Fire ants escaping South Carolina floods by forming 'islands'

upi ^ | Oct. 6, 2015 | Ben Hooper

[treetopsandroofs]

I’ve seen this for a couple of days and have been trying to figure out if all are actually alive. A good portion seem to be below the surface in the second photo. Can they actually rotate/migrate to the top in time not to drown, or have some been sacrificed to form a “hull”?

[Vigilanteman]

Thanks. Your version makes more sense.

[Autonomous User]

More fearsome than the ant collective...the liberals evil oozes over the United States.

[JoeProBono]

[left that other site]

Grrr...you beat me to it.

A flame thrower would be most efficient in this case.

[patriot08]

I’ve heard that

[JoeProBono]

Fire Ant Secret: How They Create Life-Saving Rafts in Floods http://www.livescience.com/13867-raft-fire-ants-buoyancy-flood-water-repellant-floatation.html

[patriot08]

LOL funny

[Jane Long]

We see lots of those floating fire ant mounds, when it’s flooding down in Texas (and all of the telephone lines are down).

As if the flooding alone wasn’t dangerous enough.

[captain_dave]

That’s a good description of what grits do in people.

[treetopsandroofs]

“An individual ant’s hard outer covering, called a cuticle, is hydrophobic, or water-repelling. The cuticle’s rough surface allows an ant to trap air against its body when submerged; forming what is called a plastron layer. A massive group of ants, all linked together, has an enhanced water-repellent ability such that the whole group can float while preventing water from penetrating the raft, Mlot said.”

Thanks!

[PLMerite]

(Them!) One of my favorite movies. Waiting for it to come out on Blu-ray.

[JoeProBono]

[rrrod]

send em to mecca.......

[patriot08]

Fire ants are such destructive little sobs.

They've all but eliminated our precious little horned lizard (the state reptile of Texas) by attacking/driving away harvester ants, the food source of the horned lizard.

I am active in preventing destruction of our native Texas animals. (see my profile for the Tx animals in danger, what causes it and what we can do to help)

[JoeProBono]

[Textide]

[MNDude]

For real... Are they born with a raft gene? Do they communicate the idea to one another?

[WhirlwindAttack]

Uncooked Grits.

[windcliff]

ping