Science is Fun Fridays!
After seeing videos of fire ants making rafts to survive Hurricane Harvey in Texas (2017), scientists wanted to better understand the structural properties.
It's been known that they link together and can stay afloat for weeks. Their exoskeletons naturally repel water, an its rough texture traps air bubbles.
Prior research showed that after a raft is stabilized, its shape continued to change, with arms moving out in multiple directions, and this is what scientists didn't quite understand.
The team collected 3,000 to 10,000 ants at a time and deposited them into a container with water and a rod in the center, where they would congregate and form the raft. Image tracking data and computer modeling revealed which parts were static and which parts were moving.
They found that the exploratory tentacles were shaped by a movement called "treadmilling." As structural ants move up to the surface of the raft, surface ants would burrow into the lower structural levels. This cycle contracts and expands the raft, creating bridges of ants reaching out to find land.
Ants are impressive little things.
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