Subject: Crazy Ants Attack Red Crabs
Date: Saturday, March 27, 1999 5:00 AM

10:29 AM ET 03/26/99

*1106< ^AP-Australia-Killer-Ants

 Crazy Ants Attack Red Crabs
     MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) _ Killer ants on Christmas Island in
 the Indian Ocean are reported to be decimating the island's
 world-renowned crab population.
     The ``crazy ant'', so-called because of its frenetic movements,
 was attacking the famed red crab population at a phenomenal rate.
 Monash University ecologist Dennis O'Dowd said Friday.
     ``I have never seen a single invader have so much impact in such
 a short time,'' said O'Dowd, one of several researchers on a
 long-term study of the crabs.
     The crazy ant, or anoplolepis gracilipes, is believed to have
 been introduced to Christmas Island by west African traders about
 50 years ago. About 100 million red crabs, some weighing up to a
 pound, live on the island, which is an Australian territory.
 Two-thirds of the island is national park forest.
     In the past 18 months, the ants have attacked the crabs, killing
 about 3 million. The ants burrow into the forest floor and
 underground into the crab burrows and kill them and eat them.
     O'Dowd said the sudden carnage by the ants was a mystery, but
 might be linked to the recent El Nino weather phenomenon.
     ``This is the most serious threat to the national park that has
 occurred on the island,'' he said.

John L.
--
donald j haarmann - independently dubious