Big Ants

If I’m not mistaken, I haven’t featured in this blog the types of animals Kulaman Plateau has. Let me start this week, and let me start small—literally. Let me show you my photos of a type of ant here in our place. The ants caught my attention because they’re big, seven or eight times bigger than the usual ants that bushwhack your cupcake crumbs. The color of the ants also fascinate me. The rearmost part of their body—that giant cleavage-less booty (sorry, I don’t feel like researching the scientifically accurate name for it)—is maroon, and the rest is black. While the skin of ordinary black or red ants seems transparent, the skin of my ants looks solid and reminds me of Iron-Man’s suit.

I saw the ants in a rarely used part of our house, and when I showed my photos to my mother, she told me that the ants were called hantik. She also said they were not really that rare. I had thought they were rare because I had never seen them before. I don’t know what happened, but it took me almost thirty years to find out that such ants were crawling, working, and propagating just around me. My mother added that the ants’ bite was very painful. I assumed that the pain, just like the size of the ants, was seven or eight times more intense than what ordinary ants could give. I took no chances. With a broom, I swept the ants away with their cobwebby camp. They’re no longer around.

The second time I saw such an ant was at the top of the Toro-toro. I was sitting on the ground with my fellow climbers when I noticed a huge ant crawling on my arm. I was delighted to see a hantik, but when I remembered my mother’s words about its painful bite, I immediately swept the tiny creature away. To see how large a hantik is compared to an ordinary ant, look at my third photo below.