How an Antlion Hunts
How does an Antlion hunt for food?
Hunting is quite an exciting experience for us as antlions. We first create a small circular pit by digging backwards in the sand. In the process of making our pits, we create spiral-shaped trails in the sand. These trails are why we get the nickname “doodlebug”, because it looks like someone has been doodling in the sand!
Our pits can be from one to three inches long. And the hungrier we are, the deeper our pits will be! We then wait at the bottom of the pit, and when an ant or other small insect falls into it, we grab it, pull it under the sand and inject our special liquifying agent into our meal.
Our pits can be from one to three inches long. And the hungrier we are, the deeper our pits will be! We then wait at the bottom of the pit, and when an ant or other small insect falls into it, we grab it, pull it under the sand and inject our special liquifying agent into our meal.
We then can suck out all the juices through our pinchers. Yummy! Yummy! Kind of like having a smoothie. After we finish our smoothie, we toss the insects body out of our pit so we can eat again. All this talk is making me hungry! Anybody up for an ant smoothie?
