Saturday, June 18, 2011

First Sightings of 2011: The Big-Butt Ants!

On Plaza Bolivar: Buy my ants!
A Colombian tradition, hormigas culonas, literally big-butt ants, are finally in Bogotá. Normally, they arrive weeks earlier, but this year's torrential rains and flooded-out highways apparently delayed their migration.

The ants come from Santander Department and were traditionally eaten by the indigenous people there.

Today, they've become a novelty food throughout Colombia. See them being prepared here.

Wow!
Yuck! Ants are not for everybody.

Their name refers to their voluminous rear body part. 
By Mike Ceaser, of Bogotá Bike Tours

2 comments:

Steph said...

Mmmm, they've been around for a while in Santander. I helped prepare some and took lots of photos here:

http://www.littlecolombiaobservationist.com/eating-big-ass-ants/

:)

Miguel said...

They've been around for a long time in Bogotá, as well, of course. But this is the first time I've seen them in 2011. Maybe due to the weather...or maybe the ants are getting wiser about not getting caught.

Of course, these are all males headed out to mate, the poor souls. And look where they end up. Fortunately for the colonies, however, they produce many more males than required (as human males produced excess sperm), and the males do nothing besides breed and then die. What a life.