One of a series of blog posts written during a Field Museum rapid inventory of the Kampankis mountain range in northern Peru in 2011.

"A band of stinging ants has swarmed the plastic sheeting over the botany lab, from which they rain down on the botanists pressing plants below. Botanists are a patient race, and in the botany lab you hear muttered conversations like this:

Isau (scribbling a number on a sheet of newspaper, slapping at his neck): 'Those ants – are they biting you?'

Camilo (tying up a stack of pressed plants, slapping his hand): 'Yes.'

Isau (moving on to the next sheet): 'They’re biting me too….'”

Read the full post here.

Photo by Álvaro del Campo