Ants Formed A Bridge In Order To Successfully Attack A Wasp Nest
While out and about amidst the great outdoors we do not often spot ants attacking wasps. Such a scenario would seem impossible given the plain fact that wasps have the ability to fly while ants do not. However, this is exactly what happened recently Brazil.
Ants are resourceful creatures that can, as a group, defeat some pretty fierce insect species. Nobody knows this better than Fransico Boni, an electronics engineer and amateur insect expert. A little over a week ago, Boni captured a photo of ants building a hanging bridge in order to attack a wasp nest.
The particular ants that were shown forming a bridge in the photo are commonly known as army ants, or legionary ants, and they are notable for their ability to build bridges by interlocking their bodies together in order to traverse over gaps. Not long after Boni snapped the photo, he posted the image to Facebook where it quickly went viral. According to the caption that Boni left beneath the photo, the ants were attempting to access the wasp’s honeycomb that lied within their nest. After the picture prompted numerous comments from Facebook users, Boni posted the photo to Twitter along with an explanation for the ant’s bridge-building behavior.
When army ants attack wasp nests, the wasps will typically abandon their nest in order to avoid the war-hungry ants. Once army ants gain access to wasp nests, they remove the honeycomb before making off with wasp eggs, pupae and whatever adults that failed to get away in time. Although army ants can build bridges in order to access enemy food sources, these ants most often build bridges in order to cross over small areas of water.
After Boni received questions about the ants that were beyond his knowledge, he posted a study on army ants to his Twitter page. However, for those who have difficulty understanding scientific jargon, Boni tweeted a summary of the study in layman’s terms. In just a short time, Boni’s posting had gathered well over 30,000 likes, and 14,600 Facebook users began discussing the image online.
Have you ever witnessed any sort of ant behavior that you had assumed at the time to be unconventional or strange?