ANT QUEEN'S COLONY 🐜

THE ANT QUEEN’S COLONY

A Short Story by Babayo U. Kabir

Aku the grey parrot felt it was necessary to inform the children gathered under the shade of the baobab tree about his most beloved of all little creatures — The Ant!

“The weary soldier ant removed his bulgy eyes for a moment from the mass of moving workers walking beside him and looked proudly ahead at the long line of marching ants filing towards a singular destination — their queen’s nest!

He began narrating his story with parables as usual.

‘Let me tell you about an ant colony and its protector in the rainforest that I have observed for a long time.’

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His name is Egoh, and he is a soldier ant in the queen's colony. His only duty was to protect the colony of ants from any form of external aggression. The ants are constant wanderers and eternal nomads that must hunt large numbers of prey to feed their enormous population. Over time, these little creatures have evolved into a solid bureaucratic network of highly efficient and effective forces of nature — equipped with an organized defense force saddled with the responsibility of guarding the other branches of the community at any point in time.

Ant Colony

The ant colony, which can be up to three million individuals, consists of soldiers, workers, mates, scouts, and their single queen. And despite their large numbers, they are a perfectly orderly species of living things, exhibiting an advanced level of social organization and cooperation in their ranks and files. They all have assigned duties and responsibilities to undertake in their respective branches and departments in the colony, with the sole aim of preserving their most precious queen.

Their entire livelihood revolves around serving and preserving the queen who birthed the colony, and whom all the ants live and die in her service.

Colony of Ants

Egoh held his position, five inches away from the marching community, and trod on with all his might and will, despite the fact that he was visibly limping and struggling hard to keep walking. Two of his legs were disfigured from the just-concluded battle that had claimed the lives of hundreds of his comrades.

The soldiers of the colony had been called back to stave off an aerial attack by three giant birds that had descended from the skies and were devouring their workers somewhere down the long line. Egoh felt the vibrations with the special sensors on his feet and instantly deciphered the distress signal.

As a Brigade Commander, an elite cadre in the ant kingdom, his first move was to marshal his six battalions of foot soldiers. They peeled out from the moving mass of ants without obstructing the perfect order of things.

After rallying his soldiers, he turned back, following the other brigades stationed along the line behind him. Together, they formed a formidable army of not less than twenty divisions, swiftly advancing to defend the colony.

Their warfare was precise — for every thousand ants, there were five hundred soldiers embedded strategically in the lines to maintain order and guard the colony. When danger arose, the signal ants sent vibrational waves summoning reinforcements. The army then swung like a living tide — a phenomenon known as the soldier ant swing effect — moving up or down the column to meet any threat.

At the battlefield, Egoh’s brigade attacked the birds with unmatched coordination. Some soldiers sacrificed themselves to distract the enemy, while others encircled and stung the invaders mercilessly with their formic acid. Egoh himself lunged forward and attacked one bird’s leg with his powerful mandibles — his twin black swords. Though he lost two legs in the struggle, his army triumphed. The birds fled, leaving behind a wounded but victorious colony.

Despite his injuries, Egoh limped proudly as the ants resumed their march. The colony would soon feast on the carcass of a dead owl discovered earlier by the scouts. Their strength lay not in individual might, but in collective order — a unity so perfect that it echoed the harmony of the earth itself.

As they marched, scouts raced ahead to locate new food. Each discovery triggered a ripple of communication through the ranks, until the queen herself received word and guided her colony toward the meal. Such was the divine order of their world — efficient, relentless, and purposeful.

When Egoh and his troops finally reached the anthill, they climbed the mound that stood as both palace and fortress. As they descended into its dark tunnels, they were met by the scent of the queen — their mother, their monarch, their reason for existence.

The Queen’s Chamber

Deep underground, Egoh reached the queen’s chamber — a vast, glowing room filled with life and purpose. The queen lay there, glossy black with a swollen abdomen, mating endlessly with her chosen males. Around her, workers fed and cleaned, while soldiers like Egoh stood guard in reverence.

Ant Queen


Each egg she laid would become a worker, a soldier, a scout, or even a new queen. The fate of every larva was determined by the food it received — for in the ant world, nourishment is destiny.

The cycle of birth, service, and sacrifice continued endlessly. From a single queen, millions of lives were born, lived, and lost — all in the name of duty and devotion.

Egoh bowed his antennae before the queen. She acknowledged him with a faint movement, a silent blessing upon her loyal defender. Then, like all who came before, he quietly withdrew into the tunnels to rest with his comrades.



“And thus, the ant colony, in perfect order and purpose, continued its eternal rhythm beneath the soil — an empire unseen, yet mightier than most.”

When Aku finished narrating the story of the ants to the children, one of them said:

“I never knew that even the small ants that I see and ignore every day also strive to achieve goals in life.”

Aku smiled and replied:

“Never shy away from observing little things, children; for even atoms, as minute as they appear to be, are the building blocks of life itself.”

From the collection Ancient Fables, a part of the book BAMBUKA by Babayo U. Kabir.

 

              













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