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In the morning … before sunrise we reached the top of a high pass in the … mountains … it is always wonderful to see the suns first rays touch the waiting earth … and in this hugeness, was a tiny creature hard at work ... a colony of Harvester Ants collecting food and nesting material for the coming Winter.

I tracked the ants backwards and came to this … fynbos shrub … from whence they were taking these fluffy parasol type seeds … no doubt for nesting material … insulation against the coming cold. It is a symbiotic relationship this … the ants help the shrub with seed dispersal, and dropped seeds become new growth.

The other half of the colony seemed to be preoccupied with a different chore. They were carrying these succulent green seeds which would no doubt serve as food through the winter … and tracking them back, I found this fynbos bush. I could only wonder the nature of the collective mind which instructs half the ants to do one chore, and the other half another task.

Watching this trail of worker ants … more than anything it was the singular effort that held me in awe. One of natures’ impeccable creatures, in every sense sculpted into a most remarkable form. The collective intent of the ‘nest’ expressed clearly in each and every individual.

There you saw the ant on the right sawing through the stem of the selected seed … what tenacity.

To watch this constant endeavor, this relentless doing of what must be done in order to ensure the survival of the whole.

And back on the shrub … finally the seed came loose, and then began the challenge of getting it to the ground and to the nest.
Wind … buffeted to the other side but ands the ant still hanging on … what a battle … what a world … it is never easy … not for any species that wishes to survive and sustain in this world of ours.

This video was filmed, edited and narrated by PAUL JOHN MYBURGH while working with Earth Touch in May 2009*