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They Milk the Aphids
From deep inside her complex nest
She rules her colony
And sees that all the others there
Her orders they obey.
Hundreds of her daughters there live.
Her strict rules they all fear.
Their fathers now all of them dead.
Only females live here.
Each one has well defined duties
And daily they must work,
Cleaning and fettling this huge nest.
But beware those who shirk.
A long evolved social structure
And all know where they stand,
To keep the colony as one
Accepting queen’s command.
Those daughters can’t attract the males
For she made each sterile
So that they have no distractions
And to queen stay servile.
Wingless, they cannot fly away
But may crawl from the nest
To milk honeydew from aphids.
Taste fresh juice at its best.
Each springtime the queen will grow wings
To fly and find the males
And so becomes fertile again,
Producing more females.
The queen ant lives for some decades.
Every spring, eggs she lays.
Each daughter worn out within months
And males last but two days.
Copyright ©
Tony Hargreaves
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