Mrs Amberland, who I lived with shortly, was a hard core clean freak. Her laundry had a scent of meadow flowers, she ironed diligently every wrinkle, collar and sleeve. Clothes were folded carefully, organized by color and piled up neatly on their place. Every speck of dust and dirt was washed off, no corner left out. The house was always ready for happenings and yet never left a single mark of them, except an aftertaste of intoxicating substances.

Every spring, when sunbeams awoked wild creatures, she was seized by mania, because all new buzz get noticed. And it meant.…Trouble! Her killer instinct was triggered and vile potions stored in her closet were ready to knock out life of anything that moved and put her sense of tidy in danger.

And there they came out. Ants. And never ending battle between colonies of tiny strivers in search of food and Mrs Amberland´s desire to wipe them out completely began.

„Look! Pests! What the heck are they doing here? What are we going to do?………… We have to get rid of them!“, she says and pours some wicked liquid over grass.

And I looked at the poor ants minding their own business and I let out a weary sigh. How unfortunate they were to get there, where we didn´t want them to be, and that their existence was being reduced to a nuisance.

Many other people exhibited similar signs of severe obsession and could tell that ants caused problems. They roamed freely over clear-cut lawns and shipshape flowery yards and from time to time, they came to visit our homes. They did what they pleased and seemed not to be bothered by boundaries of our properties and gardening efforts.  

No wonder, that people panicked. They lived everywhere, moved fast and largely outnumbered us. Despite countless instructions, tips and advice on how to destroy them, that people followed, none of them worked flawlessly and permanently. Next spring the ants came out of their nests again. So, why all the fuss?

I was never fond of how ants and insects in general looked like. With all their mandibles and tentacles and way too many legs and tiny bodies, that got them in every crack and cranny, they were a bit scary, I have to admit. But then I happened to like them.

Ants are living fossils and shared our planet with Tyrannosaurus rex, Velociraptor and other dinosaurs. Who of the humans can brag about that? Black garden ants, with whom most of us are familiar with, are also great architects. They build large underground cities, with huge chambers interconnected by tunnels way below the mounds we see on the surface. They do not have any technical drawings and yet are able to build pillars, arches, roofs and in-built air-conditioning with support of their own bodies.

Ants also have a very strong sense of community and work hard to protect their colonies. Their behaviour vary from species to species, but most of them work together to bring food to their nests. They help each other to break apart bites of food, that are too big to carry by individuals, or they join forces to move objects and food. They use their bodies to form bridges, that can be crossed and even farm other animals, such as aphids, for food.

When I came back to Prague, I moved to the top 4th floor apartment, located on the frontier of two distinct, yet developmentaly connected burroughs – Vinohrady with noble houses, well maintained squares, airy rooms and embellished balconies, and more packed Žižkov with plentiful pubs, bars and non stop kebab stores, where you lost yourself in pint of beer and stories of people imprinted in their faces.  

And there I saw them again, in the top 4th floor. An army of workers marching in line through a tiny hole in my window frame into my room, that got scattered over wooden floor in a hope to find something to eat. At first, I freaked out and thought of blocking up the opening. But I did nothing and we learned to coexist during the warm seasons of the year, when they are active.

They know, where I eat and where to find the crumbs and sometimes I feed them just to watch them. Loaded with a heavy weight, they have to put in tremendous effort to climb the wall of my room vertically to bring the food back to their nest-mates. In late summer, I plant spinach and ruccola and they try to get hold of my seeds and dig in the soil, which is a rare commodity so high above the ground. They do, what they need, and so do I.

My mum, too, she gave up on the battle against ants in her garden and we enjoy presence of woodpeckers, lizards and antlions, who feed on ants. Antlion´s larvaes are a bit frightening predators with huge mandibles, that hide right below the surface under a layer of sandy ground. They construct funnel like traps to catch small insects, that walk around. Their prey loses firm ground below their feet in a cone of fine sand and is unable to get out of it. My nieces love to watch antlions tactics and how great is that?

Ants do not benefit us directly, so we cannot put a price tag on their endeavours. Through the eyes of some people, sharing the space with ants is unwelcome. And perhaps I was lucky, that they have not decided to make a nest directly in our kitchen, but in my eyes, ants are not pests. They are animals. Mighty, strong and hardworking.