Wednesday, December 23, 2009

void by failure chapter 5

ANTLIONS
Two butterfly seasons after:
                Jack successfully grew more butterflies for the next two seasons. Eventually he grew out of the fascination of rearing caterpillars. He needed something new. That's when he went to a village on his vacation. It was his habit to hunt for ant lions whenever he went there. Only this time he had seen a program in nat geo about ant lions. Ant lions are actually larvae of a flying insect somewhat like a dragonfly.



Ant lions dig pits in loose sand and wait hiding inside sand for ants to fall in the pit. once an ant falls and struggles to climb out the ant lion grabs it and takes it inside sand. To hold an ant lion feels soft and squishy.



Jack, determined to grow an ant lion till it becomes a fly, carried some ant lions to his home back from vacation. He filled a small tray with sand and let the ant lions in it. Its very fascinating to see how the ant lion digs the pit. The creature looks scary but the pit it makes looks so beautiful.It requires patience to watch the ant lion make a pit.


Everyday he used to catch ants and put it inside the tray. He watched how the ants fall into the pits and how the ant lions throw sand over the ants and grab them and drag them inside.


Over weeks his ant lions had become bigger in size. He thought they would pupate any time. But he was wrong. Unlike his former pet, ant lions pupate after four to five years of feeding and also only when circumstances are favorable. They need a plant or some support nearby because just like the butterfly, when an adult ant lion fly emerges out of the cocoon its wings r crushed and wet and the fly needs to climb on some support in order to expand and dry its wings.


Jack waited for sometime. Finally he discovered that the ant lions need much longer time to pupate and also he was getting bored of catching the ants for them. so one day he released the ant lions. adieu



1 comment:

  1. The picture of your tray full of ant lions is amazing! Beth

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