Texas and Termite Slaughter
October 15, 2008
As I looked out the window behind my computer, I noticed a group of little animals moving around. It’s not unusual to see animals in the woods behind my house, so I paid scant attention and went about doing computer stuff. But then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed some change in the scene. A pack of about 10 predators had gathered and were attacking and eating the poor, defenseless little animals. I could not take my eyes off the scene. The little animals were being viciously attacked, ripped apart and consumed as the predators darted from one prey to the next. It was a very bloody scene! There was almost no escape. Once a predator focused on a prey, it seldom missed. That prey was doomed.
The slaughter was on and it was a horrid scene. However, it was also fascinating! I rushed outside to get a better view as the carnage continued. The little animals were emerging from a hole in the ground and as they emerged, they were being murdered one by one. But as is usually the case with many animals, they appear in such great numbers and so suddenly, that the predators cannot catch and eat all of them – a few escape to reproduce more of their kind. So, although these little animals had no obvious tactic to physically defend themselves against this predator, their main defense was to overwhelm the predators with numbers.
I began to wonder if and when the predators might become satiated and leave the scene with a full belly. But no, they kept up the attack until (almost suddenly) the prey stopped emerging and the predators disappeared – leaving a few body parts behind. I approached the hole in the ground from which the little animals had emerged and there was a second predator, cleaning up the few remaining prey. I must have disturbed the predator as I approached. I watched it scramble away with a prey or two in its mouth.
So, have you figured out by now what kinds of animals these were?
As a dispassionate scientist, I did not take a moral position on this biological event. There were no “good guys” or “bad guys” – only animals in their natural environment, behaving as they have for millions of years – eating and being eaten.
OK, OK I’ll identify the prey and predators. But if I had started this story by explaining that I saw one bug eating another, you might have said, “so what” and stopped reading. I had to invite your interest somehow.
The “little animal” prey were termites. I have seen a couple of swarms of them emerging out in the woods this year. They emerge from a hole in the soil, crawl up on a leaf or stick, and fly away as quickly as possible – hopefully before predators detect their swarm. One such swarm emerged upwind from our house. We watched as hundreds of the little critters flew toward our house. We observed as some landed in the leaf litter, shed their wings and sought safety under the debris.
The predators were green and blue darter dragonflies that attacked only the flying termites. The attack strategy was always the same. They flew up under the flying termites, caught one in their basket-like legs, consumed it during flight, and then took aim at the next termite. Makes me wonder how these dragonflies first detect the termite swarm and if they can somehow communicate with each other to organize this group attack.
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| Green Darter |
Imagine, after 72 years of observing nature, there are still activities in nature that are new and interesting.
Oh yes, the second predator was a 5-lined skink.
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