Natures wonders: ant rafts cross rivers (Introduction)

by David Turell @, Wednesday, November 27, 2013, 01:55 (3803 days ago) @ David Turell

"Fire ant rafts hold together by constantly breaking apart. Swarms of the insects link up in vast groups to float across water, sometimes forming rafts the size of dinner plates. But how they withstand waves and other forces that threaten to sink them wasn't known.-"The ants evolved to form rafts to survive the tropical wet season in their native home, the Amazon rainforest. Entire colonies can escape flooding mounds in seconds, mobilising into buoyant heaps and floating safely to their next settlements. Invasive fire ants are now found across the southern US as well as in Australia, the Caribbean and parts of southern Asia."-
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24654-fire-ants-writhe-to-make-unsinkable-rafts.html


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