02 October, 2007

Island of Ants

The other day I opened the lid of the water jug to drink water. I was about to drink water but suddenly I spotted something in the transparency of the water. I saw some ants and thought that by mistake they had fallen in the jug and all are dead. But when I observed them closely I found that they are approximately 40-50 in number and all of them were alive. I wanted to drink water instantly so without taking much interest I slowly poured out water in the wash basin and the ants dispersed as they came out. I rinsed the jug two- three times, scrubbed it with brush, thinking that some eatable parts might be inside the jug. Then I went to water cooler and filled the jug with fresh and chilled water.

Night passed. The next day again I found ants. I was surprised this time and again did the same thing which I did the day before. This time I was keen to know why the ants were coming inside my jug. The third day same thing happened and I got fed up of this thing. Finally I took other jug from the mess and started drinking water from it.

The scientific reason that I can think is that there is still some deposit in the water jug or some essence that is attracting the ants. (Who has time to remove these microscopic things..)

The imaginative reason which first came to my mind was that this is an evolution and ants are forming colonies on water…!! What say? I have still kept water in that jug and those little creatures venture and stay (group swim ..hehe) in it..