Ingo Arndt's Image

Ingo Arndt (Germany) documents the efficient dismemberment of a blue ground beetle by red wood ants.

“Full of ant” is how Ingo described himself after lying next to the ants’ nest for just a few minutes. Ingo watched as the red wood ants carved an already dead beetle into pieces small enough to fit through the entrance to their nest.

Photonaturalist and Competition Judge Tony Wu comments “the stark red of the protagonist juxtaposed with the blue and green of the beetle and background pulls me directly into the heart of the action. I can feel – almost hear – the energy of the swarm while I marvel at the single-minded dedication of the lone ant scaling to the summit of the beetle.”

Much of the red wood ants’ nourishment comes from honeydew secreted by aphids, but they also need protein. They can kill insects and other invertebrates much larger than themselves through sheer strength in numbers.