Bugs are Cool

I couldn’t say for sure how long the roach had been dead. It was late in the evening when I discovered it. The ants had just found it and were sending that information home so the others could come to feed. I had been terribly sick for days and the boredom was driving me a bit mad. Normally, in a situation such as this, I would remove the food source so the ants would go away. This time, however, I felt compelled to observe how the ants would go about making use of this monster insect that which was more than 20 times the size of the ants. I suppose it was because I had didn’t have anything else to do, but actually it was quite fascinating.

The first few hours weren’t exactly action packed. Piece by tiny piece, the ants whittled away at the deathly still bug. At times it almost seemed alive as the cloak of ants that enshrouded it went about their grim business.

My sleepless night led me to frequent checks on the ants’ progress. There were four supply lines in the procession. From the center of the bathroom floor they carried their tasty prize in a straight line to the nearest wall. Following this, they would move cautiously along the wall to the doorway and from here around it. Finally, maintaining their safe position along the wall, the relentless marchers disappeared behind my wardrobe to their lair.

I managed to doze for a short time in the morning after having left the ants to their work for sometime. I checked in again and finally saw noticeable dissolution of the corpse. It looked lighter and no longer had any semblance of life. Suddenly, the corpse began to shake. The ants were trying to lift it. After much effort, they were able to raise it slightly and they attempted to move the corpse closer to the wall. However, the spaces between the tiles proved to be an obstacle. The carcass kept dragging in the cracks and slowing their progress, so they went back to dismantling the monstrosity.

I checked in on them frequently during this time. As it had become obvious that they could now lift the corpse, I was curious as to where they would take it once they solved their dilemma. A short time later, I again found myself witnessing some impressive feats of strength from my tiny roommates. They had managed to move the corpse slightly out of the crack so they could move it across the tile.
The roach glided across the floor quickly, yet not entirely ungracefully. It seemed to almost be alive again, soaring across the white tiles until it crashed rather unpleasantly into the wall.

At this point the ants dragged the roach along the wall to the edge of the bathroom door frame. It was here that they finished what they started. It took a number of hours longer before they finished the job, but when it was all over, the once mighty roach was an ashen shadow against the wall.