Good news comes from Bucaramanga, in some neighborhoods of the city it has been possible to see the appearance of the renowned big ass ant, which is one of the favorite and most recognized 'delicacies' of Santandereans. Some people have said that little by little they have seen the appearance of these in some areas of the city, so it is expected that soon the season will begin.
Courts, patios, houses, streets, are some of the areas where the appearance of the Santanderean 'delicacy' has been seen, which although they have not been seen in large numbers, could be the warning that at any time the season will begin. This generated enormous excitement among the citizens and inhabitants of the area.
“The season of big ass ants officially begins. Today they came out and they are showing each other, they were few but it warns us that at any moment the big exit is coming”, said Jorge Arguello in statements published by C aracol Radio. Citizens are waiting for the start of the big ass ant season, as they trust that large groups could leave at dawn hours so they should be alert.
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It is important to note that the big ass ants have suffered the blow of the pandemic and climate change, which altered the rainy and sunny seasons, which changed their behavior, so they are not usually seen so often. For some years now, fewer and fewer queens have been seen who normally went out to form new anthills, so some experts consider that this spice could already be at risk.
In recent years, there has been an exponential decline compared to previous years. Some peasants in Santander claim that big ass ants normally came out after Easter, however, several factors have changed their behavior, so it is not so common to see them so often.
Jorge Rolón, a farmer in the area, referred to this situation some time ago and in an interview with El Tiempo stated that, “20 years ago they started going out 2 and 3 times a year, at different times, because the changes in the cycles of rain and sun altered their departure from the hormigueros, but this year they have taken a long time to appear”.
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A study carried out by Andrés Ricardo Santamaría, investigated the life of big ass ants, which since the time of the indigenous Guanes have been considered a 'delicacy', and managed to conclude that they are at serious risk of disappearing. He claims that their exploitation and the constant capture of queens could be causing them not to form new colonies. “It seems as if the queens of the hormigueros are in quarantine to take care of the indiscriminate hunting of those who seek them to eat them,” he said for El Tiempo.
Rebeca Araque, a collector of big ass ants, says that there are fewer and fewer hormigueros and assured for Radio Nacional de Colombia that she has seen how many of them have become crops of cassava, coffee, beans. “The owners of the paddocks and farms send the anthills to be killed with poison, or they throw crops and they have to kill them because if they don't eat the plants,” he said.
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