“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, [walks] about, seeking whom he may devour.” 1 Peter 5:8
There are many thousands of kinds of ants throughout the world, and all are extremely interesting. The leaf-cutting ant with its well-organized, complex society is one fascinating kind. Some of these colonies in Central and South America may contain 8 million ants. They excavate huge nests underground with different rooms for different purposes.
These ants do not eat seeds, fruit or any other food except the sap from leaves they cut and food they grow by farming. They farm by growing fungus, like mushrooms, on the leaves they cut. Before farming begins, getting the leaf pieces to their nest is a big project.
First, medium-sized worker ants, called mediae ants, find a tree with the right kind of leaves and mark a trail to the tree with special chemicals called pheromones. Then many mediae ants follow the pheromone trail to that tree. They find good leaves and cut out semi-circular sections that are much larger than themselves with their sharp mandibles acting like a pair of good scissors. These pieces of leaves are held in their mouths over their heads and carried back to the nest. The weight they carry is like one of us carrying over 600 pounds between our teeth! Each worker carrying a piece of leaf joins hundreds of others, walking in a line back to the nest over the marked trail. The trail may be 400 or 500 feet long. This would be like a person walking 20 miles with a heavy load. They most likely make this round-trip several times a night.
At times, parasitic flies, that want to lay eggs on the leaf-carrier’s head while it is busy with its load, land on the leaf waiting for a chance to attack. But the ants are prepared for this enemy. They have little ants called “minims” that ride along with the mediae ants, watching to chase away any flies that show up.
We live in a world where there are enemies for most creatures. The little minim ants might not look very important, but they are very important in the leaf-cutter ant society. Watching for enemies and defending their fellow ants from enemies is one of their jobs. If you are a child, you probably have parents who watch over you to protect you from harm. But we are also all called to be watchful because Satan, who is our biggest enemy, wants to destroy our lives, even if he can’t destroy our souls. The Lord has given us prayer, the Bible, and the shield of faith to help us in this fight. Are you using them?
(to be continued)
Did You Know?
Some leaf-cutting ant colonies may contain 8 million ants.
Messages of God’s Love 11/16/2025