at the Ant Museum

Reianne and I were in Bangkok for a seminar on rice value-addition organised by the Food and Feed Technology Centre and Kasetsart University. During our spare time, we explored the university and passed by the Department of Forest Biology's Ant Museum.

I got curious because it's the first time that I've encountered a museum that is dedicated to ants. Inside, we were greeted by a giant fire ant hanging over the stairs.

Inside, we followed the yellow ants on the floor to the main exhibit. We were greeted by yet another giant ant. But this time, we also saw a lot of posters about ants. Many of these posters were written in Thai so I didn't get as much information as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I think I got the most important bits. 

The museum curators used the ants as a means to teach Thai values on schoolchildren visiting the place. Ants are known to be team players and followers of leaders, for example. 

Thailand apparently has a lot of ant types too, particularly in the forest. I'd be intimidated to see them though because many of the ants are red... and I've always associated red ants with painful and stinging bites.

As we exited the museum, we passed by a poster about ants as a food source. I didn't know that ants are edible! But in Thailand, it appears that there's a food processing industry on food made from ants! That's amazing.

Kids left behind artwork about ants. I found them cute because it reminds me of when I was in grade school and I drew and coloured my way through art class. However, I have never seen a lot of children's art dedicated to ants. It's an interesting way to teach values and science in one go.

On our way out the Ant Museum, I wondered at what other treasure trove of information we'd be able to stumble onto while we were exploring Kasetsart University.