By Madhu Ramnath | Project Lead
Our report in this period will only cover one of our recordings about the delicious underrated forest food - larvae from red ants.
In many parts of Central India, the Adivasis collect and eat the larvae of a species of red ants, oecophylla smaragdina. It builds its next by folding green leaves that are stuck together by larval silk by the worker ants. The nests are many species of trees and can be just a leaf folded over itself to larger nests of many leaves about half a meter in length. Though the larvae are collected through the year, the best time for this activity is in summer, this particular film is shot during the last week of May, the peak of summer in the sal forests of Bastar. The only tools required to go out and get a nest are a long bamboo pole bent like a hook at the tip and a basket. As for skill, one needs the ability to recognize a mature nest from below. Harvesting immature nest yields no larvae and is a wasted effort. And one needs to be unmindful of a few bites that will burn and sting.
Watch this short video with special thanks to Sadhu Nag for allowing us to film this.
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