Army Ant
About the Army Ant
They do not build permanent nests - they form living bivouacs from their own bodies, with up to 500,000 individuals linked together. They conduct massive swarm raids with 200,000 individuals, consuming everything in their path. They are effectively blind and navigate by following pheromone trails. Birds follow army ant swarms to catch fleeing insects - a relationship called army ant following. Their colonies can consume 500,000 prey items per day. They are keystone species in tropical forest ecosystems.
Related Species
Japanese Giant Hornet
The largest hornet in the world. A single colony can annihilate an entire honeybee hive of...
Leafcutter Ant
The first farmers on Earth - they cultivate fungus gardens 60 million years before humans ...
Tarantula Hawk Wasp
Has the second most painful insect sting on the Schmidt Pain Index - described as blinding...
Honeybee
Essential for global food security - they pollinate 75% of leading global food crops, cont...