pile got rather big. Then I was called in for lunch. After lunch, I went out to see how the ants were doing, and discovered the whole pile had disappeared. I guess they had buried their dead.
After all that, I felt very guilty. Still do to this day. I don't know how many lifetimes I am now going to have to come back as an ant. (Heh! heh! heh!) Isn't it disgusting how cruel kids can be!
In grade 5 we had an assignment to collect insects. Anything we wanted. Then bring them to class and discuss it. I had a big tobacco can, and punched some small holes in the lid so the insects could breathe. Then I went out and caught a bunch of different insects, and put them in the can, one by one. There was a bee, a wasp, a daddy long-legs spider, two black ants, two red ants, a moth and a butterfly. I was real proud of my collection, and couldn't wait for school. Next morning I got up and checked my specimens before going to school. There wasn't an insect alive. Some were just plain gone, so they must have been eating each other. There were no ants present, and no spider (just some spider legs in the bottom of the can. The butterfly and moth had no wings. The whole thing looked like a war zone. Funny though, I didn't see any blood anywhere. That was how I learned about predatory behaviour, and why it is not a good idea to put mortal enemies into the same container. I still don't know who ate what in that can. There is a very small possibility the ants crawled out thru the holes in the lid, but I'm kinda dubious about that. I still got a good mark, because of the lesson I shared with the class.
Rod P.
