Ants 1 -Murakami Asahi-do -Haruki Murakami-

   Ants are truly remarkable creatures. I genuinely think they are amazing, without any flattery. I've always enjoyed observing ants and whenever I have free time, I often watch them closely. Just the other day, while waiting for a bus near my house, I noticed a group of ants diligently building their nest right at my feet. I stood there and watched them intently for about fifteen minutes. As you may know, ants dig underground tunnels to create their nests, and the challenge they face is how to transport the excavated soil to the surface. It's quite a tricky problem, as you might recall from the movie "The Great Escape." Now, how do ants solve this dilemma? It's actually a simple process. Each ant picks up a grain of sand with its front legs and carries it to the surface. It's undoubtedly hard work, but since ants are like diligent workers, we can accept it as part of their job. What truly impresses me is how they place the grains of sand. You see, when ants bring the sand to the surface, they never casually toss it nearby and call it a day. They understand very well that if they were to do that, it would create sand mounds around the entrance of their nest, causing various problems. So, what ants do is they walk about 30 to 50 centimeters away from the hole, carefully choose a suitable spot, and place the grain of sand there before returning to the nest. It gives off a sense of them carefully selecting the right location, and I can't help but feel a sense of admiration when watching them. However, not all ants behave this way. Some of them, rather briskly, just throw the sand grains to the side of the entrance. The ant world is diverse, just like ours. But come to think of it, not everyone needs to carry the grains of sand far away. From the perspective of evenly distributing the sand, it doesn't really matter if they simply drop the sand near the entrance. Each ant makes its own situational judgment while working, and if that's the case, ants are truly remarkable.