Dipanjan Ghosh

A section of the people living in the jungle areas of Jangalmahal, in the south western parts of West Bengal, earn their livelihood by collecting red ants and their eggs from the forest. These red ants are called 'kurkut' in the local language. They use larval silk to weave together leaves to form their nesting cavities. That is why red ants are commonly called 'weaver ants'.

Red weaver ants or kurkut (Oecophylla smaragdina) are aggressive arboreal ants with size ranging from 8-10 millimetres. Their skin colour is copper-brown and their head and belly are relatively dark black.

These red ants are social animals. Both queen and male ants have wings. After mating, the queen ant sheds its wings and builds a new nest with worker ants without the help of the male ants. Male ants usually die after mating. A queen ant can lay eggs for many years. Most of the larvae that hatch from the eggs later become worker ants. Small-sized workers and infertile female ants provide the necessary food and other provisions inside the nest.
These red ants are omnivorous in their diet. They hunt small insects such as termites and eat various parts of plants, nectars, etc., chiefly for…read more on NOPR