How Ants Survive Flooding by Forming Giant Rafts

National Geographic ^ | 10/06/2015 | Brian Clark Howard

[Purdue77]

When waters start to flood a fire ant colony, they take evasive action. Worker ants link legs and mouths together, weaving a raft in a process that can take less than two minutes (see pictures).

[Robe]

The floods here in South Carolina have brought millions of fire ants out of the Francis Marion Nat’l Forrest.
These” Ant mats” are yards across. Of course they're no more creepy then hundreds of snakes in the trees. Deer carcases are everywhere as well as any other small critters you can think of.

[DesertRhino]

“That’s why I use boiling water to eliminate them.”

No need for that. Just stir up their nests. When they come out, spray em with black Krylon. When they go back inside and see they are all black, they’ll stop working and start killing each other.

[Purdue77]

Of course not. It was a 2500 ant Mercury.

[Hot Tabasco]

spray em with black Krylon. When they go back inside and see they are all black, they’ll stop working and start killing each other.

[V K Lee]

Fire ant bites never go away. After the blister the bite is there in some fashion a bump or a scar. During the season, when the young queens leave the nest the swarms look like mosquito swarms “The Naked Jungle” Deadly in Texas not even frogs, turtles are spared. They must have been put here for some reason....but the answer to that has not yet been found.

[Purdue77]

Here in SC, we see the ant mounds appear overnight. It’s amazing. My wife pours bleach down the mound. I prefer to use poison crystals that the ants carry back to the nest for consumption.

[Purdue77]

When I lived in VA, I watched two diverse ant colonies meet on an ant trail. Apparently, they didn’t like one another. The battle ensued, but I didn’t have the time to see which one won. When I returned ant carcasses littered the trail.

[SampleMan]

Kinda what I was thinkin’. Ants smarter/more adaptable than us.

Unless the fire ants can float on flaming gasoline, I'll adapt faster than them ;-), but your point is noted.

[ifinnegan]

Quite a post.

Thanks.

These sort of real life tidbits are great.

More of them would be welcome.

[Ditter]

Nothing new here. Our property in Brazoria County Texas is covered with fire ant mounds. The ants came on the flood water of Oyster Creek and it flooded when the Brazos River flooded.

[rktman]

I HATE those little sobs.

[angcat]

they have better survival instincts than the people in the Lower 9th Ward.

[frithguild]

[frithguild]

It is diversity until it eliminates all other opposition.

[Twinkie]

The ants have their purpose; otherwise they would not have
been created.

[central_va]

There is only one way to treat fire ants....

[piasa]

If you rub the mashed leaves from an impatiens plant on fresh bites- or the wild jewelweed, there will be no pain, no bump, no scar, or at worst not much of one.

[central_va]

Fire ants have no purpose but to bit sting and make life generally miserable for humans.

[metmom]

A few drops of Dawn will fix this problem.

Yup. My thoughts exactly.

They're depending on the surface tension of the water to keep them afloat.

Destroy that they they drown.

[varon]

“These guys are survivors like cockroaches and Liberals , you’ll never be rid of them.”