Dandelion

Dandelion

Sitting outside enjoying the sun, I noticed a dandelion. There are lots of dandelions, I’m not much of a gardener, but this one was moving. It wasn’t swaying in the breeze however, or anything normal for dandelions. It appeared to be marching.

I watched for several seconds before my brain kicked in that it was not customary for a flower to march. I didn’t want to get up, but this was just too odd. Suddenly realizing that if it went under the fence I might never find out what it was, I jumped up and went over. As I got close, I could clearly see a dark line following behind it. Ants.

The lead ant was holding the dandelion up as if it were a banner and they were off to battle! I’ve seen ant wars before, never with a flag though. As I watched them, they all marched straight up the trunk of a tree. Odd place to have a battle...

I tip-toed over nearer the tree, kind of chuckling at myself for sneaking up on ants. When I could see them clearly, I stopped. They had spread themselves out on a low branch. The dandelion ant had stopped in the middle and all the other ants were lined up on either side of her (him?) If I hadn’t seen them, I would think it was just a line in the bark and a stray dandelion caught in a crevice. They were literally motionless.

Suddenly my eye caught something small, apparently falling from a higher branch. Automatically looking at it, I couldn’t quite make out what it was. As it disappeared in the grass I glanced back up. All the ants were jumping up and down, the flag waving madly back and forth.

Who knew! Ants have Olympics!