THE QUEEN ANT

There are three classes of ants in a colony. They are the

workers, the males, and the queen.

Worker ants are wingless. They are female but they cannot
lay eggs. Worker ants do all the work in the colony.

The queen is the biggest ant in a colony. She is born with

wings. She can lay eggs. She is fed, washed, and guarded by the
workers.

The male and the female ants mate in the air. The male
usually dies in a few days. The queen ant then finds a place to
start an ant colony.

There, she lays eggs which will become baby ants in about
twenty days. Worker ants take care of these baby ants and do all
the work to keep the ant colony keeps growing.

When the old queen dies, worker ants lick and care for her
as if she were still alive. They carry her out of the ant colony and
bury her when they are sure that she is dead. Then a new queen
takes over the work of the dead.
 THE SHIP OF THE DESERT

For many years, the camel has worked for a man in the
desert. This humpback animal is called the ship of the desert.

Everything about the camel makes it just the right animal for
the hot, sandy desert. It can eat the spiny desert plants because
its lips are covered with tough skin, and its teeth are very strong.

Its feet have thick pads that protect it from the hot desert
sands and help keep it from sinking or slipping in the sand.

The heavy hair that covers its body protects it from heat and
sandstorms. Its long, thick eyelashes protect its eyes from the
blowing sand; the hair in its ears keeps the sand out of its ears,
too. During a sandstorm, a camel can close its nose.

When it drinks, the camel takes in much water which it stores

in one of its two stomachs. It also stores fat in its hump and lives
on this for several days.

Because of its ability to store food and water, it can go on for

long periods without eating or taking another drink.

No other animal can compare with the camel as the ship of

the desert.
 EARRINGS

Earrings are used to beautify ears. Girls usually have their ears
pierced while they are babies to be able to wear earrings. Even those
whose ears are not pierced can still wear earrings by screwing the
ring on the ear. Earrings are usually made of precious stones and
metal. Earrings take the form of flowers, fruits, vases, shields,
rosettes, tassels, shells, and many others.

The wearing of earrings is a very ancient custom. The Persians,

Indians, Egyptians, Arabians, and Hebrews wore earrings. But the
Greeks made the best gold earrings. Even the statues of the
goddesses (whether of stones, wood, ivory, or precious metal) had
golden earrings.

Men wore earrings, too. When people started wearing long black
hair that covered the ears, earrings fell into disuse and came into
fashion again in the 15th and 15th centuries.

The ancient people had many superstitious beliefs about

wearing earrings.

They believed that wearing earrings prevented evil sounds and

malicious words from entering the ears. They also believed that they
could hear better by piercing the ears.

Today, earrings are usually worn by women. But we may still

find some menfolk from tribal groups wearing earrings. Modern male
youngsters also wear earrings nowadays.