Recycling a stack of newspaper which is 1 metre (3.3 feet) tall will save a 3.5 metre (11.5 feet) tree.
Venemous ants spread stinging toxin throughout U.S.
Venemous ants spread stinging toxin throughout U.S. Fire ants are small, venemous and foreign and are
spreading throughout the United States. They use a poisonous sting
to protect themselves and cause billions of dollars worth of damage
to crops and electrical equipment every year in the southern
states. Their sting is very painful and can sometimes even cause
death. Fire ants are red or black and come from South America. They
are believed to have arrived in the United States from the holds of
ships in 1918. They can travel by using humans and their vehicles
and can even 'raft' through water by forming big balls. Fish in
waters where the ants have travelled have died through eating them.
They can also spread through the air during mating flights. When
the queen lands, she forms a colony that can create 200,000 new
ants in less than 6 months. Insecticides, flame throwers and
boiling water have been used to try and stop the ants but none of
these methods work against them. Scientists now believe that they
need to be controlled by using biological controls. The fire ant
population in South America is less dense than that in the United
States because predators exist there. Researchers are considering
introducing two parasite species which prey on the fire ants and
destroy their anthills as a new method of control. One of these
parasites, the Brazilian phorid fly, is also known as the
"decapitating fly". It lays eggs in the ant's body and the larvae
migrate up to the ant's head. Enzymes that the larvae secrete make
the ant's skin disintegrate and eventually the ant's head falls
off. 2 SEPTEMBER 1999
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