The gold-digging ant is a mythical insect described in classical and medieval bestiaries. They were dog- or fox-sized ants that dug up gold in sandy areas. Some versions of the Physiologus said they came from Ethiopia, while Herodotus claimed they were located in India. [1]
In Histories (Book 3, passages 102 to 105) Herodotus reports that a species of fox-sized, furry "ants" lives in one of the far eastern, Indian provinces of the Persian Empire. This region, he reports, is a sandy desert, and the sand there contains a wealth of fine gold dust. These giant ants, according to Herodotus, would often unearth the gold dust when digging their mounds and tunnels, and the people living in this province would then collect the precious dust.
French ethnologist Michel Peissel says that the Himalayan marmot on the Deosai Plateau in Gilgit–Baltistan province of Pakistan, may have been what Herodotus called giant "ants". Much like the province that Herodotus describes, the ground of the Deosai Plateau is rich in gold dust. Peissel interviewed the Minaro tribal people who live in the Deosai Plateau, and they have confirmed that they have, for generations, collected the gold dust that the marmots bring to the surface when digging burrows. The story was widespread in the ancient world and later authors like Pliny the Elder mentioned it in his gold mining section of the Naturalis Historia .
In his book The Ants' Gold: The Discovery of the Greek El Dorado in the Himalayas, Peissel says that Herodotus may have confused the old Persian word for "marmot" with that for "mountain ant" because he probably did not know any Persian and thus relied on local translators when travelling in the Persian Empire. Herodotus did not claim to have seen the gold-digging "ant" creatures; he stated that he was simply reporting what other travellers told him. [2] [3]
A 2011 study by Australian scientists found that termites have been found to excrete trace deposits of gold. According to the CSIRO, the termites burrow beneath eroded subterranean material which typically masks human attempts to find gold, and ingest and bring the new deposits to the surface. They believe that studying termite nests may lead to less invasive methods of finding gold deposits. [4] [5]
The aardvark is a medium-sized, burrowing, nocturnal mammal native to Africa. It is the only living species of the order Tubulidentata, although other prehistoric species and genera of Tubulidentata are known. Unlike most other insectivores, it has a long snout, similar to that of a pig, which is used to sniff out food.
Herodotus was a Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria, Italy. He is known for having written the Histories – a detailed account of the Greco-Persian Wars. Herodotus was the first writer to perform systematic investigation of historical events. He has been described as "The Father of History", a title conferred on him by the ancient Roman orator Cicero.
The groundhog, also known as the woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. The groundhog is a lowland creature of North America; it is found through much of the Eastern United States, across Canada and into Alaska. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.
The numbat, also known as the noombat or walpurti, is an insectivorous marsupial. It is diurnal and its diet consists almost exclusively of termites.
Marmots are large ground squirrels in the genus Marmota, with 15 species living in Asia, Europe, and North America. These herbivores are active during the summer, when they can often be found in groups, but are not seen during the winter, when they hibernate underground. They are the heaviest members of the squirrel family.
The Histories of Herodotus is considered the founding work of history in Western literature. Although not a fully impartial record, it remains one of the West's most important sources regarding these affairs. Moreover, it established the genre and study of history in the Western world.
The giant armadillo, colloquially tatu-canastra, tatou, ocarro or tatú carreta, is the largest living species of armadillo. It lives in South America, ranging throughout as far south as northern Argentina. This species is considered vulnerable to extinction.
Gold prospecting is the act of searching for new gold deposits. Methods used vary with the type of deposit sought and the resources of the prospector. Although traditionally a commercial activity, in some developed countries placer gold prospecting has also become a popular outdoor recreation. Gold prospecting has been popular since antiquity. From the earliest textual and archaeological references, gold prospecting was a common thread for gaining wealth.
The Indian pangolin, also called thick-tailed pangolin and scaly anteater, is a pangolin native to the Indian subcontinent. Like other pangolins, it has large, overlapping scales on its body which act as armour. The colour of its scales varies depending on the colour of the earth in its surroundings. It can also curl itself into a ball as self-defence against predators such as the tiger. It is an insectivore feeding on ants and termites, digging them out of mounds and logs using its long claws, which are as long as its fore limbs. It is nocturnal and rests in deep burrows during the day.
The Himalayan marmot is a marmot species that inhabits alpine grasslands throughout the Himalayas and on the Tibetan Plateau. It is IUCN Red Listed as Least Concern because of its wide range and possibly large population.
Deosai National Park is a high-altitude alpine plain (plateau) and National Park located between Skardu District,Kharmang District and ASTORE District in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.
The griffin, griffon, or gryphon is a legendary creature with the body, tail, and back legs of a lion, and the head and wings of an eagle with its talons on the front legs.
Michel Georges Francois Peissel was a French ethnologist, explorer and author. He wrote twenty books mostly on his Himalayan and Tibetan expeditions. Peissel was an emeritus member of the Explorers Club and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.
The gray marmot, grey marmot, or Altai marmot is a species of rodent in the squirrel family Sciuridae. It is one of the larger marmots in the genus Marmota. It occurs in mountainous grasslands and shrub lands of central Asia, and is one of the 9 Palearctic (Eurasia) species. It is found in Xinjiang Province in China, southeastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and in the Altai and Tien Shan Mountains in southeastern Siberia in Russia. In the Mongolian Altai, its range overlaps with that of the Tarbagan marmot. Gray marmots form social groups, live in burrows, and hibernate.
Albertonykus is an alvarezsaurid dinosaur from the Maastrichtian-age rocks of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation of Alberta, Canada. It is known from forelimb and hindlimb remains from multiple individuals. All but two of the specimens come from a bonebed dominated by Albertosaurus, located at the top of Unit 4 of the Horseshoe Canyon Formation, dating to ~68.5 million years ago.
Pakistan's native fauna reflect its varied climatic zones. The northern Pakistan, which includes Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan, has portions of two biodiversity hotspots, Mountains of Central Asia and Himalayas.
The Turkmenian fox, also known as the Persian fox, is an Asiatic subspecies of red fox distinguished by its very small size and primitive cranial features. It inhabits the Middle Asian plains and approximately south of latitude of Ustyurt Plateau and the Aral Sea, as well as contiguous parts of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Myrmekes (Μύρμηκες) is Greek for "ants". Greek mythological animals and tribes were called with this name.
In ancient Greek geography, the basin of the Indus River was on the extreme eastern fringe of the known world. The Greek geographer Herodotus describes the land as India, calling it ἡ Ἰνδική χώρη, after Hinduš, the Old Persian name for the satrapy of Sindh in the Achaemenid Empire. Darius the Great had conquered this territory in 516 BC. The Greek colonies in Asia Minor were already part of the Achaemenid Empire since 546 BC and, thus, the Greeks and Indians came into contact with each other as subjects of the Empire.