What you need: Patience and a keen eye!

Yes we have lions! Well not your typical lion but ferocious just the same, if you happen to be an ant. Now, everyone has heard about how strong ants are and how they can carry many times their own body weight. But what about the animals that eat ants? Echidnas and Thorny Devils love to eat ants but they have size on their side. What if you wanted to eat ants but were as little as they were?

The Ant Lion insect has evolved to hunt and feed on ants and they are only really tiny. They make these weird lines in the sand. This is the pattern ant lion makes as it moves just below the surface, it pushes the sand up as it goes along. It's not smart to be seen in the open if you are a fat little insect.

At the end of the line you will see a little cone-shaped hole in the ground. They are usually about 2cm deep. This is where the Ant Lion has made its ant trap. The Ant Lion borrows down into the ground, as it does so it flicks sand backwards, out of the hole. After a time this creates a little sand trap. The Ant Lion sits hidden under a little sand at the bottom of the trap, waiting for an ant to fall in. The second an ant falls in the Ant Lion madly flicks sand out, pulling in the walls and the poor ant is dragged to the bottom. The Ant Lion leaps out and grabs hold of the ant. The Ant is strong but the Ant Lion is far stronger and has massive jaws - their jaws are half the size of their body!

The activity is simply this; find an Ant Lion trap in soft sand or soil next to a creekline. Get a little grain of sand and pop it in the trap. Does the Ant Lion start to go crazy, flicking up sand everywhere? Often the Lion will emerge from his lair to see whats going on. But, be aware, the Ant Lion has a sticky back so it places little particles of sand of the area so that they are almost completely camouflaged.

Don't be afraid of the Ant Lion - they can't bite you. Just be afraid for the ants, but there's plenty to go around.

See how you go hunting and remember to tell all your friends that you did come across a few lions in Central Australia. Cheers Ranger Michael