Busy little termite exterminators.

Black ants love eating termites and their eggs. These 2 were working on the surface of a large termite mound. I particularly liked the little fellow who peered so hopefully into a hole - and he managed to extract a termite egg from it too! The other one pulled a very strange looking article from one of the holes - he proudly dragged that off also. This is a composite to show both at work .

[Mariana Visser]

Brilliant photo, sharp where it needs to be.

[Ulrika]

interesting shot!

[Taffy]

Gosh -- great work with your macro. Those seed sacs are fascinating.

[Sylvia Binch]

What amazing detail. Great focus.

[Suzanne]

Amazing macros. It looks like he's pulled out starter, main and sweet by the looks of that lump!

[Granagringa]

So cool that you went so low in your PoV to get this...the intrepid photographer!

[Jane Pittenger]

Great find, information, detail, composition

[Casablanca]

This is great! Ants arre such busy chaps, I always enjoy watching them.

[Rob Z]

@mv_wolfie Thank you Mariana - they are such a iridescent colour that it made them quite easy to catch.

[Rob Z]

@ulla Thanks Ulrika - they can be seen prowling around on the termite nest nearly every day. Very good workers!! LOL

[Rob Z]

@taffy Thanks Taffy -taking macros is probably the strongest feature of my camera. It really good for the stuff I'm interested in. Thanks for having a look.

[Rob Z]

@bintal Thanks Sylvia - unfortunately the detail wasn't good enough to see what that horrible thing was that the second one dragged out of a hole. Maybe a dead termite.

[Rob Z]

@suzanne234 Hi Suzanne - it was pretty gross - about as big as he was. It may have been a dead termite. Thanks for having a look. :)

[Rob Z]

@granagringa Hi Madelaine - it wasn't as impressive as itlooks- unfortunately!! They were working on the top of quite a high termite mound - very convenient! :)

[Rob Z]

@jgpittenger Thanks for your kind comments Jane - they are fascinating to watch.

[Rob Z]

@casablanca Hi Casablanca - I agree - ants are ripper. And you don't realize how many types there are until you start photographing them - then their colours show up!! These guys were very busy.... :)

[Delwyn Barnett]

Great capture of these tiny creatures.

[Rob Z]

@dkbarnett Thanks Delwyn - they were quite fascinating to watch - very busy!!

[Dorothy]

Great shot. Your ants certainly look as if they are hard at work. But why are your black ants green, or is that a general grouping?

[Rob Z]

@nobled Hi Dorothy - you have raised a very good question!! :) There are lots of white ants where we live and it's just a general saying that the "black ants will eat the white ants if they can get to them" But, as you said - the black ants here are actually green! I have seen smaller black ants attack termite nests too - so I guess it's just a generality. Cheers Rob

[Dorothy]

Thanks for the info Rob. I've never seen an ant that colour. Ours are mostly black, sometimes brown and blue/black for the bull ant.