The Lives of a Cell

Several years ago I traveled to the Peruvian Amazon on river boat. Most of our time was spent on shore, treking through the dense rain forest searching for native villages and wildlife. I can recall "leaf eater" ants crossing our paths with dime size pieces of green leaves held over their body as the scurried in single file to a mounded entrance hole in the ground. As they disappeared others were leaving for a return trip to the soon to be leafless plant. I dropped a large leaf accross the traveled path to see what the ants response would be. They quickly found an alternate route around the fallen leaf and continued on without delay. They appeared driven to complete their task. It would be interesting to mark an ant for identification purposes so you could record the number of trips one made in a specific period of time, and how long lasting that effort would be. I suspect they continue on until they expire, having fulfilled their predestined purpose for existence. Interesting, the lives of small creatures. They appear to be pre-programed for their purpose and function in life, or they have an extremely short learning curve.