[Animals] Millions of ants form a bridge to attack a hornet's nest

[WilkerCSBD]

Legionnaire ants, also known as army ants or marabunta ants, differ from other species of ants by their aggressive predatory behavior, their nomadic nature, and their forays, in which a huge number of adult worker ants (100,000 to 2,000,000 ) form columns up to 20 meters wide and 200 meters long, entering an area and attacking their prey en masse.

A video widely shared on social media, attributed to Brazilian user Francisco Boni, captures the shocking moment when millions of these legionary ants build a bridge to attack a hornet's nest.

Crowd ants exhibit complex social behaviors and reveal committed teamwork to achieve their goals. Most notable is their ability to form bridges that make it easy for them to access places that would otherwise be inaccessible and where the payoff is worth it. In this case, the spoils of a hornet's nest.

In Boni's own words, "when this type of attack occurs, the wasps generally escape and the ants do not leave until the comb is completely empty, taking away pupae, larvae, eggs and also wasps that did not escape."

The tweet and the video generated great expectation among many users not only because of the spectacular nature of the scene, but also because of knowing and responding to many of the unknowns that the images raised.

In this sense, and referring to EarthSky, Boni explained that many species of ants find it difficult to walk upside down. Apparently it is more effective for ants to follow the path of a bridge that goes down and then up, than to have to start a journey the other way around. Especially when what they carry is a loot as succulent as that of a hornet's nest.

As for how they came to build that perfect catenary, some hypotheses were considered. One of them spoke of the possibility that the ants started a straight path and, as they began to add more numbers of ants, gravity would move them down and the linear tension would make the bridge not break and they could add the missing end to connect with the hornet's nest.

When verifying that there are ants invading the home, the most common is to react without thinking about the consequences and use chemicals that can be harmful to people or pets. However, it is best to calm down and try to expel them in other ways, such as a simple trap that can be made at home.

Thanks to this trap, which will be inexpensive, easy to make and effective, you can kill ants without having to use pesticides. In order to create it, it is necessary to have some pieces of cardboard or chips (to place more than one), a bottle of corn syrup or any type of sticky sugary substance, and powdered boric acid.

When the required material is available, pour two tablespoons of syrup and two tablespoons of boric acid into a small bowl. It is important that it has a pasty and sticky texture and, if it is too liquid, more boric acid should be added. When the mixture is finished, it is spread on the surface of one of the cardboard pieces with a spoon and the trap would be ready.

Of course, the traps must be placed away from the reach of children and pets, since they can be attracted by the sugary smell. Nor should they be placed near food, so that it is not spread by boric acid. The key is to choose the areas that ants frequent the most.

Little by little, the insects will disappear, and in order to also kill the larvae, there is another similar trap. In this case, corn flour and boric acid are required, which are mixed in a dish that the ants can easily access. They will transport the pieces of flour to their nest to feed the larvae, which will turn the flour into liquid food and give it to the worker ants.