Chapter 11 The extraordinary fourth child
The young termite that was the last to successfully metamorphose has already left its hole to look for food.
Worker ants are very hard-working. They will go out to forage to feed the queen and young ants, expand the nest, store food, clean up garbage, etc.
After the queen ant was fed by three young worker ants, her energy returned to 0.3.
There is no immediate danger to life.
But there are still dangers. These four young worker ants are all very small and have little experience in surviving in the wild, so they will die easily.
And their lifespan is much shorter than ordinary termites.
The first batch of worker ants produced by the queen are like this and will have some defects.
For example, small size and short lifespan.
Because the queen ant needs them to hatch and metamorphose into adults as soon as possible, and then go out to find food to feed the queen ant. In order to shorten this time, corners are cut during the spawning preparation period.
Qin Niu has always been guarding the nest, and will definitely take action in time to help them eliminate the enemy whenever there is danger.
The termite that metamorphoses last, let’s call it Fourth.
I saw it actually dragged a young leaf that was twenty or thirty times larger than itself back to its nest.
According to research, ants can lift food more than 400 times their own weight and drag items more than 1,700 times their own weight.
Although termites are not ants, their ability to carry objects is still shocking.
No less powerful than the ants known as ‘Hercules’.
It is indeed a species that is more than 100 million years older than ants.
The fourth child dragged the 'huge' young leaves, like a cow, with vigorous and powerful movements.
The two jaws clamp the blade tightly, like a vise.
The other three worker ants sucked a little juice and hurried back to the nest, but it took a leaf as big as this and returned to the nest.
Faintly, Qin Niu felt that this last transformed worker ant was smarter than the other three.
Of course, it is also possible that its character is more greedy.
The other three worker ants came out to look for food soon after feeding the queen.
Because they have just metamorphosed into adults, they are very small and cannot bring back much food at a time. It can only increase the energy of the queen ant by 0.1.
The three worker ants discovered that the fourth child was carrying food into the nest, and they all stepped forward to help.
The four brothers work together and are significantly more efficient.
The leaves are quickly carried back to the nest.
The fourth child touched them with his tentacles, probably communicating in 'ant language'.
Leave two worker ants in the hole to chew on the young leaf and then feed the queen. The fourth child went out to look for food with a worker ant.
Good guy, he was obviously the last one to be 'born', but now he has become the 'leader' among the four brothers.
It soon found another young leaf that had fallen to the ground. This time it was bigger than the last one.
The two brothers worked together to drag away.
After a lot of effort, I finally moved to the nest. When I tried to drag it inside, the leaves were too big and I couldn't get in.
Qin Niu wanted to see how they would deal with it?
I saw the fourth one crawling around on the leaf, and then commanding another worker ant to eat the leaf together. The two brothers gnawed from both ends to the middle.
It can be seen at this time that the fourth child has stronger chewing ability and faster cutting speed.
Qin Niu became interested. The fourth brother seemed to be much stronger than the other three brothers!
Not only is it smart and thoughtful, it is also so powerful.
It feels like it is a collection of worker ants and soldier ants.
Unfortunately, its lifespan is only three months.
If only I could live longer like the queen ant.
In fact, the life span of this queen ant is not long, only 4.2 years. According to Qin Niu's idea, no matter what, he should have a life span of more than twenty years.
But he was still satisfied to see the queen successfully establish a colony.
There are dilemmas in the world.
It can't be perfect.
Helping it advance in the future may increase its lifespan.
I heard that there are some human monks who live more than a thousand years, but only very few.
The same goes for insects and beasts. They can also continue to practice, evolve, and increase their life span.
Two young worker ants cut leaves faster than expected.
Termites are known as the number one pest of buildings and trees, and they treat plants like a ball. The two powerful upper jaws click, click, click, dealing with this young leaf is like chopping melons and vegetables.
In fact, the bodies of termites appear to be soft, but they are agile and not inferior to fierce ants.
And they are very belligerent.
Three fierce ants of the same size may not be able to defeat one termite.
Therefore, don’t think that termites are weak. In fact, they only look weak, but they are actually among the top ants.
Even army ants, killer ants, bullet ants, and big-toothed ants, which are known as the most powerful ants, cannot defeat termites.
Just like cats are invincible among beasts of the same size.
Two young worker ants cut the leaves and drag them into the nest.
In just a quarter of an hour, Qin Niu discovered that the queen ant's energy had actually returned to 1.2.
It feels like with the command of Lao Si, their foraging efficiency has increased by at least three times.
This discusses the importance of a wise leader for a group.
After Lao Si dragged the second leaf into the hole, he took the worker ant out again.
What was dragged back into the cave this time was two pieces of rotten wood.
The food of termites is very complex. They have symbiotic flagellates in their bodies, so eating wood can be converted into nutrients needed by the body.
Wood is equivalent to coarse grains, while young leaves and sap are equivalent to 'soup'.
They get a lot of water and some important nutrients from it.
It is equivalent to the combination of meat and vegetables for humans.
In addition, when termites are hungry, they will also eat the corpses of other insects, even the corpses of the same kind, ant eggs, etc. This situation only occurs when there is extreme hunger and lack of food.
At this time, Qin Niu heard human conversation not far away.
