LET’S START WITH THE BEAST OF NATURE:
I went back and forth in my mind trying to decide if I should post this video on here or not..but given the fact that nature can be both beautiful and ugly at the same time, I decided not to discriminate. Nature is nature.
Ants have to eat and survive too?
As you just saw, these ants devoured a whole Gecko in only a couple of hours. I started to get grossed out when they began hauling away the finger bones! The species of ant featured in the video are suspected to be red imported fire ants. According to biologist/photographer Dr. Mark W. Moffett, these ants are “highly bred for warfare against each other.” Fire ants leave a nasty sting if you ever come into contact with one, so be weary. The spread of this invasive species across many southern and southeastern states is through the frequency of being stowed aboard ships.
NOW ONTO SOMETHING MORE APPEALING, THE BEAUTY OF NATURE:
Now let’s leave you with something beautiful. I was lucky enough to go to college in Monterey Bay, where Big Sur was only a hop and a skip away up the freeway. Big Sur was the best place to explore an untouched coastline, hike to a Redwood forest, relax your body and mind in a natural hot springs, and camp under a starry night sky all in one day.
Photography + Science = Chanel 
I agree it’s a little scary to watch nature like that but it’s all in the circle of life and ALL creatures play a role, hence why we should all try harder to reduce the pressure we apply to this earth and do more to conserve our oceans and rain forests.
Big Sur looks like a magical place to explore and I envy you for having it so close, I really should go visit some time 🙂
Everything does play a role- so true! Conservation efforts need to be heightened more than ever in this consumer driven world. CONSERVATION IS A MUST.
Well I hope one day you get to visit Big Sur – then let me know how much you’ve fallen in love with it afterwards 😉
I might camp on the beach and never leave 😉
I watched the ant video with fascination. The beauty in the ants is they waste little, which is how it should be. Humanity is wasteful and could learn something from these ants.
It is quite extraordinary isn’t it?! Agreed – we could definitely learn something from these little fire ants. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Oh, it’s been way too long since I’ve been on Highway 1, almost 20 years. Monterrey, Carmel, and Big Sur remain as favorite spots. There was a place in Big Sur – I think it might have been called the Ventana Inn – where I hung out with friends on a few afternoons, enjoying their balcony and view of the ocean. Out my window right now there are platelets of ice covering Lake Michigan; I shouldn’t have watched that video – I want to drop everything and head out…:)
I think you need to plan a trip over to the West Coast this year 🙂
Big Sur looks lovely! But even more fun was watching those ants!!! 😀 That was really awesome! Somewhat icky, but awesome!! 😀 Thanks for sharing it!
Hey Amanda glad you enjoyed this post 🙂 !
Hello. As the photographer who took the fire ant photograph appearing at the beginning of this article, I’d appreciate it if you could edit the article to credit the image and provide a link back to http://www.alexanderwild.com. Alternately, you could remove the image.
I have persistent problems with commercial pest control companies taking my work for their websites, and they usually copy the images not from my website but from 3rd party sites like yours where they aren’t appropriately credited. Thus, it’d help me out to either have the image credited/linked, or replaced.
Thanks.
Hello Alex –
When I had the image as ‘featured’ for the article it automatically cropped it – which I couldn’t edit – and your watermark was not able to be seen. But I took the ‘featured image’ setting off and instead inserted the photo as I had it originally when first published, and included your website as well. I’m all for crediting the photographers, being one myself.
Keep on snapping those awesome photos!
-Chanel