Have you ever heard an ant's footsteps?

One afternoon in September of 2018 I was sitting on the floor of our family-room, with mathematics papers strewn around me, when I heard a fluttering sound coming from those papers.

Inspection revealed that one of the sheets had its edge just resting on the skirting board with the rest of the sheet curving towards the wooden floor. This created a drum-like apparatus on which my pet ant, running across the sheet, would have its normally silent footsteps made completely audible to the naked ear --- all without any sophisticated instrumentation.

Fortunately, I had the where-with-all to capture the event for posterity (listen between 0:26s and 0:37s).

Ralph Buchholz

26 Sep 2020