Dudu Diaries

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Apr 08 2009 | By: dududiaries

Hello - a few days ago I heard something scrabbling away on my roof. At first I thought it was one of the hyraxes that share my house (or from their perspective - I’m the guest in their rocky retreat). I went outside and indeed did find the hyrax - but it wasn’t responsible for the scratching noise. In fact it too was staring up at the roof with a puzzled look on its face. Looking up I saw a black and white bird, the Tropical Boubou, flapping about and making a big fuss. Puzzling over its behaviour, it took me a second to realise that the bird was actually doing some really cool behaviour. It was anting!. If you are unfamiliar with this - basically some ants secrete formic acid and other chemicals when disturbed. While this is meant to discourage whoever is messing with the ants, some birds take advantage of this. They bother the ants deliberately so as to get them to spray they formic acid at them. This then serves the birds as a free anti-pest bath as the ant-chemicals penetrate their feathers and help deal with bird lice and other itchy hangers-on! 

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Category: Ants, Ecology | Date: Apr 07 2009 | By: dududiaries

As many of you know who read this blog, a lot of my time is spent watching the amazing interactions of insects on the ant-acacias. The other day I found this incredible wasp inspecting the swollen thorns. The long pointy-thing is her ovipositor (egg-laying device). With this she lays her eggs - inside the bodies of other insects! This is a parasitic species. I’m still trying to figure out if she is after the ants or some other ant-guests, such as caterpillars, inside the galls! More soon - thanks to everyone for the comments . 

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