Strong winds and rain in North Queensland caused the early nesting of some fertilised winged Green Ants called a queen to be damaged or destroyed. Some have died in result of trying to re-established their nesting grounds, by attempting to lay another clutch of eggs (one third in size of the initial egg quantity), dying thereafter possibly from stress or low energy reserves The above image of a survivor Queen, shows her with the original clutch of eggs, actively cleaning her brood from rainwater and relocating them within the leaf.
Still Image extract using Panasonic AF-102 and Nikon 18-135mm with Macro adapters
Alberto Vale
Alberto Vale is an award-winning wildlife filmmaker, cinematographer, naturalist and citizen scientist based in Cairns, North Queensland, at the gateway to the Wet Tropics World Heritage Area. For more than two decades, Alberto has combined wildlife cinematography with an intimate knowledge of tropical habitats, guided by a simple principle: to film wildlife successfully, you must first understand its habitat and behaviour. As founder and President of the Australian Quoll Conservancy (AQC), he has spent more than a decade conducting non-invasive field research on the endangered northern spotted-tailed quoll, developing non-invasive techniques to identify and monitor individual animals, breeding and behaviour without conventional trapping. Through WildCAM Australia®, Alberto has produced and directed internationally broadcast natural-history documentaries, including Green Tree Ants – Friend or Foe?, Quolls: Fast & Furious, and his latest production, Quollity Breeding, narrated by veteran Australian voice-over artist Katherine Kennard. Today, Alberto continues to combine cinematography, natural history and citizen science, using the camera not simply to capture wildlife, but to reveal behaviour, contribute to conservation knowledge and bring the hidden lives of Australia's native species to audiences worldwide.
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