The countdown begins!

Okay it is getting very close to the time where I will be deep in the jungles of Costa Rica and I must say my freak-out-meter is up to 100 percent! You see I am one of sixteen teachers this year that was given a unique opportunity from the Northrop Grumman Foundation and Conservation International to go to the La Selva Biological station to get some real world field experience in the rain forest of Costa Rica (see video below). Yes ladies and gentlemen, I actually get to practice what I teach and try to prove wrong that dreaded saying "Those who can do, those who can't teach". I'm sure I'm not the only teacher that cringes from this phrase slung out so carelessly from the mouths of those individuals WHO ARE JUST JEALOUS OF OUR SUMMERS OFF!

Anyways, I digress, back to what I was saying. The simplified goal of our field work is to compare the different species of ants in two different habitats (an understory and a light gap) and to draw conclusions related to food source, habitat, numbers, species, climate, etc. However, after spending some time researching the various species of ants on the Internet I have decided to refine and simplify our goal as thus:

 DO NOT GET STUNG BY A BULLET ANT.

 

 

Seriously folks they are not only enormous but also deliver one of the most painful stings of all insects! In fact they get the name Bullet Ant because from many peoples account the pain of the sting is equal to being shot. They are also nicknamed the "24 Hour Ant" due to the pain lasting, yes you guessed it.....24 hours! So yeah, the goal of my fieldwork has now changed and I will avoid these buggers at all costs. Perhaps googling "dangers of Costa Rica" was not the most intelligent thing I could do right before I leave for this adventure? I better stop ranting before Northrup Grumman and Conservation International retract my invitation! Seriously, all jokes aside, I can't wait for this adventure!

“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass