The Ant Imposter

Ephesians 4:14
“That we [henceforth] be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, [and] cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive…”

One good method of avoiding attack in nature is to pretend that you are somebody who should not be attacked. In the insect world, one of the most feared creatures is the ant. Not only are ants ferocious, they also taste bad.

As a result, many insects mimic ants to avoid predators. One of the most interesting groups of ant mimics is spiders. Of course, even insects can count, so they know that ants have six legs while spiders have eight. To solve this problem, some ant-mimicking spiders wave their front two legs over their heads so they look like antenna. The ants don’t seem to be fooled, however. Nevertheless, they will allow the spiders to hang around so long as they stay out of trouble.

Some red ants have red spiders who mimic them and black ants have some black spiders who mimic them. This suggests that many insects can see color. Wasps that prey on one African red spider are no match for the vicious red ant the spider sometimes mimics. The African red ant can easily kill the wasp. This wasp also preys on a black spider. So the black spiders are often found among black ants that are almost as dangerous as the African red ants.

Some modern scientists tell us that this appearance of intelligence in insect behavior is nothing more than appearance. However, we should not be as easily fooled as these wasps are by the spiders. There are millions of similar evidences of intelligence in the creation, and they can’t all be deceptive appearance!

Prayer:
Dear Father, instruct me by Your Word and strengthen me by Your grace so that I may not be easily deceived by the devil, the world and my own flesh. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Notes:
Hanson, Jeanne K., and Deane Morrison. 1990. “The wonderful weird of flora and fauna.” Star Tribune First Sunday, Dec. 2. p. 17.