A while ago, I was outside, and happened to trim my fingernails. Then I noticed that one of the clippings was moving! So I looked intently, and here was a tiny, tiny ant carrying away a part of my fingernail that was easily six times his size. I don’t know if there’s a definitive answer for this question, but I’m puzzled about what this ant would do with my fingernail when he got it to wherever he was taking it. Any ideas?
Maybe some food or tasty skin cells were stuck to the underside of the nail?
Attached goodies seems unlikely, as I had also cleaned my nails before I trimmed them. So, no grunge.
Mark Twain has asserted that the intelligence of the ant (and the purposefulness of its hyperactivity) are highly overrated:
Your fingernails are almost entirely protein. That’s pretty yummy to an ant. “Hoo, boy, fingernails tonight! Go get the A-1 sauce!”