Saturday, July 17, 2010

Ants Aren't Gentlemen

Macro, Toronto photographer Robert RaftonSo I stole the title for this post from P.G. Wodehouse. I did toy with the idea of some sort of complex joke based around the idea of the ant and the grasshopper and the tortoise and the hare, except I was going to substitute a snail for the tortoise and then somehow have the ant battling the snail and, well I, could just never pull a real joke out of it. But I started down that path because in the course of its travels the ant above stumbled into a snail. Or over one. Several times.

Ant checking out snail, Toronto photographer Robert Rafton

Ant bothering snail, Toronto photographer Robert RaftonThese other two pictures are a little disorienting because the ant hung around checking out the snail for a few minutes and the snail moved during that time. I don't think it was happy about the encounter at all. What ant species is this exactly? Feel free to figure it out if you can.

As with all the macros you see here I shot this with a Nikkor 300mm f4 and a PN-11 extension tube. I also handheld a flash which almost always helps for insects.