Floating Ant Islands Seen After Floods In South Carolina

FOX Carolina 21 As South Carolina recovers from heavy rain and flooding, one insect is showing off its clever strategy for survival. Fox Carolina’s Adrian Acosta recorded footage of a group of fire ants clinging together to form a life raft while floating on the water. Acosta said he initially thought he was looking at a pile of mud, but closer examination revealed a swarm of ants. The phenomenon is, in fact, a common survival tactic for fire ants faced with flood conditions. As researchers studying the behavior in 2011 explained in National Geographic:  In less than two minutes the ants had linked "hands" to form a floating structure that kept all the insects safe. Even the ants down below can survive this way, thanks to tiny hairs on the ants' bodies that trap a thin layer of air. A reporter from NBC affiliate WSAV spotted and recorded another cluster of ants performing the buoyant feat in Dorchester County, South Carolina.  In addition to the usual predators, the ant-rafts need to keep an eye out for soap, Live Science explains. That's because they rely on the surface tension of water to float, and soap will lower that surface tension, causing the ants to fall in. Also on HuffPost: -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Source: Science - The Huffington Post - October 6, 2015 Category: Science Source Type: news