Hammerhead ants

Chitengo Camp, Gorongosa National Park

My first thought was “hammerhead ant.”  Small black hammerheads appeared to be moving quickly over the soil. The nest within the rotting wood had been overturned and the workers were out on defense with mandibles spread.  This was not a harmless carpenter inhabiting an old log.  The first bite on my hand spoke its name: the trap-jaw ant.  The pain was sharp and unlike any ant I had yet felt.  It made me rethink the bare-handed scooping of dirt that I had been doing. 

This "hammerhead ant" has extended its mandibles in preparation
of grasping this little termite.

These trap-jaw ants (genus Odontomachus) happen to have the fastest moving feeding apparatus of any animal. Actually, they have the fastest recorded movements of any animal. Not only do they use these lightning speed mandibles to feed, but the force released can also propel them backward and so they appear to jump.

I also happened to observe them getting their favorite prey, the termite.  The slow moving soft-bodied termites had little chance with these hammerheads.  This was really more like watching great white sharks taking in plump elephant seals resting on the surface of the ocean.  The trap-jaw ants feasted and returned to their nest with many a termite.

Odantomachus seizes dinner. 

The first bushbaby has called out and it is only 9:15 in the evening. Why, oh why does the bushbaby cry into the night? Some believe it is to gather in group members to sleep for the night in the hollow of a tree or in a protected nest of leaves.   Those on this expedition miss curling up with group members in a nest. We’ll be home soon, but there will be a few more adventures first. 

Tomorrow will be an ecosytem survey by helicopter to assist in telling the rich story of biogeography in this Park.