Fire ants build living rafts to survive floods
Fire ants survive devastating floods by linking their bodies into buoyant rafts, showcasing remarkable collective survival and natural engineering in action.
When floods strike, fire ants (Solenopsis invicta) perform an incredible feat: they link their bodies together to form buoyant, living rafts. Using tiny leg hooks, hundreds of thousands of ants interlock, creating a cohesive mass that protects the queen, larvae, and pupae at its center. These rafts can float for days, drifting to safety and aiding the ants' spread, as seen during events like Hurricane Katrina.
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