Gold-digging ant

The gold-digging ant is a mythical insect from the Baltistan region of northeastern Pakistan. It is mentioned in old stories like the Greek historian, Herodotus' book Histories. According to these tales, these ants were big like dogs or foxes and had fur. They would dig into the ground to find gold.^[1][2]

In Herodotus' writings, he talks about these furry "ants" that were as big as foxes. They lived in a sandy desert in the far eastern part of the Persian Empire (modern-day Pakistan), where the sand had tiny pieces of gold. When these giant ants dug their tunnels, they would sometimes bring up the gold dust, which the people there would then collect.^[3][4]

1. ↑ "Medieval Bestiary : Ant". 2008-12-05. Archived from the original on 2008-12-05. Retrieved 2024-02-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
2. ↑ Videen, Hana (2024-02-20). The Deorhord: An Old English Bestiary. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-26000-6.
3. ↑ Mid-American Review. Popular Press. 2000.
4. ↑ Boswell, James (2006). James Boswell, Esq. . the Life of Samuel Johnson LL. D.: First Issue of First Edition Bound with the Principal Corrections and Additions to the First Edition. Edition Synapse. ISBN 978-4-901481-69-4.