Teamwork helps fire ants to die in floods

Fire ants use their own bodies to connect with other ants to form lifesavers, capable of floating on the water to help them survive when the water rises.

>>>Dan ant build rafts on the water

The new study explores the physical properties of rescue rafts created by the connection of fire ants, water transport vehicles of fire ants that are ant rafts that sometimes contain goods. tens of thousands of larvae, floating on water waves. Together, ants can use their own bodies and friends to create a watertight lifesaver to keep them from drowning , the research results of engineers from Georgia Institute of Technology , in Atlanta, USA, was published in the journal of the US National Academy of Sciences, issued April 25, 2011.

You only notice one whole set of ants in a unified block instead of each individual part, according to Julia Parrish, zoologist, working at Washington University, in Seattle, USA: " Working characteristics According to the group of ants, it is only possible to realize that when you observe ants on a whole group, even ants, you absolutely cannot predict anything when you only observe an ant . "

Fire ants form rafts on the water

South American fire ants (with the scientific name Solenopsis invicta ), one of the most dangerous invasive species, has been well prepared for disaster. For example, when floods occur in Brazil, to protect each other, all member ant ants include: Princess ants, soldier ants and ants transporting larvae - forming a large ant group like rafts. lifesaving on the waves. They must stay close together in a large group to survive, according to Nathan Mlot, co-author of the study, working at the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, USA. The fire ant raft consists of 2 layers, about ½ of the ants on the upper part of the water serve as the bottom of the raft, they are associated with ½ of the remaining ants above , the ant raft can be undulating Water waves for days or even weeks.

The ability of ants to float successfully is considered the most important both in small and large scales. On a small scale, a single ant can walk on water, at least to a degree, like a floating toothpick, or insect stride on water. When wet, fire ants can also take advantage of tiny air bubbles, perhaps due to the thin layers of horns covering their bodies, which help these brave sailors gain more buoyancy on the water.

On a large scale, the ants were closely linked by form: this ant bites the other ant's leg, the other ant bites the ant's neighbor's foot , . causing the water It is impossible to penetrate this ant raft. This is why, why tectonic species, the shell of lifeboats can touch water but never sink.

To test the level of flexibility, toughness, wind resistance of raft ants. Mlot and his colleagues filmed the construction of the lifeboat, when they dropped a frozen ball on the ant raft that had more than 7000 ants floating on the waves. As a result, no matter how many larvae carry this ant raft, the structure of the raft remains unchanged, only about 8 millimeters thick, and shaped like a " double wheel ". When we interrupt the ants above, the other ants will crawl up from below to fill the gap.

South American fire ants - Solenopsis invicta

This dynamic structure completely revealed the basic clues, Mlot suspected. In other words, ants didn't need to think about what they were doing. If there are holes, they will climb up to seal. " Each ant works according to some simple rules ," Mlot said.

With these simple rules, ants were able to build an extraordinary structure, according to Eric Klavins, a computer scientist who works at the University of Washington, USA. While many engineers build robots according to their own image they think: big and bulky and with many processing capabilities. However, after studying how ants interact with each other, engineers were able to design active robots based on smaller microprocessors and could work in conditions of coordination, to build Emergency construction of bridges, for example, Klavins said: "It is wonderful, these ants are really good ."

When attacked by floods, the ants together overcome the storm in a self-assembled raft. In this study, groups of 1,000 to 7,000 ants stretched out across the water to form an ant raft of equal thickness.