My middle son was obsessed with ants: we still have more books on ants than a public library. Every "choose your own topic" project meant more ant tales ... can't tell you how many times I watched the special on cutter ants devouring that poor hapless leaf.
So, one Christmas we decide to get him an ant farm: this is to be the piece de resistance present! We set it up the night before, put in the dirt and the ants and wrap it up: these ants are fairly large, not the tiny ants that come inside California homes for the winter. OK. presents opened, everyone happy, presents put in rooms ... walking through later, glance at the ant farm: it is swarming with big ants eating little ants. The tiny black ants must have infiltrated through the minuscule cracks. They're all proceeding to spread out all over the carpet. Never have I seen anything more disgusting. Raid, carpet cleaner, farm in garbage ... and now years later, a funny memory.
So in the Middle East, who are the big ants and who are the little ants and will the little ants, by virtue of their superior numbers, eventually overpower the bigger ants? Because, as I have shown, peaceful co-existence is not an option.
Janet