![]() Gold sand can be quickly scooped up into bags, but the ants soon catch the scent of the intruders and hurry to the surface. To steal the ants’ gold, camel caravans approach the nests on hot summer mornings, when the ants are safely underground. The sand they bring to the surface is full of the precious metal, making them an attractive target for treasure seekers, but they also fiercely defend their gold from anyone who would dare take it. Most importantly, gold-digging ants excavate their nests in an area rich with gold dust. These ants are exceedingly fast, strong, and dangerous. In the Ortus Sanitatis, the gold-digging ant is given a form unlike any ant – indeed, unlike any living animal, with a rounded, bird-like head and four legs with long talons. Skins of those ants brought before Alexander the Great were like panther skins. Pliny specifies that they are as large as an Ethiopian wolf, and the color of a cat. Gold-digging ants are smaller than dogs, but larger than foxes. Their story is the same regardless of location. Some later sources, such as the Ortus Sanitatis, move them to Ethiopia. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Herodotus originally placed the Gold-digging Ants in the sandy deserts in the land of the Dards, in India, within the Persian Empire. ![]()
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