Forget lions, tigers, and bears. When it comes to the art of war, army ants are among the most frightening creatures on earth. With powerful mouth parts, these ighters can skillfully cut creatures much larger than themselves into pieces. Acting together in great number, army ant colonies succeed at making tens of thousands of such kills each day. Their capabilities do have limits, though. Contrary to popular belief, they almost never take down large animals or people.
One of the best places to observe army ants is Barro Colorado, an island in a lake creates by Panama Canal. The island is home to as many as 50 colonies of Eciton burchellii, the most studied army ant in world. It is one of 150 types of army ants in the New World; more 170 other types live in Asia, Africa, and Australia.
The colonies of this army ant are huge, ranging from 300.000 to 700.000 ants. They never stay in one place long, moving from nest site to nest site. Linking legs together, they use their own bodies to form enormous nests called bivouacs, which they hang beneath a fallen tree. There they stay for about 20 days as the queen lays as many as 300.00 eggs.
When the ants go hunting as many as 200.000 of them leave the nest in a group that broadens into a fan as wide as 14 meters. This swarm raid takes a slightly diferent course each day, allowing the hunter to cover fresh ground each time.
Protecting the ants wherever they go are soldiers, recognizable by their oversized jaws. If their frightening looks do not scare enemies away, soldier also have a powerful bite and the attack is often suicidal. Because their jaws are shaped like ishhooks, the soldiers cannot pull them out again. Amazonian tribes have used soldier ants to close wounds, breaking of the bodies and leaving the head in place.
Eciton burchellii are blind and cannot see what a head of them is, but they move together in such great numbers that they can easily kill the non-army ants, insect and other small creatures that constitute their prey. When the groups happen upon a break in the path, ants immediately link legs together and form living bridges so that the groups can move forwards without any delay.
In Japanese the word ant is written by linking two character: one meaning “insect”, the other meaning “loyalty”. Indeed, individual ants are completely loyal to their fellow ants. They display many examples of selless cooperation that, while certainly extreme, cannot fail to win human admiration.
(Adapted from www.nationalgeographic.com. Accessed February 12, 2014)
How is the information in the last paragraph organized?
Informasi dalam paragraf terakhir disusun berdasarkan sebuah pernyataan yang diikuti oleh deinisi dan penjelasan.
Which of the following statement about soldier ants is NOT true?
Dalam teks di atas, tidak pernah dinyatakan bahwa “soldier ants” bertelur banyak.
“The colonies of this army ant are huge, ranging from 300.000 to 700.000 ants. They never stay in one place long, moving from nest site to nest site. Linking legs together, they use their own bodies to form enormous nests called bivouacs, which they hang beneath a fallen tree. There they stay for about 20 days as the queen lays as many as 300.00 eggs.”
Dalam paragraf di atas, hanya disebutkan the queen (ratu semut) yang menelurkan banyak telur.
The author’s purpose of writing the text is to ….
Tujuan penulis teks tersebut adalah untuk menunjukkan kekuatan pasukan semut dibandingkan dengan kekuatan yang dimiliki singa, harimau, dan beruang. Hal ini terlihat dari pernyataan si penulis “Forget lions, tigers, and bears. When it comes to the art of war, army ants are among the most frightening creatures on earth.” (Lupakan singa, harimau, dan beruang. Ketika berbicara seni berperang, pasukan semut termasuk pasukan yang paling mengerikan di antara pasukan makhluk hidup yang ada di dunia.)
In which paragraphs of the text author mention the sight of army ants?
Penulis menyebutkan penglihatan dari semut tentara dalam baris paragraf ke-6.
“Eciton burchellii are blind and cannot see what a head of them is, but they move together in such great numbers that they can easily kill the non-army ants, insect and other small creatures that constitute their prey. When the groups happen upon a break in the path, ants immediately link legs together and form living bridges so that the groups can move forwards without any delay.”
The phrase “happen upon” (paragraph 6) is closest in meaning to ….
happen upon = find (menemukan)
meet = come across (bertemu)
avoid = get out of (menghindari)
need = could do with (memerlukan)
occur = take place (terjadi)
It can be inferred from paragraph 1 that the author tells us to ignore lions, tigers, and bears because ....
Dengan pernyataan “Lupakan singa, harimau, dan beruang.” yang tercantum dalam paragraf pertama, penulis berusaha menunjukkan bahwa semut, dengan caranya sendiri, dapat menjadi lebih ganas dari pada hewan-hewan tersebut. Perhatikan pada kalimat berikutnya yang menjelaskannya, “When it comes to the art of war, army ants are among the most frightening creatures on earth.” (Ketika berbicara seni berperang, pasukan semut termasuk pasukan yang paling mengerikan di antara pasukan makhluk hidup yang ada di dunia.)