Strangle Him, Tony! Pt. 2 - _TNY_8209
Ok, so at first when you see this shot, you're thinking that it is a zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia).
That in itself is correct, but when I look a little closer, I'm reminded of a joke my late father used to tell.
It was about an elephant who every morning as he was going to drink some water he passed an anthill. And every day he stuck his trunk down into the hill and blew as hard as he could and watched the ants and their house being thrown into the air.
While the elephant thought it was very amusing, the ants unsurprisingly weren't quite as fond of his routine so one morning when the elephant came around, they were prepared. On a given signal, every single ant threw itself at their tormentor and tried biting him.
The elephant however, just laughed at them and shook his body, causing all the ants to fly off.
All but one. A single ant had managed to hang on and was still on the elephant's neck!
That's when one of the other and screamed at the top of his lungs: "Strangle him, Tony! Strangle him!"
About now, I bet you're wondering what this has to do with a heliconiid butterfly, right? Well, if you look at the legs of the butterfly, you'll notice that "Tony" is there, trying to claim the butterfly as his prize!
The ant is mot likely a common red ant (Myrmica rubra) or some closely related species. M. rubra is often (and erroneously) called the European fire ant based on behaviour, but it isn't closely related to the real fire ant.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52639647057/
Strangle Him, Tony! Pt. 2 - _TNY_8209
Ok, so at first when you see this shot, you're thinking that it is a zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia).
That in itself is correct, but when I look a little closer, I'm reminded of a joke my late father used to tell.
It was about an elephant who every morning as he was going to drink some water he passed an anthill. And every day he stuck his trunk down into the hill and blew as hard as he could and watched the ants and their house being thrown into the air.
While the elephant thought it was very amusing, the ants unsurprisingly weren't quite as fond of his routine so one morning when the elephant came around, they were prepared. On a given signal, every single ant threw itself at their tormentor and tried biting him.
The elephant however, just laughed at them and shook his body, causing all the ants to fly off.
All but one. A single ant had managed to hang on and was still on the elephant's neck!
That's when one of the other and screamed at the top of his lungs: "Strangle him, Tony! Strangle him!"
About now, I bet you're wondering what this has to do with a heliconiid butterfly, right? Well, if you look at the legs of the butterfly, you'll notice that "Tony" is there, trying to claim the butterfly as his prize!
The ant is mot likely a common red ant (Myrmica rubra) or some closely related species. M. rubra is often (and erroneously) called the European fire ant based on behaviour, but it isn't closely related to the real fire ant.
Part 1 here: www.flickr.com/photos/tinyturtle/52639647057/