KENYA: Singing Ants

More dudu for you. In case you were wondering what this is about, dudu is the Swahili word for insect.

As we walked the main sandy track that leads through the Brachystegia woodlands of Arabuko-Sokoke we were mindful of ants. In particular the Safari Ants that can be seen in large groups crossing the sand on well-defined paths (above). Luckily we would not see many of these dudus that inflict a painful bite!

However, we did come across a group of about 200 large black ants walking in a column down the track. This small party was likely on a mission to find termites, which they not only consume, but also ‘capture’ to bring back to their colony to work for them! These ants exhibit a rather unique behavior when agitated. This was best demonstrated to us by our guide, Willy, when he blew on them. The line of marching ants loosely dispersed (above) in all directions and to our amazement began to hum.

They get their local name, the Singing Ant, from this sound, which does not come from singing, but from vibrating parts of their body. The sound is a means of communicating amongst themselves.

Within a minute the performance was over, and we watched the group restore itself back into their original column.