OT: Fire Ants was...Borers in Louisianas, etc.

>Walter A. Moores wrote:
>>
>  They hitched a ride on a freighter and entered the US at Mobile
>> Bay in the 30's and are marching toward CA.
>>
Fire ant control has proved itself exactly what E.O. Wilson predicted it
would be: The Vietnam of Entomology. Years ago we were reassured the
imported ants would never survive Arkansas' relatively cold winters
(relative to Mobile, Ala.), and yet there are fire ants in Arkansas now,
and they seem to be marching father north all the time.
Since we aren't going to be able to rid our fields of these dynamos any
more successfully than Southern farmers have been able to rid themselves of
beavers or kudzu, isn't it time someone started looking at good uses for
imported fire ants? Surely we can squish them to make a pesticide or milk
them for anticoagulants or for some other useful potion. Any chance they
might act as pollinators, and fill in for the missing honey bees? Can we
train them to attack cockroaches? How about a new junk food: Crispy Fried
Fire Ants. Yum.

I'm only half-joking. Seems to me this ant is an evolutionary juggernaut
and if we know what's good for us, we'll adapt. Is there any research in
this direction?

celia
storey@aristotle.net
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