He immediately picked up the chopped wood and left here.
There is a smart and capable fourth child in the ant colony. As long as there are no enemy invasions, there shouldn't be any big problems.
As the queen's energy returns, she will quickly enter 'fertility machine' mode.
A large number of ant eggs will be laid every day and then hatch.
As long as there are soldier ants in the ant nest, their ability to defend against enemies will be doubled.
However, I am afraid that there is no way to develop soldier ants now. The first task is to strengthen the worker ant colony. In the entire ant colony, the queen, young ants, reproductive ants, and soldier ants all have no ability to forage.
They must rely on worker ants to feed them to survive.
Therefore, worker ants are very important to the entire ant colony.
In the early stages of the development of an ant colony, there are no soldier ants. At this time, the worker ants will play two roles, acting as both worker ants and soldier ants.
Qin Niu walked out of the mountain carrying a load of firewood weighing one hundred fifty or sixty kilograms.
Climbing over the hill, he saw Mr. Wang and five or six hired farmers collecting humus.
I saw Rich Man Wang pointing to the humus soil under the dwarf pine and saying, This is it. Put a basket back for me. I will mix the fertilizer myself.
Qin Niu couldn't help but shook his head and smiled.
This rich man Wang was as shrewd as a ghost. He must have secretly looked at the leaves in his humus soil, identified them, and then thought he had found the formula.
Just wait, Rich Wang will still look for him.
However, this incident also reminded Qin Niu that if he wanted to make his first pot of gold by selling soil, he should be more cautious in the future. Don't give people the opportunity to peek and learn.
Or deliberately create some fog so that those who try to imitate will suffer some losses.
For example, during the flowering period of bracts, humus soil with too much nitrogen fertilizer is used, and then only seedlings grow and achenes are produced.
Or you can make some nutritional adjustments to the fertilizers in the seedling stage to make them grow slowly or even cause the leaves to turn yellow, which has the opposite effect of fertilizer damage.
After these people suffer a few losses, they will naturally understand that imitation is useless.
Then obediently go to Qin Niu to buy fertilizer.
However, the asking price is fifty cents per basket, which is indeed not cheap.
Cow dung is considered to be the best fertilizer, and it only costs ten cents a basket.
He currently has nearly 900 labor points accumulated, and he is secretly thinking about whether to upgrade the fertilization to another level?
To do this business, you must strive for excellence in technology.
Seeing Qin Niu walking by with a load of firewood, Mr. Wang was a little proud and said, Ah Niu, I've given you five cents per basket and you still won't sell it. Do you see? I hired someone to carry it, and it cost me two cents to carry it. Not even.
Then you buy two cents per basket.
Qin Niu smiled indifferently.
It's just a recipe. It's not something very complicated. As long as you have eyes and a brain, you can make it. Young people, you must not be too greedy. Rich Wang criticized him like an elder.
He was even more proud of being able to figure out the formula from Qin Niu's fertilizers.
Qin Niu just smiled and left without saying anything.
…
Time passes day by day, and Qin Niu is now busier every day.
In addition to tending the crops in the fields, going up the mountain to cut firewood and practicing slashing and slashing skills, he also spent a long time in front of termite nests every day.
He was observing the habits of termites and learning about them.
Six days passed, and the queen's energy continued to grow every day.
It rose to 21 points on the first day, to 54 points on the second day, and directly exceeded 100 points on the third day, rising to 102 points...
On the sixth day, there were only four worker ants feeding it, and the energy in its body was already as high as 279 points.
The queen ant's energy increased so quickly, and the fourth child accounted for at least half of the credit.
Without its command, the foraging efficiency of the other three worker ants would be reduced by at least half.
The four worker ants also grew very fast, and they were one circle larger than when they first metamorphosed into adults.
The increase in body size also increases the amount of food they forage.
You can bring back more food at a time.
This morning, as soon as Qin Niu got up, he discovered that the attributes of the queen ant had changed again.
Female milk termite (queen)
Level: Level 2 Isoptera, upgrade experience 102.79/1000
Lifespan: 4.2 years
Energy: 229
Skills: The first level of reproduction is 0.15/10, the first level of suspended animation is 2/10
Talent: Moderate intelligence
Ant colony: 4 worker ants, life span 3 months
The energy has been reduced by 50 points, and the proficiency of reproductive skills has been increased by 0.1. Is this the second batch of ant eggs?
Qin Niu felt extremely happy and entered the mountain with a hatchet and a pole and rope.
As soon as the ant colony completes its initial accumulation and begins to grow, it will snowball and become more and more terrifying.
Arrive at the ant nest and look inside the nest.
Good guys, the ant nest has been expanded deeper by the worker ants.
The first 'delivery room' was built, in which ten snow-white and transparent ant eggs lay quietly.
The queen ant's body has shown signs of gaining weight slightly, and her belly has obviously gained a lot of weight.
The food reserves in the nest are quite sufficient.
Everything seemed in order.
Lao Si is leading a worker ant to dig another side hole.
Don't know what this is intended for?
I am really looking forward to it. When these ten ant eggs hatch, the ant colony will further grow. By then, with fourteen worker ants working, the queen will be able to obtain more energy in a day.