Maybe my enjoyment here has something to do with brain development! Obviously, many things here in CR are new or at least different, thus forcing the mind to store the new and reinterpret the old. Lets take ants for example. In Chicago, we could identify a few types of ants around the yard. You might be familiar with the masses of ants that occasionally swarm on the driveway or over a crack on the sidewalk. Looks like mom spilled the ground coffee as she was getting out of the car and now they're dancing type of thing. I would often tell the boys that is was an ant party, until we closely observed one time to discover, to take words from David Bowie, "this ain't no disco, this ain't no foolin' around" but an all out war. The ants were engaged in a fierce battle, attacking with jaws and ripping apart opponents. We figured that two colonies had gotten a little close to each other on nature's dance floor, someone bumped, then a bottle flew and all you no what broke loose. Further observations that summer supported our ants at war theory.

Those earlier stop and smell the coffee discoveries may have helped us developed a greater awareness ants ( Class: Order Hymenoptera, Family Formicidae). Our fascination has grown further here due to the manners in which they become part of our lives.
We navigate around or trip over the leafcutter mounds walking up the pasture
We devise ways to keep ants from the baked goods that cool on the kitchen counter.
We wait patiently for the next invasion of marauding army ants to clean the house and respectfully walk over their columns on the trails.
We admired the way one type would enter our front door at sunset, quickly locate fallen dinner scraps, and then quietly carry their booty out without disturbing a soul.

I think we have found about ten species around the home, some more conspicuous or mildly irritating than others. I say only 'mildly irritating' because we have never had an experience when they have attacked our food in mass numbers or caused fear of losing life or limb, yet they initially have caused some mental discomfort upon first encounters. Once you get to know the types and their patterns, they are quite predictable. Heck, I even found Sally struck with awe as she patiently watched the patterns and trail of some ants in the kitchen.

OK< john wants me to look at a toucanet.

M