Gladiator Ant

By Sunny

Humans think they know all there is to know about ants, but do they?

My name is Bartella. I started life as a grub..even in the nursury I was a very agressive ant. The workers considered turning me into a queen, but they had enough queens in the colony. Instead they rolled me to one side where I could not hurt the other grubs and watched me closely as I grew.

When I came out of my pupa case, I found myself surrounded by the nursery workers. All around me the other hatching workers were learning how to take care of grubs, the first job for most workers. But I was big and mean and not to be trusted...

I was herded into a room with other bigger and meaner workers and told to learn how to fight. "But aren't there guards for this?" I asked.

"The guards guard the nest, they are too important for sport" I was told.

After a few days, I had my first battle. I was herded by the guards to a ring close to the bed where I met with black ants from another tribe. We fought fiercely and I won. Lots of pebbles changed mandibles as the other workers and guards bet on the outcome.

After a while I was herded back to the nest, only slightly sore and wounded. On the way there I noted we were walking close to some humans who had notebooks. The humans were talking about how we had been fighting over territory with the other tribe. Little did they know!